Political Koolaid

On Sunday, at church, a CD showed up from nowhere (or at least no one owned up to it 😉 – It had a medley of patriotic songs like America the Beautiful and the Star Spangled Banner. It became our entrance music and our starting point for the day. It was amazing how moved we all were. It came to my mind that we are entering one of the most heated political elections that has taken place in our country. A time when we probably need a bit more guidance from above rather than blindly trusting what we’ve convinced ourselves to be true.
In some ways this is bad. Normally sane people find themselves slinging mud and even blindly parroting political spin simply because it is put out by their “party”. Fights, or at least strong words, are coming between friends and families where BOTH people have most of the SAME values. You can’t help but think someone slipped a Micky in their Koolaid, or maybe it’s just an invasion of Pod people.
All parties (for even Independents have weighed in with some ugly statements) are putting the strongest spin they can on each and every point of fact – real or imagined. Looked at from a distance it is stunning how someone can attack a leader with an accusation that can be applied to their own candidate, yet still whip their followers into a frenzy. Once someone has chosen a camp they dutifully put on their blinders and parrot the party line.
That being said, there may be some good to come out of this hoopla. I remember a comic that had a pollster asking “How do you feel about ignorance and apathy in America?” the response : “I don’t know and I don’t care”.
I have been blessed to have spent some time in other countries. How does America rate on turnout at elections? We’re number 55 on the list when you compare us to the world. Democracy is based on finding the opinion of the majority of the people effected. How can that be found when barely more than half of the voters take the time to show up? So on the good hand, maybe this season we will see stronger turnouts and get a more accurate idea of what people want – in a perfect world.
However, this brings us full circle to the question of spin and truth. So many people are following (and “share-ing/pin-ing”) their media of choice. So few are researching facts on their own.

No matter who you support, I ask you to take a step back today. Look at the arguments with fresh eyes. Research a bit to try and dig for some truth. It’s not easy to find right now. Otherwise, Our voting may show less of what voters want and more of who has the strongest Kool-aid.