Vote!

This is my get out the vote spiel for you all. Basically it is really important to me that everyone votes because it is one of the best ways to have your say in the government. I believe strongly in voting. People worked really hard for me to have this right – I’m not just going to throw it away.

I know especially in Wisconsin, that people are getting a little tired of politics. I get it. I’ve voted more this year than I probably will in any other year of my life. But it doesn’t make voting any less important.

People give lots of reasons why they don’t vote and to be honest most of them are lame. I actually am going to put this video by Hank Green here because I think he does a really good job refuting the reasons that people say they’re not voting.

To me, voting is what separates America from being a place where we have no say and no voice and everything like that. How many votes do you get in a dictatorship? Zero. It’s a very important part of the democratic process and I believe that America should be a democracy and I want to be part of making that democracy better, so that’s why I vote. I do think, like Hank mentions, that voting is a responsibility. In some countries, voting is mandatory. I kind of think it should be like that here because if you don’t vote, you are throwing so much away. You may not have money to help make your community a better place, but you can vote for politicians who can secure funding to make your community a better place. And yes, I know, perhaps you don’t think the candidates are that great. To be honest, I don’t think they are either. Given my choice, I would not have America be a two party system, I would have us have many parties so that we have more choices. And yes, I know we can have third parties now, but in effect if you know what it takes to get a third party candidate on the ballot in all 50 states, you would realize that we are an effective two party state. I don’t love all of the candidates opinions on everything, but I’ve decided what the important issues are and I’m going to go with the candidate that agrees with me most on them.

So anyways, if you need to register to vote, I’m going to insert a little widget below that will help you get registered to vote. I just did it since I need to update my voter registration since moving. It was really easy, it automatically filled in the form for me, I printed it off and I will be mailing it when I finish this post (and when I find a stamp because I’m not sure where I put them).

Patriotic cat is patriotic.

That is all.

The Women in Time’s Most Influential List 2011: Lisa Jackson

This post has made me realize how many people out there are named Lisa Jackson, as I googled her to learn more about her. But there’s only one of the specific Lisa Jackson I’m talking about. Let’s dive in.

• Is trained to be a chemical engineer
• Current head administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• Is focusing on 7 key areas: “taking action on climate change; improving air quality; cleaning up our communities; protecting America’s waters; assuring the safety of chemicals; expanding the conversation on environmentalism and working for environmental justice; and building stronger state”
• Current accomplishments: She “has outlined principles to modernize our nation’s 30-year old chemical management laws, called for unprecedented innovation in drinking water protection efforts and announced tough standards to clean the air we breathe.”
• In the past year, has developed Mercury and Air Toxics Standards
• Has promised to focus on groups of people who are most vulnerable to harm from environmental contaminants

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lisa_P._Jackson_official_portrait.jpg

Is she influential? I think so. As head of the EPA, she has a big role in shaping the environmental future of the United States in terms of regulations and things like that. And the environment has a much bigger effect on you than most people realize. I took a Literature and Environment class in my last semester of college and I thought I knew how the environment affected you and your health, but I learned there is so much more. So as someone who has the power to decide standards, she is super influential, for better or for worse.

Sources:

• Lisa P. Jackson – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• About the EPA Administrator – About EPA – US EPA
• Lisa P. Jackson: Cutting Mercury, Protecting Children

The Women in Time’s Most Influential List 2011: Michele Bachmann

I think by now Michele Bachmann is a pretty household name. A representative from Minnesota that I had hardly heard of before has been thrust into the national spotlight with a run for president.

