The Pope is on the Run!!!!!

As I scan the news networks online (because who really watches TV news anymore), I have noticed a lot of coverage about the Pope's visit to the UK. As someone who likes to follow events coming out of the Vatican, I was very intrigued to notice the response that he got when arriving. 

Six men were arrested, people rioted, families and college students were out in force speaking against his coming to their country. My only question is: why?

Here is a man who has taken the sexual abuse scandal head-on. He hasn't ran from responsibility as the leader of the church. And while there has been evidence of a cover-up in come cases, the important thing is that he is addressing the problem. He isn't hiding from criticism, nor is he denying the existence of cases. He is meeting with families, dealing with clergy who committed the acts and making decisive choices that will help repair the church and it's image.

I understand that people are mad. I whole hearted agree that the Catholic church has a long way to go before the public can ever consider giving them the benefit of the doubt again. However, protests that turn into riots are not a response that will help anybody. No answers are going to be given and no satisfaction will be reached through decisions made out of that anger. Rather, the people that are so upset with the church should ask questions of the Pope, rather than trying to lynch him. I understand the frustration and I know that there is a limit to the patience people have with this church. However, this is a man that can be worked with, reasoned with and who is willing to take responsibility and change the way that things are done. 

Now is the time for action, but not by us. We should be watchdogs, hounding the church until it makes the needed change. We need to ask questions, not take no for an answer and require proof before trust is restored. This is the action we should take, not rioting. Because, though it may give us satisfaction now, history proves that angry mobs only set things back for years to come.

The good old days

Primary season is over. The candidates have been selected and the mud-slinging is about to begin. One thing that can be easily observed about this election cycle is the monumental shift in one side's politics. I know that it has been said over and over by candidates and their party but let's look at election history.

Republicans won back control of congress by convincing people that the Democrats were extreme and out of touch. They painted the American public with the brush of moderation in politics and swept things up because of it. The Democrats used the same tactic in their conquering of congress in 2002, '06, and '08.

So it would make perfect sense for Republicans in this election season to simply use the same old tactics that every out of power party has used. After all, once they get in they will use the same old policies that have failed America time and time again. However, they are going farther and farther to the Right, alienating the American public and appeasing only their Republican electorate.

See, they have shifted extremely to the right. The "Tea Party" has seized the party and has put candidates on the ballot that normally would have been laughed off the stage. Some make racially questionable remarks, others can't even get the spelling on their website right and there are still others that want to eliminate entire departments overnight.

Now, I am in support of fiscal responsibility. We should reform the welfare system to have people go to college while receiving government support, not eliminate it entirely hoping that the "push kids into the water to help them swim" works. There are plenty of rational decisions that would put America back onto the right track without leaving it's citizens out in the cold. However, Tea Party candidates aren't interested in such proposals. They simply want to say whatever will get them elected by a Republican electorate that is still upset about the presidential election.

The problem is not the Tea Party, because they are not bad in and of themselves. They stand for the principles of fiscal responsibility, smaller government and appropriate delegation of powers to the states. However, they are not supporting or nominating the candidates that want common sense brought back to Washington, but rather having a foot race to see who can come up with the most extreme ideas. It is time that the Tea Party take responsibility for the people that they nominate and support. They need to realize that intelligent, workable solutions are available to the American public without much effort. The only thing we need to do is step up and remember that we have tried both sides of the coin and now is the time for an entirely different coin.

It's the end of the world as we know it..............

Ahh election season. The pundits lick their lips while candidates bring an extra pair of pants. And though the rhetoric has yet to change, one group of people will probably never hear it. You see, I am a unique figure in my generation. My opinions and views are not merely what is convenient but what I am convicted to believe. I am not phased by the disenfranchising talk of people older than me that have had time to get bitter and cynical. Unfortunately, that puts me into the minority.

For years, my generation has had to battle through stereotype after stereotype. We are called the laziest, most privileged, apathetic, lethargic, least inspired, least likely to achieve, least likely to succeed, least likely to accomplish something greater than ourselves, and that is just the appropriate ones. We are consistently told that our opinions don't matter because we don't understand the gravity of the situation we find ourselves. They are telling a generation of youth that has had to deal with earlier rates of drug use, sexual activity, depression, suicide, and loss that they don't understand the gravity of life. Huh.

It doesn't stop there. We are reminded of our shortcomings. The generation of people that protested in the streets against Vietnam, burned bras on college campuses, lived through the Free Love and Hippie movements are now calling what mistakes and adventures we have unforgivable. The generation that fought to have a voice on college campuses, to give blacks and gays the status of human in America now don't want to extend those privileges to us. It is not enough to simply guide us into having productive, solid lives. They also have to kill our spirit as well.

That is why this election day, things can end up the same. My generation continues to avoid the system that doesn't want any part of us, meanwhile the generation above us puts in people that promise to cut taxes and increase the scope of wars and spending. Or.....................

We can change things. We can hijack the system. The best way to shut people up is to prove them wrong. You see, all it takes is one election in which we are the largest group participating. We dictate the order of things. We decide who is in, and who is out. We don't put up with the same old things that have gotten America to the place it is in today. We have an opportunity to shock the world and change everything that has pushed us in a corner. The question is not whether or not we will step up to the plate. The question, rather, is when.