There's Nothing Wrong With Being Political

“There’s Nothing Wrong With Being Political”

By

K. R. King

I am not usually the one to go on long rants, but recent events have led me to do so. When people say “it’s all just political”, I bristle and I grit my teeth, and there’s pushback. Shouldn’t fighting for what you believe in be a political thing? Isn’t that the point of politics?

Being “political” is exactly how women the right to vote, and being “political” is how we engage our governments to do what we believe is in the best interest of ALL people, not just a few. I am saddened by this whole issue. Republicans v. Democrats—blue v. red-war games and power plays. Me vs. you.

That’s not what being political should mean.

It should mean we truly listen to each other, that we consider everyone’s perspective, and chart an actionable course forward together.

I watched a lot of constant blaming and shaming between the parties, and not one time does either side stop and say, I hear your point, and I will consider it in good faith. But insulting each other is a non-starter.

Hypocrisy in politics and a continued effort to prop up the wealthy, to prioritise their greed over the urgent needs of the average, everyday you and me completely undermines democracy. It in and of itself is self-sabotaging. It happens to every first-world country—the US, the UK, Australia. This is a global issue. It affects every single human being on the planet.

Who will stand up for you and me?

You know, the actual "regular" people...?

I just don’t see how, based on FACTUAL info, anyone can support a government that is supposed to be by and for the people, NOT THE RULING PARTY! The US is a Democratic Republic. In a democratic republic, sound judgment, objectivity and character above reproach are critical in establishing trust between the representatives of the People and the People themselves.

We place our faith in trust in our leadership to do what is right, just and reasonable on our behalf-not simply for the benefit of cementing power or a sixth term in office. Power to the People, not the elite, not the ruling party, and not to those unfit to lead. In fact, I believe the Electoral College should be abolished. Actually, as we continue to drown in this fresh Hell we've known as a pandemic, I'm starting to sense a need to abolish the government entirely.

I fear the US is freakishly approaching a new system, if we haven't already fallen prey to it: oligarchic theocracy.

Be honest. Has your leader, the person who represents you, actually voted the way you would on key issues that affect your daily life?

Why do you keep voting to send back the same damn people? Why are you angry? If you don’t see a strong candidate who you trust to vote the way you would if it were you so you chose not to vote, then why complain? Be that person, or put up a new name. Voting is all we the people have, and even our system is under attack.

Putin doesn’t believe democracy works.

We’re proving him RIGHT.

Many of the Founding Fathers and Framers of our precious Constitution were Deists, slave owners and even the men who fought for Emancipation still didn’t believe in equal rights and protections for the very people they had just freed! Even Lincoln wasn't terribly keen! And, as an aside regarding Emancipation, all it did was say they were free as long as they could get back to the Union side, so if you were already wherever you were, good luck getting back. And again, it didn't provide the same rights as white men had, so it really wasn't sufficient. It was a bandaid solution.

And this is what happens when old wounds fester.

But let's get it right.

Subjugation of any kind in this modern age is just plain wrong. We the People have been subjugated. Because each of us is a member of the society in which we live, by turning away and ignoring these pressing systemic iniquities, we are just as culpable. You can't tell me that with so many billions of God-fearing people, that we're OK with the state of our world.

We must listen closely to what is happening, and make up our own minds objectively, using reason and not resentment or reprisal. Most importantly, we need to acknowledge the validity of valid counterarguments. We depend in each other to look out for all of us. American exceptionalism is nonsense, and so is Manifest Destiny. It’s all complete nonsense! We go out into the world playing “Team America: World Police” while a cold civil war tears us apart here at home.

Do what is right. Not what is easy.

For ALL. Not some.

Times change, public sentiment changes, and not always for the better when temperance and restraint are not shown.

I believe the two-party system is dead.

I believe most people fall somewhere in between on the political spectrum.

I believe democratic socialism may be the answer, but people will call me a “commie”, a “traitor”.

Facts are facts.

I believe universal healthcare is a human right.

We owe it to each other to care about our fellow man. We need each other more than many people would care to admit.

We all pay into programs designed to meet various human needs. And we must admit that we all have at various points in time relied on or benefited from them.

I don’t believe anyone is truly successful on their own, that there anyone alive or dead who didn’t have the support of others to get where they are now, or even just to get by. Class warfare has to end, and the only way to end it to snuff it out. We must agree that all life has inherent value and will never be predicated on a person's productivity or ability to work.

Come down from your high horses. Should we use government to protect the People from those who would misuse or take advantage of our systems? Of course.

I believe people should enter legally and follow the law, unless they are seeking asylum for legitimate reasons.

I do not believe that people who are in a country illegally should be issued driver licences, nor have access to social services unless/until they able to secure some type of residency through legal means.

However, I also do not believe in separating families and detaining children indefinitely, and I do not support the deportation of men or women who wee promised citizenship in exchange for military service.

In fact, I think we have a solution there.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

I spend a great deal of time seeking facts, credible and scholarly, unbiased facts.

The FACT is, in the US, it is historically proven that states with Democratic leaderships experience more success economically and from a budgetary standpoint.

I get that it’s easy to bog down the system with red tape and get mired in bureaucracy and minutiae, the little things that slow government down, but the statistics also suggest that the converse is also sadly true. When Republicans have the majority, their states’ economies tend to suffer.

Republicans like to attack Dems as the “tax and spend” party, but look at the facts, the data is publicly available.

Reagan’s administration spent more than the last four combined. Not difficult to find this info.

I understand Republicans’ efforts to streamline government and back off of overcomplicating certain areas of economics, and I tend to vote against tax increases unless I support the reasons for the tax.

I voted against the gas tax here in California.

I voted against tax increases I didn’t agree with, and for those I felt would benefit everyone in the long run-not just myself.