• A state representative from Minnesota
• She was attempting to gain the Republican presidential nomination for the upcoming race until she dropped out this morning (that’s breaking news)

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mbachmann.jpg

Is she influential? Hard to say. I think government leaders to some extent are more or less influential. It’s hard because I would have answered this differently weeks ago, when she was more a front runner in the presidential race because as a potential president, of course she would be highly influential. But the numbers now are not playing out like she will be successful, which means she will probably disappear and we may well never hear much about her again. (Do you hear much about the people who didn’t do well in the Republican primary in 2008? Not really – not unless they ran again or made some significant win in the primaries.) So maybe it’s a wait and see. Iowa, after all, doesn’t have to doom you – but it can often doom you. And certainly, I’m sure she didn’t want only a 5 percent vote and to come in last. At any rate, it looks like Iowa won’t really matter at all for her, as she announced this morning that she is dropping out. At this rate, since she dropped out, I think she will continue to be less and less influential.

Note: I have often been asked on what I feel about women being president. My answer? I don’t think you should support anyone woman for president just because she is a woman. Additionally, I am almost, at this point in my life, harder on women candidates than male candidates. Why? Sort of for the same reason that George Washington had to be the right first president. I think the first woman president will set a precedent for future woman presidents, just like George Washington set the president for the rest of presidents. If he had acted too much like a king, then I doubt our democracy would have been successful. In the same way, my fear is that the first woman president elected, if unsuccessful, would make it harder for future women to be elected – so I always want to make sure when I look at a woman running for president that I ask myself “If she were to be the first woman president, would it be harder for women to be elected after her?” The first one of anything is important. So that’s my stance on women presidents.

Sources:

• Michele Bachmann: Iowa caucus system ‘worked’ – latimes.com
• Michele Bachmann
• Michele Bachman says she’s staying in GOP presidential race despite poor showing in Iowa – NY Daily News
• Live broadcast of her speech this morning (10 am central, 12/4/11) from The Washington Post that I watched

The Women in Time’s Most Influential List 2011: Dilma Rousseff

I have to admit Dilma Rousseff is another name I wasn’t super familiar with. I mean, okay, I did study politics, but ask me if I know the leader of every country in the world and the answer would be no. But I doubt you would either and if you can, gold star to you. Anyways, let’s find out about her.

• Current president of Brazil (first woman to hold that position)
• She’s had her hand in ousting several corrupt leaders from the Brazilian government.

From http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2066367_2066369_2066390,00.html

Is she influential? Definitely! I think the leader of the country is always influential, but there are certain leaders that are even more influential and I think she is one of them. There are a lot of people in politics who speculate that Brazil is going to be one of the next world powers (it’s currently the 7th largest economy in the world) and I don’t doubt it – Latin America is just poised to really come onto the political scene in their own way. So I think like whether or not Brazil becomes a super power or gets put on the path to be a super power will be related to their leaders, which means it is related to her. Also, she does have a sketchy background (she was involved in an armed struggle for Marxism earlier in her life) but she shows that she hasn’t let that define her or keep her out of the political arena and also showing that people can change – as she now supports capitalism, not Marxism.

Sources:

• Dilma Rousseff – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• In her first year, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff cleans house

The Women in Time’s Most Influential List 2011: Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama. A pretty well known, household name right now I would say. Nevertheless, let’s take a look.

• She is the current First Lady.
• While she is involved in many causes, her best known one (in my opinion) has to do with eating healthy and ending childhood obesity (Let’s Move which “will give parents the support they need, provide healthier food in schools, help our kids to be more physically active, and make healthy, affordable food available in every part of our country.” – From the White House, link in the sources).
• She also recently started an initiative for military families – big kudos there!

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Michelle_Obama_official_portrait_headshot.jpg

I have to say if I were First Lady, I don’t think all of the issues she worked on would be the same issues I would work on, but every First Lady sort of has their cause. We’re different people – and that’s okay. But nevertheless, her work has seen real results and I think that makes her influential because she’s not just saying “This is what we should do.” And then people ignore her. No – people have listened to her and made changes. Look at some of what Let’s Move has accomplished (taken from their website, link below):

• Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act
• “Three of the largest food service providers have committed to improving the food they provide to schools.”
• Working on putting more than 5,000 salad bars in schools
• Chefs Move to Schools
• Working to ensure more playgrounds and Safe Routes to School
• Let’s Move Cities and Towns

And that’s just part of it – so you can definitely see that this initiative she is leading is being highly influential in this country in her own way.

