Politicians, Conservatives, Liberals, and the First Black President

There are so many discussions about conservatives and liberals in the political arena. Conservatives are now synonymous with Republicans and Liberals are synonymous with Democrats.

Not sure how this came about. Republicans use the word “liberals” like it’s a four-letter word. I’m not sure why being open minded and wanting fairness for all people—rich, middle class, lower middle class, poor—is such a bad thing.

Conservatives or Republicans seem to think that there is a different set of rules for the wealthy and for the not wealthy. They argue that the deficit wouldn’t be changed significantly if the wealthy had to pay their fair share of taxes as the middle class and the poor.

That’s not really the point. It’s about fairness. Why should the wealthy get a different tax rate than the not wealthy? I know Republicans have used the “trickle down” argument for years. They have stopped doing that. It’s obvious that there is no trickle down. The wealthy keep whatever they get and reinvest it so that they can make even more money. They downsize their enterprises and cut salaries, which causes the people still working there to have to work twice as hard to keep up with production. Yet, the CEOs, presidents, and executives have 8 figure salaries and higher and astronomical bonuses. Is that fair? The people doing the work get 5 figure salaries and enough to get by on and the executives just keep raking in the cash. Aggravates the hell out of me. Is that what a Conservative is?

To be honest, I suspect that it’s more about racism than it is about outrage regarding the Healthcare law. I've heard these people go on and on about how the President was ruining the country. I heard one of these people say that they would vote for anyone for President other than Obama. This person said he would even vote for Sarah Palin. That was a pretty solid tip off that this person was basing his opinions on race and nothing else. Anyone who would consider voting for a woman who has shown herself to be a ditz over and over again has to be off the deep end about the race of the President.

While I’m musing about politics, I would like to address one final pet peeve. If people are so against the President and have so many reasons to be anti-Obama, why are there never any accurate claims against him? The Republicans keep dragging out the birth certificate thing. That has been resolved over and over again. Anderson Cooper had Ted Nugent (a very far-right Republican) on his show to prove to Nugent that President Obama was a U.S. citizen. Cooper interviewed officials in Hawaii who knew the President when he was growing up, people who lived in his neighborhood, and they had an official with Obama’s birth certificate present it on air. Anderson Cooper asked Nugent if it finally put to rest the fact that Obama was a citizen. Nugent, with a sheepish grin, acknowledged that if Anderson Cooper says Obama is a citizen (and he proved it), then he (Nugent) believed Obama was a citizen.

Anti-Obama propaganda is all over the Internet. I will have to say from my experience that the propaganda is either an outright lie, or taken out of context, or full of half-truths. If the only thing that these people can come up with are lies against the President, then what is really the reason they don’t want him in office? They claim that he is ruining the country, but no one has presented anything to support those allegations. If they did, my guess is that their representatives in Congress would also be implicated.

True, the economy hasn’t made much progress in getting fixed. But, again, if there is an obstructionist Congress blocking most of the legislation that the President is trying to get passed to fix the economy, whose fault is it that the economy isn’t getting fixed faster? If Republicans think the President’s policies are going to fail, why not pass the legislation and see whether it flops? In the long run it would be a concrete example of the President’s ideas failing and would give the Republicans something solid and actually true about the President that they could use in their election strategies. Maybe the reason they don’t want to pass the legislation to improve the economy is because it may make the President look good if the legislation works and would jeopardize their election possibilities in November. Sound cynical? I have a feeling it is more fact than cynicism.

I think our politicians have lost their way. Not all, but most, are looking out first for themselves and secondly, if at all, for their constituents. Politicians should not be getting funds from special interests and lobby groups. Yet, that is exactly what is happening. Oil companies, special interest groups, corporations, utility companies all buy politicians by contributing to their political campaigns or by out and out giving them money and lucrative deals. If we are going to have a Congress that functions for the people, then the special interests need to be banned from buying politicians.

