Politics of Confusion

IF THERE IS ANYONE WHO SHOULD KNOW U.S. POLTICS, IT’S ME…

…Although I’m sorry to say, with just a few short weeks left serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, I know practically nothing about current politics. It’s strange to think that someone who is sworn to uphold and defend this country’s constitution would know little about what’s really going on out there. But I don’t think I’m the only one.

I believe a majority of service members wouldn’t have a clue as to what’s really going on, besides the troop withdrawls and where their next deployment may take them. And that goes for many people throughout the U.S. in general; no one really knows what’s happening out there. Even the politicians seem confused. Sure, there is the issue with the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the problems we faced with Medicare (or Obamacare, or Medicaid – take your pick), and the ongoing national debt crisis.

Most people who don’t live in a mud hut know about these things. Even better, most people seem to have opinions about these things, and EVERYONE has someone to blame: Liberals, Conservatives, Immigrants, Terrorists, CHINA, the World Bank, the President, Congress, Abraham Lincoln, Billy Mays, Me, You, Whoever.

I’m not complaining though. In fact, I’m okay with it. We don’t live in a state of martial law yet and I still earn money (despite the fact that were in an economic depression). So I’m happy, or at least I’m expected to be – although I did quit my cable service the other month. Everyone around me seems to be okay with these things too. Their cable still works, they’re still able to afford fuel for their gas guzzling trucks, their Facebook profile is still active, and Domino’s still delivers. We are all okay. No one is dying. No one is homeless. No one is hungry. We are complacent, and we’re okay.

I’m only a term soldier, not a proud career veteran, but I’ve learned a few things. One thing that’s really stuck, is that complacency kills. In combat, it literally kills people. But back in the real world (as veterans call it for some strange reason), complacency kills motivation. Not simply the motivation to get out of bed in the morning, but the motivation that makes us ask why? The kind that makes us want to poke our heads out of our warm little nests and grasp with both hands the situation sitting outside our doorsteps. The kind of motivation that makes you want to do something about THIS.

I told the cable company to cancel my service for a couple reasons: 1) I was playing too much Call of Duty and not watching enough T.V. 2) It was outrageously priced, and 3) Everything I saw on T.V. was making me sick. There is no escaping the barrage of political infomercials in between every show you watch these days. Plenty of shows on T.V. are just that: Infomercials! Or rather Infotainment.

Everything on the news channels is bad. I can’t fathom how much debt this countries in, especially right after a U.S. Chinook carrying 30 plus troops is shot out of the sky, or when scores of children died in Africa today and scores more will die tomorrow. I can’t fathom how much debt were in period. What are these numbers that are thrown out there? Billion-dollar bailouts? DOW Jones is up? Good, I guess. We’ve passed our national debt ceiling? So can we still spend money? Apparently so. And how much is it? More than a trillion dollars? Who comes up with these figures?

I’m not a spooked out conspiracy freak barricading myself in my mom’s basement. The facts are out there, and they’re not pretty. What I really want to know is, WHAT IS GOING ON?

If you have any solid information (from a RELIABLE source), please, see my e mail. If you are as clueless as me, feel free to vent your frustration. Next, I will attempt to burry myself under a mound of documents, blogs, and news articles related to current U.S. politics in an attempt to gain enough information for my next blog, or to confuse myself farther down the rabbit hole.