schism
ˈs(k)izəm/
- a split or division between strongly opposed sections or parties, caused by differences in opinion or belief.
Saturday afternoon, I sat down with my laptop in my third
attempt to write this blog with no avail.
I confided in my husband, who has access to some great databases courtesy
of his business school. As I started to
shuffle through the web pages, I was impressed with the wonderful access to
information. I could search for any
political science issue and find links to fact filled sites, opinion sites and
activist sites…but once again I was stuck.
How do I pick though the issues and select one to argue? I am in no way, educated enough on any major
political issue to argue about the “way that things should be”. I have thoughts, beliefs and morals that I
abide to, but I also have a lack of desire to impose those on others. Eventually I came to the conclusion that
cyphering though all of the factioned issues was distracting me from something
bigger. Upon arrival to this conclusion,
I was mentally exhausted and did what most twenty something year-olds do when
things get to hard, I logged on to Facebook.
I stumbled upon a “friends” feed and noticed that the band, SOJA was playing
at Stubbs that evening. Knowing that my
husband had been raving about this cali-reggae band for the last five years, I
asked him if he wanted to go. We would have to head out in thirty minutes. Don’t get me wrong, I consider myself a fun
gal, but not a spontaneous one.I cannot remember the last time I did
something unplanned. With work and
school, most of my time is allotted for.
My husband and I were both refreshed with the thought of this random act
and we were off to see the show… this blog could wait until Sunday.
It’s always fascinating to me that something much bigger
then myself always shines it’s light when least expected. SOJA is an unbelievably talented group of
musicians from Virginia, though their knotty, knee-length dreads would make you think
otherwise. They play laid back melodies
with a cause delightfully mixed in.
Honestly, before the show, I had only listened to a handful of their
songs and never so closely as to hear their message. I was taken with the music and the more that
I listened the more they wrote this blog for me. Here I am standing in a crowd
of beautiful people coming together to support these political activists and I didn’t even
know it.
While I don’t totally agree with the message, SOJA came out
to perform a song entitled “I don’t wanna wait”. In the middle of the song, the lead singer busts
out in to a freestyle that began something along these lines:
Click here and forward to 2:30 to listen to SOJA spitting similar
lyrics that we heard Saturday, November 3rd in Austin, Texas.
One life. One world. One chance.We’re moving forward to right now, with a government that has been shut down
Republican, Republican same old thing
Democrat, Democrat same f***ing thing
…But something is happening and its turning to a daze
Political parties that share a different name
They work against each other and they work against progress
We are the ones asking “What’s next?”
We are the ones trampled down underneath
And we are the ones sitting waiting on our knees
…The government wants what the government wants
It’s team vs. team cause it’s red vs. blue
They mix it all up and put me vs. you
They tell you all these lies and pretend its true
There is not one thing to do except f*** the government
WE ARE BETTER THEN THIS
WE ARE SMARTER THAN THIS
I began to look around at the faces and noticed the emotion and discontent coming out of those around me when it struck me. The United States government’s issues is much larger than any one single political science issues that I could debate on. Our issue is that our people have become separated due behavior of our party leaders and the sickening battles over issues that are portrayed by the media. It is as though we have lost sight of the fact that we are one people, all American, looking to propel our nation into the future. I notice that many in the generation before mine will vote for a party, because that is their chosen party. Many have seen great politics take place in the previous century and truly believe in their party. Many of their parents were Republican, so they will be too. This single choice, of who you cast your ballot for on that “first Tuesday” in November every four years completely separates us from one another. I notice many in my generation that are so displeased that they would rather get rid of the government in it entirely because they are far disconnected and uneducated on what good politics can be, that they have no faith in the system’s ability to recover and adapt.
In the past, we were separated by race and religion. Today we are separated by race, religion and
political affiliation. I have heard Republicans
say, “I will not shop at any store that I know is owned by a Democrat, because they
are destroying our country.” I have
heard Democrats slander and beat down Republican beliefs for the good of our
people. When in realty they both have
lost sight of diplomacy. In my heart, I
believe that there is not a single national political leader today that has our
nation’s best interest in line before that of its own party or financial
gain. How can they? With media bashing and breaking each party down
piece by piece, it is impossible for one to truly be focused on the bigger
picture.
Gallop released a poll on October 10, 2013 stating that American’s
satisfaction with the way our government is being ran is the lowest since
Gallop has been polling, eighteen percent.
Eight percent of Republicans, twenty-eight percent of Democrats and fifteen
percent of Independents are happy with the current happening in our government…
something has to be wrong here. Polling
Report released a poll that asked the question, "Do you think most members of
Congress are more interested in serving the people they represent, or more
interested in serving special interest groups?" Eighty-five percent of people, said that they
believe that Congress’ interest lies in serving special interest groups. Our system of factions factioning factions, has
a glitch and is no longer keeping our leaders in check as it was implemented to
be.
I do believe that our key issue is that our people are separated
due to the behavior of our party leaders and the battles between them that are portrayed
by the media. This is harmful for our
country as a whole. When we separate ourselves
there is no room to breed love and progress.
We have to work together to solve issues and make the changes that we
want for our future. That being noted, I do not believe like many my age, that the nation would be better without our government. We are a nation that has overcome many obstacles,
and our system was placed to bend and adjust to changes. I believe we are in a time of realignment
like many have never seen before. Not
only are we separated down the middle with party affiliation, but we are also
starting to realign with a third affiliation, which is that of people that
would rather see the system go away than work to fix the problems. They lyrics of one of my favorite bands,
Tool, and their song Schism can some this feeling up for me… “Cold silence has a tendency to atrophy any since of compassion between supposed lovers, between supposed brothers.”
If we want a change, we all have to come together. Leaders, people, Republican, Democrats,
Independents and corporations. We have
to voice that we demand a change, and we will fight together for our children to
be able to live in a beautiful nation that we once lived in. I am convinced that all we have to do is realize
that we are and become one people, and we can do anything.
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