I’m a political junkie after years soaked in political activity in and around Santa Barbara. Political discourse and activities are such an amazing reflection of the state of our society not to mention the real impact on our daily lives.
I’ve been following the current Presidential primaries very closely. If it isn’t already clear, I definitely lean toward a more progressive viewpoint. That being said, it is interesting to follow the rhetoric of the various candidates and parties.
Striking to me is how certain candidates so depend on fear…fear of recession, terrorists, gays, immigrants, renewable energy. Candidates running on ‘fear’ is truly a troubling sign. Fear causes people to revert to very primal reactions of fight or flight and worrying about consequences of their decisions later. Fear causes people to set aside important values and promises in order to satisfy a very short term need to feel safe.
Unfortunately, fear has been used to lower the quality of our country’s dialog about our own future and take numerous legislative action that have severely damaged our own freedom and ability to control our destiny since the 9/11 attacks.
For that reason, I have been drawn closely to the message of hope and inspiration of Barack Obama. Speaking from experience, to run on ‘hope’ and ‘optimism’ isn’t easy in the best of times. In contemporary times of daily “orange” and “red” terror alerts, it is even more difficult.
Senator Obama’s appeal for people to believe that we can achieve more together and united is utterly refreshing and directs people toward reaching for a higher level.
Many are skeptical of Obama’s calls for hope and understandably so given how much this country has suffered for the past seven years under fear based governance.
Inspired Governance:
As I’ve evolved as a person, I’ve realized that this is how I want to live my life. I want to continually live an inspired life, reaching for new ground and creating a better world. I want to live on a higher level where we are constantly pushing each other to live positively, passionately. I want to see us harness the power of our minds and passions to create a better planet.
Life is too precious and short to let fear dictate your destiny. I want a president to call on his countrymen and women to make powerful movements and sacrifices to make our country energy independent, to become the world’s environmental and climate leader, to excel in brokering peace deals amongst warring nations, to be on the cutting edge of sustainable business models and practices, to attack global health and hunger epidemics.
I want to be inspired and I want our country to inspire others.
In my opinion, this is what we the people should be seeking in our current and future leaders.
Please take a moment to engage the current election, arguably the most important in decades.
A fascinating site for political discourse:
And if you want to laugh (very important) about politics: The Onion