Sources:

• Michelle Obama – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• First Lady Michelle Obama – The White House
• Let’s Move!

The Women in Time’s Most Influential List 2011: Gabrielle Giffords

I remember when Gabrielle Giffords was the name across the country. Let’s take a look at why.

• Arizona Democrat member of the House of Representatives
• She was shot in the head by a constituent in January of 2011 but survived.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gabrielle_Giffords_official_portrait.jpg

I think she was influential – well, not her precisely, but what happened to her. Before she was shot, not many people knew her name. But after her shooting, she really united America in a unique way. It didn’t matter that she was a Democrat from Arizona – she was one of our own, one of our representatives that had been shot. And that had a uniting factor about it for the country for a little while. Especially since she survived – her story of recovery pushed the nation together, everyone was pulling for her.

Sources:

• Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Gabrielle Giffords Arizona – WhoRunsGov.com/The Washington Post

P.S. Not related to her influence, but she was the youngest woman that has ever been elected to serve in the senate in Arizona. Which I think is pretty cool.

The Women in Time’s Most Influential List 2011: Aung San Suu Kyi

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Let’s take a look at Aung San Suu Kyi.

• Non-violent activist in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) working for peace and democracy.
• She has been under house arrest in the past for over 10 years (sources differ between 14 and 15 years) though she is now free.
• She was the legitimately elected leader, but unable to lead due to the house arrest issue (and because the government in power just didn’t like her).
• Her and her party are getting ready to run again, despite the bad outcomes for her on the last time she ran.
• She holds a Nobel Peace Prize.

From http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/aung-san-suu-kyi-11.php

I want to add this video too since I think it does a pretty good job explaining a lot of the background to her:

I’m not going to lie when I say I think she’s influential, because I truly think she is, but I should admit upfront my bias. She has been my political hero for a long time for her unrelenting perseverance in the face of a very oppressive government. But apart from that, if not for her work and the people working with her, Myanmar/Burma would have very little chance of ever seeing freedom because it is hard and scary to stand up to a military junta and they’re not likely to just say “Oh you’re being oppressed? Sorry about that, here’s your freedom back.” Later on at some point, I will probably do a more in depth piece on her because I think she is such an important and influential figure.

I know I haven’t been including videos with this series, but I will today because I think it’s worth listening to her explain why non-violence is so important.

Sources:

• Aung San Suu Kyi – Wikiquote
• US Campaign for Burma – Aung San Suu Kyi
• Aung San Suu Kyi returns to Burma Politics – CBS News
• Aung San Suu Kyi – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Women in Time’s Most Influential List 2011: Angela Merkel

Now here is someone who I think definitely deserves to be named most influential. Angela Merkel has a lot of power, especially in Europe, so let’s find out a little bit more about her.

Angela Merkel:

• Current (and first female) Chancellor of Germany
• Was President of the European Council
• Played an important role in negotiations of the Berlin Declaration and the Treaty of Lisbon
• Second woman to chair the G8
• Named 4th Most Powerful Person in the World and the Most Powerful Woman in the World by Forbes
• Received the Vision for Europe Award
• Received the Charlemagne Prize
• Received the  B’nai B’rith Europe Award of Merit
• Received the Leo Baeck Medal
• Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom
• First person from what was East Germany to lead the country

From http://topnews.net.nz/content/24152-german-chancellor-looks-eu-regulations-after-short-selling-prohibition

Influential? Definitely! She is all over the political scene in Europe and with Germany being such a big economy in Europe, her actions and decisions will have a huge effect on how the Eurozone fairs, for better or for worse.