In closing, I would like to say I like the Buffet plan that has been circulating on the Internet (not sure of its accuracy, by the way):

  Congressional Reform Act of 2011--or 2012:       

        1. No Tenure / No Pension.

        A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no
        pay when they're out of office.

        2.  Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social
         Security.

        All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the
        Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into
        the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the
        American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

        3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all
       Americans do.

       4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.
        Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

       5. Congress loses their current health care system and
        participates in the same health care system as the American people.

        6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the
        American people.

       7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void
        effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this
        contract with Congressmen/women.
 

As if any politician will promote this bill. They are, first and foremost, in Congress to serve themselves, their special interests, and then their constituents (maybe).

Religion

People get WAY too hung up on religion. I am a Roman Catholic. My friends are Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, etc. (the etc. is for the friend who keeps looking for a religion that suits her beliefs and has a congregation that will believe what SHE wants them to believe—I think it’s a control issue. She’s still looking.).

My Protestant friends have told me that they were taught that Catholicism is a cult. Who knew? Being taught religion in grade school, going to Mass every day (except Saturdays), and being reminded on a daily basis what right and wrong is might be a form of brain washing. I believe it made me a caring person who treats people fairly and goes out of his way to help friends, family, and sometimes strangers.

I love the rituals of the Catholic faith. The nuns who taught me in grade school were tough but fair (except for one nun who had issues about boys and would occasionally physically abuse them when they got out of line). I also had the utmost respect for the priests that I met while I was growing up. They were devoted, devout, and caring. I was an altar boy, a member of the choir, and I occasionally helped clean the church when asked. I was never abused by any priest or nun (oh, except for the above-mentioned nun who gave me an unexpected slap in the forehead for turning in my homework in less-than-pristine condition).

Being a Gay man, it was hard making the Catholic faith work for me. It seemed that everywhere I looked, when I started to mature and started having sexual feelings, I was made to feel like the very essence of my being was wrong. Catholicism, like many religions, is a heterosexual religion. There is no room in the Catholic thinking for Gay anybody. Oh, there are some clerics that “tolerate” us (condemn the sin, not the sinner), but most priests feel it’s okay to be Gay as long as you don’t act on the feelings. Wonder how many straight people are given that advice? 

I still proudly state that I am Catholic. My parents were loving and caring people that felt it was important for me and my eight siblings to have some understanding of God and the teachings of the Bible. I am grateful to have had parents that cared enough about me to teach me the difference between right and wrong and that there is a spiritual life.

I do get frustrated and angry sometimes at the clerics who claim that homosexuality is the cause of pedophile priests (sometimes I think these clerics protest too much). Perhaps these people should educate themselves to learn that most pedophiles are heterosexual (according to the American Psychological Association)? I have almost walked out on a couple of sermons where the priest, in a very self-righteous tone, pontificated on the fact (in his mind) that homosexuality is the cause of child abuse by priests (this same priest said in an earlier sermon that one of the people he most admired was Dr. Laura—are you kidding me?). 

I chalk these kinds of things up to ignorance and that a priest is just another human being and therefore subject to making mistakes. The fact that a couple of priests are uneducated about homosexuality cannot make me lose the core of my beliefs. 

I have had to pick and choose what parts of the Catholic faith work for me. However, I will always profess my faith as being Catholic. I will have to say, though, that I do have to “edit” the religious teachings of the church at times. However, I do believe in treating people right, forgiving people that do things that piss me off (I struggle with that one), attending Mass every Sunday, and loving God the best that I can. After all, God made me Gay.

As a footnote, I have a brother who is a Catholic priest. He is a loving, caring, devoted, and devout individual. He and I have discussed my being Gay. I was always tentative about discussing that with him. I was pretty sure he would be accepting of me no matter what. As it turns out, I was right. He told me not too long ago that if I ever met a man that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with that he was completely okay with that and would support me 100%. He’s a good guy, a great priest, and a wonderful brother.

Rush Limbaugh Think Tank -- Isn't this an oxymoron?

