Dear Liza,
In all the time
I have known you, I’ve always thought of you as a second mother and you were
the one with the more drastic views in life. You have always told your own
children and I, that life should be free and that we need to find our own happiness
because we live in a society where it is dangerous to be different. I have
always taken to heart all the teachings that my parents, you and other
important people in my life have imparted onto me, but at the same time as I
grew up I learned to question these teachings and see if I believe them the
same way and with the help of your son we decided that we didn’t think that all
the teachings were right. We believe that society, as a whole would excel if we
could get rid of the far extremes of liberal and conservative. From our
reasoning if we got rid of the extremes, what we are then left with are:
open-minded conservatives who can compromise or at least can understand the
reasons for some kind of change, and liberals who have more pride in their nation
and get the drive to want to create change in the ways that they need to be. I
know I’m biased from the way I grew up and I’ll always tend to agree with
liberals but I think society would be able to move forward if we stop bickering
between two separate political powers fighting just because it makes them look
good, instead of fighting for the people they represent.
The two sides on
paper look like they keep each other in balance, but in reality all the
political powers do is bicker and try to take the opponent down with slander
and yellow journalism. The conservatives take the side of the individual, pumps
them full of information that takes most of its leads from the bible. The
liberals are all about the community and making it a better place for everyone
rather than yourself.
Conservatives,
stand of the side of the individual giving them more rights and if they’re the
same as the mass population than all the more power to them. Many conservatives
believe that gay marriage, abortion, and gun control should be illegal. I think
that they come to these conclusions because they feel scared that someone is
trying to take away something they hold dear such as specific laws or laws from
their religion. They tend to make a bigger fit about whatever the issue is and
that seems like it can be very effective because they make people see their
side more and more, but the downfall of the conservative way of thinking is,
they think in terms of personal gain and religion which makes they’re decisions
to be extreme because all through out history when someone’s personal and/or
religious views are challenged (even in a discussion setting), people tend to
over-react and act defensively. “We support the traditional
definition of “marriage” as the legal union of one man and one woman, and we
believe that federal judges and bureaucrats should not force states to
recognize other living arrangements as marriages. We do not believe sexual
preference should be given special legal protection or standing in law” (Republican Platform adopted at GOP National Convention Aug
12, 2000). They seem
to take the side of choosing to take away the rights of someone that doesn’t
quite fit into the cookie cutter version of people that the conservative’s like
to project to the general public.
On the complete
other side the liberals, side with that of society. They try to make things
better for all of society making everything better not just the betterment of a
small group of people. “We support the right of all families
to have equal respect, responsibilities, and protections under the law. We
support marriage equality and support the movement to secure equal treatment
under law for same-sex couples. We also support the freedom of churches and
religious entities to decide how to administer marriage as a religious
sacrament without government interference”(2012 Democratic Party
Platform Sep 4, 2012).
Unfortunately their fatal flaw is that they don’t make as big of a deal as the
conservatives do because they don’t feel like their beliefs are being attacked
thus making them not feel defensively and people who are being defensive are
much more prone to lash out, attack, and fight because they feel like there is
no way out of a situation without attacking.
We as humans
want to fight; we want contests to see who is right or better, its evident in
every society, even in animals. We want to outshine the others and be noticed
as an alpha. For a better, more efficient society we need to stop the fighting
(at least when it comes to important subjects like political gain and the
economy), so we as a culture can compromise, agree and get on with other issues
instead of fighting and attacking because a view on something is different.
Liza, I thought
of you when I started thinking of this and how it could help you in the future.
In my mind we can achieve this by talking to the people around us and spread
the knowledge of what could be in society, instead of all of this fighting.
With good
intentions,
Eli
Sierra-Trustman
Works Cited
"Democratic Party in 2012 Democratic Party Platform." 2012 Democratic Party Platform
Adopted by Democratic National Convention. N.p., 8 Sept. 2012. Web. 26
May 2013.
"Republican Party in 2000 Republican Party Platform." 2000 Republican Party Platform.
N.p., 29 Sept. 2012. Web. 26 May 2013.