Sources:

• Angela Merkel – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Angela Merkel Biography – Facts, Birthday, Life Story – Biography.com
• Angela Merkel – Forbes

 

History: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

This was a tragic event in our history and I think it’s often overlooked or just gets a passing mention, so I thought we’d look at it more in depth here.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

• happened in New York City.
• happened on March 25th, 1911.
• is the fourth deadliest industrial accident in the US.
• caused the death of 146 people by smoke inhalation, fire, or just falling/jumping to their deaths – most of whom were women between 16 and 23 (final count was 129 women/17 men – almost all of whom were the main supporter in their family).
• is still officially without a cause, but they suspect there was a match or cigarette tossed in a scrap bin still burning (this is the most popular and likely theory).

This video explains about it and also how a very similar situation happened in Thailand in the last five years:

Conditions and how people died

• People jumped to their deaths because the doors to the stairwells and exits were locked, essentially trapping these women inside.
• The few doors that were unlocked opened inward and with so many people trying to get out were held shut.
• No fire alarms to warn these women until it was already too late. Someone on the 8th floor called up to the 10th floor to say something on a phone, but the 9th floor was completely in the dark.
• The fire department lacked ladders tall enough to get to those floors.
• The fire houses on each floor that the women tried to use lacked water.
• Because of the bodies on the ground from people jumping, the fire department had a hard time getting close enough.
• All the attempts to catch the jumpers failed because too many people jumped too quickly.
• Some brave men who were working there formed a bridge from the 8th floor to a nearby window and a few more escaped that way, but those men eventually fell to their deaths as well.
• The water from the hoses of the fire department only reached to the 7th floor.
• People were so desperate they jumped down the shaft on top of the descending elevator – they died as well.

This is a video of a former New York State Senator discussing his grandmother and two aunts who were killed in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire:

Because of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

• laws were passed that improved labor conditions.
• the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union grew.
• the owners of the company were indicted of first and second degree manslaughter but they were never convicted. However, in a later civil suit, they were required to pay compensation of 75 dollars per victim.
• the New York City Fire Department created a division of Fire Prevention.
• New York City created the The Factory Commission of 1911.

Statements about the fire (warning, a few are graphic)

One Saturday afternoon in March of that year — March 25, to be precise — I was sitting at one of the reading tables in the old Astor Library… It was a raw, unpleasant day and the comfortable reading room seemed a delightful place to spend the remaining few hours until the library closed. I was deeply engrossed in my book when I became aware of fire engines racing past the building. By this time I was sufficiently Americanized to be fascinated by the sound of fire engines. Along with several others in the library, I ran out to see what was happening, and followed crowds of people to the scene of the fire.

A few blocks away, the Asch Building at the corner of Washington Place and Greene Street was ablaze. When we arrived at the scene, the police had thrown up a cordon around the area and the firemen were helplessly fighting the blaze. The eighth, ninth, and tenth stories of the building were now an enormous roaring cornice of flames.

Word had spread through the East Side, by some magic of terror, that the plant of the Triangle Waist Company was on fire and that several hundred workers were trapped. Horrified and helpless, the crowds — I among them — looked up at the burning building, saw girl after girl appear at the reddened windows, pause for a terrified moment, and then leap to the pavement below, to land as mangled, bloody pulp. This went on for what seemed a ghastly eternity. Occasionally a girl who had hesitated too long was licked by pursuing flames and, screaming with clothing and hair ablaze, plunged like a living torch to the street. Life nets held by the firemen were torn by the impact of the falling bodies.

The emotions of the crowd were indescribable. Women were hysterical, scores fainted; men wept as, in paroxysms of frenzy, they hurled themselves against the police lines. – Louis Waldman

I would be a traitor to these poor burned bodies if I came here to talk good fellowship. We have tried you good people of the public and we have found you wanting. … We have tried you citizens; we are trying you now, and you have a couple of dollars for the sorrowing mothers, brothers and sisters by way of a charity gift. But every time the workers come out in the only way they know to protest against conditions which are unbearable the strong hand of the law is allowed to press down heavily upon us.

