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Tuesday, September 02, 2008 |
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Where I`ve Been |
So I see that the last time I wrote I was all in a tizzy about my second Vets For Freedom trip to meet with our politicians in D.C. Well that was some time ago and I haven`t made an appearance on my own blog since then. The only questions then remains: Where the heck have I been?
Well despite dealing with the real world i.e. work, bills, relationships etc. I became an extreme cynic during that trip to D.C. I have never put much stock in the world, or its inhabitants, but that trip put me over the edge. As we did in the past we spent our day speaking with our state`s representatives about our experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan and why we think we should press forward until we have achieved victory on both fronts. Of course some politicians are more receptive to our message than others but they are all usually cordial to us.
What I found out that day still depresses me today. *First a note-please allow me this gross stereotype and don`t think that I really mean it across the board.* All of our politicians are self-centered publicity hounds who would rather have a good sound bite than a history of doing the right thing outside of the public eye. If you have a half an hour meeting with them they will tell jokes for five minutes, talk about themselves for fifteen, ask if you want coffee for five, and then leave you with one of their staffers for the remaining time in order to "hear" your gripes. I couldn`t go to D.C. today and point out a politician that I would feel comfortable calling a real man or woman. They would rather bore you with the details about how great they are instead of listening to the soldiers who fight for them day in and day out.
What makes it all worse is the day we spoke to our senators and congressmen General Petraeus was delivering his quarterly report, a few hundred yards from where we were, about the state of affairs in Iraq. His message was for the most part positive. He talked about the success of the surge along with many other victories we were finally seeing after several years of getting things wrong. His message, along with ours, was ignored by a large part of the senators and congressmen that heard us that day. All for purely political reasons because they couldn`t argue with the facts on the ground as we presented them.
Enough of the complaining. I came back to tell you where I`ve been. So instead of telling you myself I`ll let G.K. Chesterton do it for me.
From Orthodoxy-Chapter 4
"When the business man rebukes the idealism of his office-boy, it is commonly in some such speech as this: `Ah, yes, when one is young, one has these ideals in the abstract and these castles in the air; but in middle age they all break up like clouds, and one comes down to a belief in practical politics, to using the machinery one has and getting on with the world as it is.` Thus, at least, venerable and philanthropic old men now in their honoured graves used to talk to me when I was a boy. But since then I have grown up and have discovered that these philanthropic old men were telling lies. What has really happened is exactly the opposite of what they said would happen. They said that I should lose my ideals and begin to believe in the methods of practical politicians. Now, I have not lost my ideals in the least; my faith in fundamentals is exactly what it always was. What I have lost is my old child-like faith in practical politics. I am still as much concerned as ever about the Battle of Armageddon; but I am not so much concerned about the General Election. As a babe I leapt up on my mother`s knee at the mere mention of it. No; the vision is always solid and reliable. The vision is always a fact. It is the reality that is often a fraud. As much as I ever did, more than I ever did, I believe in Liberalism. But there was a rosy time of innocence when I believed in Liberals."
Chesterton speaks for me here. I still care about politics insofar as they relate to the betterment of life for Americans and the world in general, but I no longer have the stomach to follow politics as it is practiced today. Obama or McCain-who cares? The world is still going to turn and I am going to have to do what I can to survive. What remains for me is to live a life that is pleasing to God. That is all. I struggle to write about anything to do with politics as I cannot stomach for one minute to listen to what a politician has to say. With that being the case I am finding it hard to keep up with my blog. If for some reason I feel the need to write again I will but until then thank you for visiting my site. Sig-thank you for contributing and for being a good American, I hope we can stay in touch. |
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