I thought it was pretty funny to hear that Rush Limbaugh's Think Tank filed bankruptcy a couple of weeks ago. You mean to tell me it took a group of opinionated morons to come up with the diatribe that comes out of that blowhard's mouth? I always thought he came up with his shock talk rants on his own. I had no idea it was a collaborative effort.

Sheesh. So, people have actual jobs where they think of horrible things to say about different groups of people--Gay people, liberals, women, African Americans. Paid hate. Whoa! Only in America. I may be different than most people, but I find that spewing hate over the airwaves isn't free speech. It's just bad taste. People like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter are the worst examples of human beings. They fuel people's paranoia, fears, prejudices, and biases. I know some people enjoy this because it gives them validation in believing it's okay to hate certain groups of people. As a result, some of these people act out against some of these groups in inappropriate ways (e.g., Fred Phelps and his family of hate mongers picketing soldiers' funerals because the United States government tolerates Gay people--although Freddie has been doing this way before the likes of Limbaugh and Coulter started their rants). Just another example of a person who has gone off the deep end when it comes to hating certain groups of people.

I just don't understand how people can buy into the hate and mean spirit of these uninformed idiots. Just makes me angry and sad. Just sayin'.

Bullying

I remember being the target of bullies in high school. Some of the comments suggested that I was a faggot, queer, whatever. Some of the comments by one individual suggested performing oral sex on him. I was even approached in the locker room by a naked jock who made sexual comments and suggestions to me. His gang of feeble-minded jerks thought it was the funniest thing they had ever seen. I was shaking after the encounter, mainly because of the general threat of violence by this guy's gang. For a teenager who is trying to come to terms with his sexuality, it scared me and made me feel like a freak and an outcast.

Needless to say, I hated grade school (where the harassment started) and hated high school even more. College was a little more accepting of who I was, though I wasn't exactly out of the closet then. I remember being blackmailed twice by two different students. One female, who wanted my position as an editor on the school paper, had seen me at a Gay bar with friends. She called me at home and told me she wanted me to resign from the paper, otherwise she would out me to everyone. Instead of knuckling under, I chose to take a chance and talk to the senior editor about it. It was extremely difficult to go into his office and discuss something I didn't feel comfortable talking about in general. After hemming and hawing for a few minutes, I just blurted out that I was Gay and was being blackmailed by a reporter on my staff.

I was surprised how he handled it. He told me he didn't understand the homosexual thing. He knew a few guys that were homosexual and thought they had a right to be who they were. He said no one had the right to blackmail someone the way this staff member was blackmailing me. He said he would take care of it. He fired the student and made sure that she never wrote for the college again.

Bottom line, no one should have to endure harassment because of who they are. I know there is a lot of ignorance in this world, but ignorance can kill. Words can hurt. Two out of three suicides of high school students are students who are Gay and have been harassed relentlessly at school.

Stop the ignorance. People cannot help how they are wired sexually. It's tough enough being Gay without all the stupidity that bombards you while you are trying to come to terms with it. You cannot change a Gay person anymore than a straight person can change into a Gay person. Just let people live their lives!

Stepping down from the soapbox now.

What I'm Doing Here

Actually, I'm not sure what I'm doing here. I thought it would be good to keep my writing skills up. I also thought it might be therapeutic to vent once in awhile on things that my friends aren't that into, but things that I feel passionate about--or things that tick me off that I would like to find a solution for.

A little about myself. I'm a freelance editor/writer/proofreader that also happens to be Gay (hence the 'Mo' part of the blog url--meaning a contraction of the word Ho 'mo' sexual). It took me a long time to get to the point that I could actually talk about being Gay. Being in the closet was exhausting--a word used by many Gay people to signify they were tired of lying about who they are, pretending to be something they weren't, and worrying constantly about being "discovered" as a Gay person. It is exhausting and I don't recommend the closet for anyone. There are people who feel like their lives would be in jeopardy if they came out to homophobes. I can sympathize. Still, if there is no threat of death or physical abuse, why hide who you are?

This is my first blog and hopefully there will be more to come.