Public officials have only words of warning to us—warning that we must be intensely peaceable, and they have the workhouse just back of all their warnings. The strong hand of the law beats us back, when we rise, into the conditions that make life unbearable.

I can’t talk fellowship to you who are gathered here. Too much blood has been spilled. I know from my experience it is up to the working people to save themselves. The only way they can save themselves is by a strong working-class movement. – Rose Schneiderman

Thud — dead; thud — dead; thud — dead; thud — dead. Sixty-two thud — deads. I call them that, because the sound and the thought of death came to me each time, at the same instant. – William Shephard

It was all nice young Jewish girls who were engaged to be married. You should see the diamonds and everything. Those were the ones who threw themselves from the window. What the hell did they close the door for? What did the think we were going out with? What are we gonna do, steal a shirtwaist? Who the heck wanted a shirtwaist? – Pauline Cuoio Pepe

Girls were burning to death before our eyes. Down came bodies in a shower, burning, smoking, lighted bodies, with the disheveled hair of the girls trailing upward. They had fought each other to die by jumping instead of by fire.

There were 33 in that shower. The flesh of some of them was cooked. The clothes of most of them were burned away. The whole, sound, unharmed girls who jumped on the other side of the street had done their best to fall feet down, but these fire-tortured, suffering ones fell inertly, as if they didn’t care how they fell, just so that death came to them on the sidewalk instead of in the fiery furnace behind them. – Bill Shepard

There are a handful of catalytic, galvanizing moments where history really gets a big push to give us the world that we live in today, and the Triangle fire is one of those. Triangle led to changes that influenced the way every American lives. – David von Drehle

Even a hundred years later, workplace safety concerns are still a problem. You hear about the locked doors at the Triangle factory and it’s shocking. But to this day, we hear about grocery store workers in Brooklyn who are locked in the stores at night and it’s a very common practice in retail and the garment industry to lock the doors — they say it’s to prevent theft, which is what the Triangle factory owners claimed.

In many ways, we haven’t made much progress. The Triangle fire was a mostly immigrant population in a very competitive business. We have that now with janitorial, home health care, security workers, the garment industry — any labor-intensive industry, you have the same pressures. – Catherine Ruckelshaus

It happens all over the place — unsafe construction sites, sweatshops tucked away in all corners of NYC, just blocks from the Triangle factory site. The other part of it is, which is just as shameful, is that 95 percent of garment manufacturing is now offshore. Clothes are being made in Bangladesh, where they have very similar conditions to the Triangle factory, where workers are locked in. – Leigh Benin

Get Involved

• Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition
• Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Memorial

Books (Note I haven’t read these, I just found them)*

• The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (Graphic History)
• The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (Cornerstones of Freedom: Second)
• The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: Its Legacy of Labor Rights
• Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: Flames of Labor Reform

I write this in memory of these, the victims:

