Political polarization: The monkey wrench in our societal machine.

[Paradoxical]

We all do it. I have done it myself.

But it's become particularly overt recently.

There are threads talking about how Obama is a war criminal. There are other threads talking about how that's crazy and whoever said it is clearly lying or insane. And there are still other threads talking about how candidate A, while being dishonest and criminal, is still better than candidate B; and that somehow lets candidate A off the hook for all the terrible things.

I think it's about time that we stop and examine the types of political leaders we endorse and why we endorse them. Instead of screeching about how they compare to other terrible leaders (or possibly even good leaders), we need to examine their actions and respond accordingly.

Take, for instance, President Obama. The actions he and his administration have taken over the past two years include things that the international community considers illegal and immoral. Even within the US, we can find actions taken by this administration that were certainly immoral at best and illegal and destructive at worst.

But from another perspective, Obama has done a lot of very good things for this country and for the World at large.

So what kind of human being or leader does that make him? I'm not entirely sure. I'm not sure that we should be bothering with such questions.

He's not the angel that a lot of us thought we were electing. And I think it's important to recognize that. It's a good first step. But at some point we need to move beyond that. We need to stop bickering.

This infighting gets us absolutely no where. In fact, it serves as nothing more than a distraction. It's a red herring.

We should be spending our time holding leaders accountable for their actions instead of pondering an infinite number of possible worlds that could have occurred had we elected someone else. Because, in the end, it's not any single action that constitutes a person. We are incredibly dynamic beings. We all have dark sides and we all have our inner angels.

What's important is that we not dismiss political discourse in favor of perpetuating these nonsense archetypes. If in the end we are standing atop a sinking ship with our noses held high because we feel that we have maintained our moral superiority, we are still standing atop a sinking ship. And the tedious and tiresome search for moral equivalency will get nothing accomplished.

Instead of allowing us to discuss our hope, our future plans and how to alleviate current issues, it pushes us into the past. It forces us to consistently make excuses instead of finding solutions.

I don't know, I just think this is a serious ailment in the political world. Especially within the United States.

[JDPriestly]

1. Paradoxical,

So, what are you trying to say?