I believe the education system in the US, particularly in California, is failing students on a cataclysmic scale.

Even when compared to other states, California’s teacher credentialing process is bloated, unnecessary and STILL ineffective.

If it isn’t then why does this state continue to rank so low when compared to the rest?

All the hoops you go through, the money you sink into a relentless black hole of exams, coursework, and then, if you are lucky to have advisors and evaluators who are patient and supportive, then you end up having to clear your preliminary credential.

And all it takes to fuck all that up is one or two people who don’t agree with your philosophy, or who lose faith in you because of the enormous pressure, the unyielding pressure everyone faces to obtain the so-called “highly qualified” teachers out there.

It wasn’t always this way in California, and I blame the government for the system being the way it is now. For example, you might get your preliminary credential, but then you have to pay even more to get it cleared, which requires yet another 1-2 years of induction coursework just to drag you through more to make you prove you seriously want to be a teacher. Why are there so many hoops???

Where is the reward in enduring such a stressful ordeal? Being told constantly that how you teach is wrong simply because your philosophy is unconventional, progressive, and romantic? So then that person fails you, you end up in massive debt and feel like a complete failure who isn’t “worthy” to bear the title of “Teacher”.

You are told you are delusional.

You know that isn’t true, but that is all it takes to stop your whole career.

All you ever wanted was to help kids succeed, to help them find their way.

And they tell you that you are delusional.

What pisses me off most of all about raising/mentoring other people’s children is how we underestimate them so badly.

“Safety first”, we constantly remind them. Sorry, that's not the way the world works. We can only do so much to protect kids and usually, the lessons they learn from their mistakes provide more of an education than my silly lesson on staying in character for Drama class.

Safety is a human construct. Time, money. "Education" itself is a human construct. Human beings don't need institutionalized, Industrial Revolution-era education.

Safety? It isn’t real, it isn’t a guarantee. Kids need exposure to risk. If kids feel safe all the time, they become complacent and eventually, apathetic. There are no stakes for them. Even "education" isn't enough because many kids have already given up trying.

Especially today’s screenbound kids.

They already know in the US at an early age about some harsh realities—gangs, mass shootings, rape, suicide, and even cyberbullying. WEED. Where I worked before I was laid off in Februrary, kids are still calling each other “gay” like it’s the worse thing you can say about someone.

I’m gay. Super gay. And does this bother me? Of course? What do my colleague tell me? They say, “It’s cultural”. But we’re not allowed to let them talk about these things? Does that make any sense to you?

You want to know what scares me?

Whenever there’s a mass shooting somewhere other than where I am, most of my students don’t care and when I ask them why, they say it’s hard to relate or connect to the event because it didn’t happen to them.

So where is the emotional safety there in terms of empathy, compassion and solidarity?

Maybe if we focused on that more, considering how much we tout our desire to make them critical thinkers, we would be pleasantly surprised at how they might tackle the issues already affecting them—even in middle school! Teaching is a practice that takes time to develop and sadly, the most important aspect is classroom management. There is not enough support, and there is not enough SEL (Social and Emotional Learning).

It’s nearly impossible to grind kids through an Industrial-era schooling system while simultaneously insisting on 21st century skills and 21st century “readiness”. The learning environment needs to change. Schooling needs to be 21st century, Romantic and forward-thinking. It needs to respect all forms of intelligence, every learning style and every possible interest.

Desks in rows or groups, and prisonlike buildings in a bell system don’t belong anymore. They have looong outlived their purpose. Teachers should have a whole-student, individualized approach. Call me a Romantic because I am. I am a Progressive-Romantic. We are living in a world that now needs specialists. Specialists in broad-based, Self-Directed Education. Yes, basic standards should be in place-reading, writing and essential math for life skills purposes should be standard for all.

We need to take a page from the most competitive and highly ranked schools in the world, and if we have the courage to try, I truly believe on a massive scale we will see more success and engagement from students.

A lot of teachers push back but they are stuck in archaic mindsets. We need more dedication to teaching students about ethics, social media etiquette, responsible use and humanities. What about the freedom to choose how we received our education, as well as how we express what we know? Families have the right to homeschool their children, but they are still beholden to state education requirements and must fight even hard to provde to state-run institutions that they are just as "ready" for college and career as any traditionally-schooled student.

That is the just cause of civic duty. To speak up and out for what is right, just and good for everyone, especially our next generation of movers and shakers. If we continue down the path we’re on now, all we’ll have to hope for is a generation of apathetic misanthropes and stoners. Not exactly EPCOT, eh? But I suppose we no longer feel "part of it".

Part of civic duty is voting, which I personally believe should be compulsory (subject to fines for FTA) as it is in Australia. I believe in voting on the issues at hand, not on party lines. No one should be branded as a “flip-flopper” for doing so, nor should they be considered “disloyal” or “unpatriotic”. People should be allowed to learn and grow from their misconceptions and mistakes.

Nationalism is not patriotism, and neither is Populism. These ideologies, these "isms" leads only to death and destruction. I'm not really saying anything new here. Extremism is the enemy. Whatever happened to Reason? Haven’t we learned anything? Our world is now more interconnected than ever, and yet we all seem to echo the same complaint: we still feel isolated from each other.

Extremism of any kind leads to chaos, war, paranoia, mistrust and unspeakable abuses of power. If you wanna call me “political”, go right ahead.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke much more eloquently on this than I could ever hope to express.

I take it as a compliment.

And feel free to disagree with me all you like. You may ignore me if you think I am batshit crazy/naive/liberal/snowflake. It will only solidify my point, which is that people simply pick a side in order to get back at the other guy instead of working on viable solutions.

Respectfully,

K. R. King