This Is Politics, Not War

I’m a person with passionately held political views. I don’t deny that and I do not intend to change it either. However, I think that some people are kind of confused about the distinction between Politics and War.

This video is of a U.S. Soldier being shot in the chest. He is a U.S. Medic. He survives thanks to his body armor. The shooter was wounded in the ensuing firefight. Guess who treated his wounds?

Ugly things happen in war. Ugly things happen in politics but in U.S. politics, people don’t shout praises to their deity as they pump hot lead into your body.

Ask yourself this question, do you view Hurricane Gustav as a tragedy or an opportunity to paint your political opponents in a poor light. Do you feel the same about War? If you don’t like your answers you need to re-evaluate what you are doing with your life.

Political discussion is the air that democracy breathes. Long live debate, long live passionately held views.

During Hurricane Katrina the Interstates were clogged, people were running out of fuel and becoming stranded in the storm's path. A woman driving along saw another SUV with a family very similar to her own. She began to ease over onto the shoulder to see if she could render some aid. When she got close to the stranded vehicle she noticed a sticker from the 2004 election on the SUV. She was so enraged by it that she left the family stranded there. Sound farfetched? I only know of it because she was proud enough of her actions to post it on a popular political site. The controversy caused that site to pull the original post and the hundreds of positive responses as well.

If this is a war, which kind of soldier do you want to be? One who shouts in exaltation as he tries to kill his neighbor, or one who disagrees yet still treats them as human.

Could we all agree to tone down the “War Room,” “Shell Shocked,” “In the Trenches,” “Bunker,” mentality and realize this is an election and after November America will survive and you’ll still disagree with your neighbor about politics. In the mean time if you must be a political “Warrior,” why not try to be like the soldier in the video above, who treated the wounds of the man who shot him.