Raging Moderate

Today’s group of politicians come directly from the people. Unfortunately, the group of people who seem to actually vote are often very unintelligent or very prone to extremist rhetoric and sound bite instead of the informed masses that Thomas Jefferson said was vital in keeping our democracy based representative form of government. It wasn’t too many years ago where the 2 political parties of the

United States represented 2 sides of the same coin. Different views, but both remembered they were part of America. Debate was intelligent and thoughtful. There was the realization that both Democratic ideas and Republican ideas both had merits. Elections were still based on the best man for the job to represent the voice of his or her constituents. But back then, the flow was a 2 way street. Representatives not only conveyed his people’s issues to Washington DC, they also informed and educated their constituents on the issues confronting the country in an honest and straightforward way. It took guts, an ability to communicate well, persuasive abilities, and “Leadership” to be able to do this. Fast forward to today, and you see that leadership is lacking in the congress with the representatives we send there. Instead of “Representatives”, they’ve been largely replaced by political “Hacks”. People who’ll appeal to your fears to get you to vote, go to congress and do nothing productive and call it “Standing on their principals” and then will tell you whatever you want to hear when they come back, regardless as to how ridiculously impractical or even flat out wrong something is. As a result, large numbers of regular voters have been turned off. In many places, consider that primary elections draw out only 12% of the voting public. Think about that: “88% of the people registered to in an election simply stay home! That means the only people who DO show up are mostly people at the fringes. Those who were whipped up by some issue or some candidate for some cause. Elections are no longer about which candidate is the better person or has the best choice….it’s all about which candidate can get the most people to the polls…Nothing more. The end result has been a number of politicians and representatives who are not skilled or even interested in actual governing, or legislating, or even working to realistically address issues that they themselves may have ran on. What we end up with are large numbers of people in government who more resemble cult figures with followers who believe everything that’s said, despite the fact that facts are available only a few key clicks away. Today it’s almost impossible to have INTELLIGENT and INFORMED discussions based on REAL issues, without being pigeonholed into a “Liberal” vs “Conservative” category. Even worse, is that the moment that you depart from what someone has as a script as to what a “conservative” or “liberal” is, in order to address real problems or point out facts about the Constitution and our Founding Fathers, you’re instantly labeled a traitor and verbally bullies or ridiculed back into line. As ignorance guides votes, and becomes those we elect, it affects the entire country until the majority of informed people are motivated to bring the country back from the fringe, both by returning to the voting booth and others by running for office. There needs to be a place where people can discuss views and ideas, not from the cage of being a “Conservative” or a “Liberal”, but by a solid grasp of the REAL problems, a genuine knowledge of (or a willingness to actually do an internet check themselves) the facts of whatever the issue is, and at least a passing knowledge of the Constitution and knowing the difference between it and the Articles of Confederation (the document whose contents many mistake for coming from the Constitution, even though this document was discarded in 1790 when the Constitution was ratified). I created this page based on the premise that we all as Americans MUST stop demonizing those we disagree with and realize that there isn't a person in America that's 100% conservative or liberal, but at the same time hold people who base positions and views on false information instead of facts (checking info is only a few clicks away, so there's no excuse). It can be humorous, so have fun. Everyone wants safe streets (conservative) and everyone wants our seniors protected (liberal). There’s no genuine negative political case about a person who wants to migrate to the US for a better life (especially if we’ve been doing it since our existence), nor is there one against a person living their private life and who they marry or the name of the God they worship. There is no Constitutional right against being offended, and that includes religious reasons. While our politicians have stopped working by digging up these issues, we still have national debt piling up, an infrastructure that’s going to pieces, healthcare that’s the most expensive and inefficient on the planet, schools that need attention, a tax code that’s extraordinarily complex and loaded with loopholes, and a host of other issues being ignored. This page is perhaps a small step in the direction of, or maybe a small contribution to the goal of getting the country on track to get real answers to real problems with the realization that both Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, and libertarians have something to add to the conversation and views that can help genuinely solve problems. Let's recognize that every political view is legitimate to those that hold them and that the purpose of democracy is to debate these views and the side that convinces the most people (voters) wins till the next election. Otherwise I seriously doubt our system will last another generation let alone get any of the country's problems resolved.

- Guion McCoy
USCG Retired