J-Mac’s Weblog

Just whatever comes to mind…

Agree to Disagree

With the presidential election underway, this is a time where we need to learn to agree to disagree. Sure it would be nice to have everybody agree with us, but wouldn’t the world be pretty boring. Also with a bunch of yes men and women we would eventually spiral in a very dangerous direction. It takes people with different ideas to keep the checks and balances in order.

Personally, I’m liberal in some areas (social issues), but I’m more conservative fiscally. With this I tend to agree with portions of different politicians views. This usually puts me at odds with others. The majority of the people I talk to about politics are either very conservative or very liberal. Being neither myself I’ve learned to listen and bite my tongue the majority of the time. I hear people profess that the end of the world will come if candidate xyz is elected. They can never see any good from an opponent. Sure there are candidates I really don’t want, but I try to see the pluses and minuses of each candidate.

In the media we tend to hear the views of the extremes. This tends to push the rest of us out of the discussion because the extremes don’t want to listen. If we could agree to disagree I think the middle would join the discussion more often and we could get a better view of what the United States as a whole believes.

February 3, 2008 - Posted by 1jmac | politics | | 15 Comments

15 Comments »

  1. There are many who despise “agreeing to disagree”. Those are the ones who like to sensationalize news, feign a stance rather than take one, push virtue for others and not so much for themselves.

    Although many think it is somewhat naive, I am always Orwellian in my views regarding politics. I once heard someone say, when speaking of voting for the presidency of the United States of America, “I can’t trust anyone that would want that job”.

    I have always loved that sentiment. Just remember, “We Are All Equal. Some of us are more equal than others.”

    Comment by NIAC | February 6, 2008 | Reply

  2. I think I first started thinking this way when I was dating my ex-husband. He was a republican and I’m a democrat. We used to joke that we both needed to make sure we voted so we could cancel each other out.

    Now Mona is registered as an independent and has been brought up more conservatively, but she seems to want to vote however I vote. I try to tell her that is is ok if she disagrees with me and wants to vote a different way, but she doesn’t tend to do that. She never paid attention to politics before she met me.

    When I originally was going to write this it wasn’t specifically about politics. It could be about any subject that has polarizing views. I will probably be writing about one of those “polarizing” topics shortly. :-)

    Comment by 1jmac | February 6, 2008 | Reply

  3. Sweet. I’ll keep my eye on it. ;)

    Comment by NIAC | February 6, 2008 | Reply

  4. Hi Jules. Politics is a part of us all, a part of us all. LOL Sorry, Simpsons flashback. =) I am for the most part a politician at heart. It is an arena that needs to realize that homes and families can be split based on political views.

    I know that it has been a chore for me to get friends of mine to vote to their full potential but they still choose to only vote for one candidate and not fill the ballot and fully utilize their voice.

    Politics is a personal position based in public opinion. =)

    Comment by E_Dragon | February 7, 2008 | Reply

  5. I agree that you should write here, ya turd.

    Let Mona in here…she can tell us all about what you are REALLY like.

    :D

    Comment by NIAC | May 8, 2008 | Reply

  6. ahahahah…

    Jules, can you change “her” to “here”, please.

    Comment by NIAC | May 8, 2008 | Reply

  7. I know… I know… I’ve been letting games get in the way of writing. :-)

    Comment by 1jmac | May 8, 2008 | Reply

  8. LOL

    Comment by NIAC | May 8, 2008 | Reply

  9. As sad as it may sound, I do believe that the world (in terms of nations) is ruled by finance and politics. I’ve always loved the line from Godfather III, “Finance is a gun. Politics is knowing when to pull the trigger.”

    I think if more people, in every position of life, were to agree to disagree, there would be a lot fewer itchy trigger fingers. Instead, it seems that the allure of power drags even the most moral of leaders in to the shadows of political corruption. I am thankful that there are still some who seem able to resist.

    I think I’ve had a similar discussion with Dragon, where I said that it is just (general) human nature to want to argue a point. I’m paraphrasing myself, of course … my memory is fading. ;) Anyway, if we could do exactly what you are saying and agree to disagree a little more, the world could move forward to being an even more amazing place.

    There, that was my “happy/positive” thought process for the month.
    :D

    pEaCe,

    Comment by Rain | July 3, 2008 | Reply

  10. Thanks Rain!!!

    There is a decent chance I will be practicing my “agreeing to disagree” stance in my household for this presidential election. Mona and I get bombarded with mis-information from her Dad about Obama on almost a daily basis. 90% of it is false (and I have told him that…), but I think it has had some impact on Mona. She’s not sure who she wants to support.

    That’s ok though. I used to be married to a republican and we always voted opposite in the presidential elections. We would joke that we would both have to make sure to vote to cancel each other out.

    Comment by 1jmac | July 10, 2008 | Reply

  11. OMG…

    A comment on your WP blog showed up in my FeedReader and almost broke it.

    :D

    I thought that your comment said that Mona is bombarding you with mis-information from her Dad. LOL.

    Comment by NIAC | July 10, 2008 | Reply

  12. Yeah rain has inspired me to put some work into this. Well at least inspired me to think about putting some work into this. :-D

    Comment by 1jmac | July 10, 2008 | Reply

  13. Looking good Jules. :) Food for thought, well a bumper sticker that is paraphrased at least:

    Politicians are like diapers. You have to change them regularly and for the same reason every time.

    LOL Hey! Wait, I am a politician. What a world this place would be if all politicians had a good laugh at themselves. =)

    Comment by E_Dragon | July 10, 2008 | Reply

  14. Hi Julie, just found your blog through the GAP WP site.

    “Personally, I’m liberal in some areas (social issues), but I’m more conservative fiscally.”

    That’s called libertarian, and what baffles me in the US is that while a large portion of sensible people under 50 are libertarian these days (the Ron Paul movement had much to do with that), neither principle party seems to cater to them. The US Libertarian party doesn’t even represent a libertarian voice that well, as they tend towards the extreme libertarian fringe to distinguish themselves, guaranteeing they’ll never grab a significant portion of the vote.

    I’ve grown to distrust and dislike the entire system in Canada, to the point I wouldn’t bother voting. But I do believe you really have to vote, so I vote “protest parties” (fringe parties with no chance, whom most people vote for to express their displeasure with the mainstream parties), something we generally have a lot more of in Canada.

    At any rate, I enjoyed the read, keep thinking about putting more work into this! :)

    Comment by dharmabum | July 22, 2008 | Reply

  15. Thanks for stopping by dharmabum. I do like some of the libertarian ideals, but in general they are little too conservative for my taste. I know around here the Ron Paul supporters are die hards. They won’t quit even if he has. :-)

    When I really don’t like the choices I have (generally local elections), I have done a write in vote for “Any Body Else”.

    Comment by 1jmac | July 22, 2008 | Reply


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