“Doesn’t matter who you vote for.”

Apathy for our elected officials is exactly what got us here in the first place. And it’s that mentality those who seek power want from those they seek power over. Way to enable socialism and surrender your right to vote. Don’t vote people they are all crooks! Your vote doesn’t count anyway! What’s one vote among millions?

Seriously?

I can’t believe I am going to agree with a couple of the bloggers on here with my next comment. But if you don’t vote then really you don’t have a right to ***** about any of them. At least in my opinion. Vote left, right, middle, up, or down that’s your call. But do your duty as a citizen and vote.

Though I appreciate your comment, I’m not sure why you would tell me to “get over it”. Most of this article consists of a comparative analysis and is largely objective based on data that I have supplied from what I consider to be reliable sources. If you truly hate politics, then you are quite possibly chiming in on the wrong site.

“People have been freaking out because Obama’s job approval is lower. I would think this would be good news. It means we’re not going into war, we’re not going into disaster, it means everything is peaceful so all people can do is be ultra critical of the President.”

Or it could also mean that people have been growing increasingly disillusioned.

I guarantee you that if tomorrow another attack as big as Pearl Harbor or 9/11 happened, that Obama’s approval ratings would sky rocket.

Though I am diametrically opposed to almost everything you say politically, I also understand that you are sincere and intellectually honest.

Based on the definition of cynical that you provided, I suppose that does indeed fit me and my overall view of the nature of man. But let’s face it, I wouldn’t be this way if mankind weren’t inherently evil.

I’m not sure how important it is for me to have “political friends”. As I’ve mentioned to you before, my views often estrange me from both liberals and conservatives. When I talk about big govt, as an example, the liberals go crazy (as has been evidenced by comments on this very blog), when I talk about my disdain for the war and/or for the Patriot Act, many conservatives kick me to the curb. This is why the only political friend I need is that little guy called my conscience who forces me to be true to myself.

Peace

I’ll admit biased is an overused meaningless term. Everyone is biased. I’d like to think I’m slanted toward the optimistic and I think it’s it’s healthy.

But I’d say cynical is a valid label for your current world view in the context of politics.

cyn·i·cal
“distrusting or disparaging the motives of others. bitterly or sneeringly distrustful, contemptuous, or pessimistic.”

I know that you try to be balanced but your attempts to show balance by slandering everyone on either side just leaves you with no viable political friends.

But that’s OK, political minds can turn on a dime… and hey, maybe it will be my mind changed. Stranger things have happened. We share a couple of conspiracy theories in common already and I’m still open to listening to your narrative if you’ll continue to consider mine.

I didn’t post the charts to refute anything you said, but to add to it.
And I want to make it clear, the reason I respond to your posts is as an outlet or expression. I have no other ulterior motive other than that the topic of religion and politics is as intriguing to me as it obviously is to you. I suspect the brief history we have in common is a testament to why this is true. The word “philosophy” means to love truth, and perhaps God has lead us both down this similar path to intersect again for a reason, because we share this love.

So I want to be clear that when I talk of conservatives and use expressions like “difficult to argue with someone who dislikes you not for what you think, but for who you are,” or “There’s a sense of entitlement, of righteousness … and indignation for anyone else,” it’s very important to me that you understand that I am not necessarily thinking of you in these terms. This is not an underhanded slight or attempt to turn the issue of discussion back on you in any way. If I was talking about you in particular I would be direct about it.

The reason I bring religion into the political arena myself is because I hear conservatives do it all the time, and it reminds me very much of my own struggles within the church. In my previous post I alluded to the fact that I think JILC was a cult. Well, after leaving that particular assembly, I found that, low and behold, the same struggle against self-righteousness, over-zealous conservatism, alienation, and hypocrisy was being waged in the world in it’s politics as well!

You can only imagine how frustrating and perplexing it has been for me to find that many of the same people that I know who also considered their experiences with occultist Christianity (not all Christianity) to be negative, had continued the same traditions and philosophy later in life. Like those suffering from Stockholm syndrome, they have turned into sympathizers with their antagonists, perpetuating the haunting legacy with a world-view that is narrow and closed minded and ultimately self-righteous. Since it is my assertion that the entire New Testament was essentially a message of liberalism and against legalism, this grieves and confuses me.

And there aren’t that many people I can talk to about it that would really understand what I’m saying. I mean, I know you won’t agree with me on all points but at least I get the feeling that you have the same issues on your mind. And, I also feel like your opinion is logical, with perhaps the potential to balance mine, to provide a reflection that is likely to be relevant to me.

Anyway, I just want you to understand my motivation. Peace.

I find your forceful comments kind of surprising since this article was basically written from a 3rd-person perspective, until the very end. And even those statements were mild, as far as I’m concerned. The “opinions” of liberals and conservatives came from tons of conversations with both.

Regarding speaking from emotion, it often goes both ways.

Of course you would find my opinions “biased and cynical”, because they differ from yours. I choose to call them “informed and realistic”.

Regarding your Gallup poll, the one that I supplied at the top of this article obviously is a combination of the 3 graphs you supplied resulting in an overall 50% popularity rate in early January. Those graphs refuted nothing but only confirmed mine, which makes sense since I doubt that Gallup would contradict itself. The main point is that the Liberal and Conservative groups that are represented show that the President’s poll numbers have been steadily declining since July. Independents actually show a slight spike. But again, the overall poll numbers have been dropping and, as of 2 months ago, were right around 50%. In addition, though Obama is obviously still very popular among liberals, his numbers are dropping nonetheless.