• Adler, Lizzie, 24
• Altman, Anna, 16
• Ardito, Annina, 25
• Bassino, Rose, 31
• Benanti, Vincenza, 22
• Berger, Yetta, 18
• Bernstein, Essie, 19
• Bernstein, Jacob, 38
• Bernstein, Morris, 19
• Bierman, Gussie, 22
• Billota, Vincenza, 16
• Binowitz, Abraham, 30
• Brenman, Rosie, 23
• Brenman, Sarah, 17
• Brodsky, Ida, 15
• Brodsky, Sarah, 21
• Brooks, Ada, 18
• Brunetti, Laura, 17
• Cammarata, Josephine, 17
• Caputo, Francesca, 17
• Carlisi, Josephine, 31
• Caruso, Albina, 20
• Ciminello, Annie, 36
• Cirrito, Rosina, 18
• Cohen, Anna, 25
• Colletti, Annie, 30
• Cooper, Sarah, 16
• Cordiano , Michelina, 25
• Dashefsky, Bessie, 25
• Del Castillo, Josie, 21
• Dockman, Clara, 19
• Donick, Kalman, 24
• Eisenberg, Celia, 17
• Evans, Dora, 18
• Feibisch, Rebecca, 20
• Fichtenholtz, Yetta, 18
• Fitze, Daisy Lopez, 26
• Floresta, Mary, 26
• Florin, Max, 23
• Franco, Jenne, 16
• Friedman, Rose, 18
• Gerjuoy, Diana, 18
• Gerstein, Molly, 17
• Giannattasio, Catherine, 22
• Gitlin, Celia, 17
• Goldstein, Esther, 20
• Goldstein, Lena, 22
• Goldstein, Mary, 18
• Goldstein, Yetta, 20
• Grasso, Rosie, 16
• Greb, Bertha, 25
• Grossman, Rachel, 18
• Herman, Mary, 40
• Hochfeld, Esther, 21
• Hollander, Fannie, 18
• Horowitz, Pauline, 19
• Jukofsky, Ida, 19
• Kanowitz, Ida, 18
• Kaplan, Tessie, 18
• Kessler, Beckie, 19
• Klein, Jacob, 23
• Koppelman, Beckie, 16
• Kula, Bertha, 19
• Kupferschmidt, Tillie, 16
• Kurtz, Benjamin, 19
• L’Abbate, Annie, 16
• Lansner, Fannie, 21
• Lauletti, Maria Giuseppa, 33
• Lederman, Jennie, 21
• Lehrer, Max, 18
• Lehrer, Sam, 19
• Leone, Kate, 14
• Leventhal, Mary, 22
• Levin, Jennie, 19
• Levine, Pauline, 19
• Liebowitz, Nettie, 23
• Liermark, Rose, 19
• Maiale, Bettina, 18
• Maiale, Frances, 21
• Maltese, Catherine, 39
• Maltese, Lucia, 20
• Maltese, Rosaria, 14
• Manaria, Maria, 27
• Mankofsky, Rose, 22
• Mehl, Rose, 15
• Meyers, Yetta, 19
• Midolo, Gaetana, 16
• Miller, Annie, 16
• Neubauer, Beckie, 19
• Nicholas, Annie, 18
• Nicolosi, Michelina, 21
• Nussbaum, Sadie, 18
• Oberstein, Julia, 19
• Oringer, Rose, 19
• Ostrovsky , Beckie, 20
• Pack, Annie, 18
• Panno, Provindenza, 43
• Pasqualicchio, Antonietta, 16
• Pearl, Ida, 20
• Pildescu, Jennie, 18
• Pinelli, Vincenza, 30
• Prato, Emilia, 21
• Prestifilippo, Concetta, 22
• Reines, Beckie, 18
• Rosen (Loeb), Louis, 33
• Rosen, Fannie, 21
• Rosen, Israel, 17
• Rosen, Julia, 35
• Rosenbaum, Yetta, 22
• Rosenberg, Jennie, 21
• Rosenfeld, Gussie, 22
• Rosenthal, Nettie, 21
• Rothstein, Emma, 22
• Rotner, Theodore, 22
• Sabasowitz, Sarah, 17
• Salemi, Santina, 24
• Saracino, Sarafina, 25
• Saracino, Teresina, 20
• Schiffman, Gussie, 18
• Schmidt, Theresa, 32
• Schneider, Ethel, 20
• Schochet, Violet, 21
• Schpunt, Golda, 19
• Schwartz, Margaret, 24
• Seltzer, Jacob, 33
• Shapiro, Rosie, 17
• Sklover, Ben, 25
• Sorkin, Rose, 18
• Starr, Annie, 30
• Stein, Jennie, 18
• Stellino, Jennie, 16
• Stiglitz, Jennie, 22
• Taback, Sam, 20
• Terranova, Clotilde, 22
• Tortorelli, Isabella, 17
• Utal, Meyer, 23
• Uzzo, Catherine, 22
• Velakofsky, Frieda, 20
• Viviano, Bessie, 15
• Weiner, Rosie, 20
• Weintraub, Sarah, 17
• Weisner, Tessie, 21
• Welfowitz, Dora, 21
• Wendorff, Bertha, 18
• Wilson, Joseph, 22
• Wisotsky, Sonia, 17

