Political Passion

I have been very disappointed lately when I realized that emotions are driving voting choices rather than reason. Recently in a political conversation with a friend I will call Jake, he said, “While I don’t like Kerry, I hate Bush even more.” When I inquired as to why Jake hated Bush, he quoted a whole string of questionable statistics in the form, “Did you know that Bush…” While Jake had some very valid points about Bush, most of the ‘facts’ were indeed not the whole picture. While I have no desire to defend Bush, I am interested in the truth. I am tired of these supposed ‘facts’ that have been taken out of context. I have been fortunate to take a class here at St. Thomas called Catholic Social Thought. In this class we have from time to time discussed some of these ‘facts’ by putting them into their proper context. To say the least this class has been an eye opener for me. I previously had very little to no concept of the global economy or of the ‘big picture’ that these issues belong in. While I still am no expert on any of these topics, I feel a little less ignorant, and a little more able to vote using my intellect instead of my passions. After putting doubt on most of Jake's ‘facts’ he could only say, “Look, I hate Bush and everything he stands for. I will never vote for him. Ever.” Where is reason? Where is the intellect? Why all this deep hatred? The response was, “Everything I read, everything I hear, all my discussions about him; they all lead to the only answer: Bush is never to be trusted.” What is Jake reading, listening to, and who is he talking to? I was a bit ashamed to learn that Jake has bought into the media ninety five percent – the liberal media. I feel as if Jake is not the only one with this problem. Many of us have become lazy, including me. We want the information handed to us while we sit back and enjoy life. We put too much trust in the media, accepting what they tell us unless it sounds too suspicious. But the media is deceptive and manipulating. They give us a mixture of truth and lies; with enough truth to get us to buy in to the lies. So because Jake doesn’t like Bush, he naturally latches onto all of the anti-Bush media. The anti-Kerry people are the same way, latching onto the media of their preference. They all hear what they want to hear and reject most everything else. They allow their passions to dictate their motives and choices while reason and intellect get the back seat. I was, and still am to a certain extent, one of these people. Most of us are if we are honest. I hope that we can get beyond our passions and engage our intellect when we vote this November.