The state of some things as I see them.

I don't have a systematic way of recording my thoughts, even more so recording my thoughts on this blog for "public" viewing. I think things come to a head inside me and, depending on my emotional state, something gives and I am drawn to blabber away. If my emotional state isn't just right, I put it off, hence the big gaps between rants. First thought: Obama isn't progressive. I have enjoyed him being president, and I have been a general fan since he ran in 2008. Over time I have noticed, in my small, novice, non-political head, that Obama isn't progressive. He is moderate at best and often on the right of center. Don't get me wrong, he was the much better choice in my mind over McCain and Romney. What seems to be wrong is the overall shift in American politics since before Reagan. We have slowly lost truly left politicians in favor of "Democrats" that have adopted a party line down the middle. The few who are left become unpopular and painted as extremists, even though the opposite extreme is living the high life of popularity and infecting everyone else because they are granted a share of the limelight. Obama is a professional politician. There seems to be clear lines between professional politicians and progressives who got voted in to be a politician. Follow-on: Obama gets most push-back because he isn't white. Many get offended by this. I get saddened. Not only do I realize racism is in full-force in this world, but I also realize I am part of it. I grew up with a father that loved and respected black friends and acquaintances while sitting around a campfire with his father laughing at extremely racist jokes they would tell each other. I grew up conservative, in a conservative community, in a conservative state - Utah. I realize not every state is like this, nor every community inside conservative states. Yet, as I reflect on my Mormon bubble that shielded us from not only culture, liberalism and 98% of all the other ethnicities in the world, it also seemed to fair comparatively well to the states that were considered more melting-pot regarding race and ethnicity. It seems that anywhere you go, one may find extreme racism. So, while Barack Obama has adopted a political ideology that 9/10 politicians could agree with, we have a stand-still GOP that curses under their breath ridiculous notions of the White House not their job because heaven forbid they take responsibility for one damn thing. As for conservative ideologies: Both conservatives and progressives or liberals are capable of love. We all love our families and we all love our friends. We all have a degree of faith and we all have dreams of what this world could become. Surprisingly enough, the Utopia, in the end, for both sides looks quite similar and is run in essentially the same way. One key difference that I see in my limited view is the strong after-life notion that drives conservatives. This can negatively affect the here and now. If we have the mentality that all will be fixed after Jesus comes, then we could potentially regard the here and now as second priority. "God will fix this mess, there's not point in trying to tackle something that is out of our hands." Furthermore, we integrate the false idea of destiny. Somehow we back-date everyone's ultimate choices to some concept of foreordination or predestination. This further embeds this idea that the here and now cannot be helped, so we put it in the hands of a superior being, along with any responsibility. This mentality drives almost everything else: We don't need to reverse negative effects on the planet. We don't need to give so-called handouts to the desolate, hungry and needy. We don't need to wean ourselves off of oil for the multiple reasons cited such as war, destroying the planet, the economy, etc. Furthermore, our founding fathers overcame extreme adversity, and as God-believing white men, set the foundations for the greatest political system on earth, never to be destroyed again, inspired only by God to be the last standing system to ultimately rule the whole universe. Because of that, manifest destiny charges to shove our form of democracy down everyone else's throat, because, well, us, and furthermore, well they are inferior to us. That is all for now.