Sources

• Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
• Historybuff.com – History Library – The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
• The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911
• Behind the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire – Fox Business
• Teaching American History in Maryland – Documents for the Classroom – Maryland State Archives
• Triangle Shirtwaist Co. Factory Fire’s Legacy Under Threat
• The Lessons of Triangle Shirtwaist Fire May Be Lost 100 Years Later

*Note: I am now an Amazon Associate which means that if you click on a link to one of the books I promote and then buy it, I get a portion of those proceeds. Thanks for supporting me 🙂

An Announcement, An Apology, and Why We Should Talk About Politics

I have to apologize because I have been bad at blogging recently. I know my goal is to keep up with it, but to tell you the truth, I’m pregnant. I mean, I would assume that if you know me in real life, you already know, but I’ve been a little mum about it thus far outside of my Facebook page, which is not visible to the public. So for those of you who don’t already know, I am pregnant and that’s why I’ve been a little lax with the blogging. It’s been hard for me to keep up with my schoolwork, work at my two jobs, and then come home and still have energy to blog. But I’m graduating soon and I’m still going to try to keep up with the blog – it may just look at little different than before. For one thing, I probably won’t blog as often until I’m done with the school year. For the second thing, I’m sure being pregnant and becoming a mom has the possibility of changing how I view pregnancy and view motherhood – I won’t be talking about it now like some distant thing in the future for me. It’s happening to me now and it’s a part of my new reality. But enough about that. Let’s get on to the thing that’s been itching inside me for a while. I know it’s not directly related to women in politics, but I think it’s something that needs to be said because I talk about politics so much, why I think it’s important to have discussions about politics.

I’ve seen this my whole life but it seems to be popping up a lot more recently. People or websites not wanting to talk about politics, afraid that someone will be offended or someone will insult someone else and the conversation will be wholly unproductive and mean-spirited. But I think it’s important to talk about it and here are my three reasons why.

1. Politics effect our everyday life. 

There are a lot of people who think that politics don’t effect their lives, but this is a myth. Even a law that you think doesn’t effect you can have a lot of effect on your lives. Think about it. How much of your day is influenced by the government? Think about it – the food you eat has been approved by the FDA, the cars you drive in have to meet safety standards set by the governments, the rules of the road are set by the government, etc, etc, etc. Any law in front of the Congress has the possibility of passing and effecting your life. That’s the way the government works and if you ignore it or pretend it doesn’t exist, sooner or later, it will effect you in a way that you don’t like. But if you are talking about it and having a conversation about it, maybe you will find out about something sooner or be able to work together to stop a law you don’t like.

2. If you don’t learn how to talk about it in a civilized way, then of course, these discussions will end badly.

How do you learn how to do something or get better at it? You practice. If people are always so afraid to talk about politics, then whenever it does happen to come up, you won’t know how to handle it. The more you work on talking about something where you may have a strong opinion on it, the more you will learn how to handle your opinion and talk to other people that you disagree with about it. But if you spend your whole life avoiding it, then when you do find yourself in these situations (because I think it’s inevitable), you won’t know how to handle yourself. The only way you can learn to ride a bike is by trying – the only way you can learn to have civilized discussions about politics is by trying to have them. Otherwise, without ever practicing, you will have a harder time having civilized discussions about it.

3. You can learn something. 

Chances are, most people won’t seek out information that’s opposite their viewpoint. Even on your own side, chances are you won’t know everything about it. I’m not saying you have to change your mind or your viewpoint or anything like that – not at all, because you’re entitled to your opinion. But you might learn something new that you might not have learned without have discussions with other people, because you can’t read everything out there or know everything out there. This learning something you didn’t know before is one of the most valuable parts of discussions.

So there are my reasons – do you have any thoughts about it or any other reasons you think I’m missing?

Melissa