word vomit.

sometimes i think there's seriously something wrong with me...i CAN'T shut my mouth when it comes to politics.

it's not even that i think "i'm right you're wrong" it's just... so hard to see how some people truly think the things they do. & why they seem to think THEIR IDEAS and THEIR PERSPECTIVES and THEIR RELIGION work for everyone.

so bear with me, as i begin my once a year solicited rant on this blog (& please read, as i promise it gets nice at the end):

i recently stumbled across this blog post [thanks nicole!] that brought tears to my eyes. EVERYONE needs to read this, no matter what you think about politics. after i read it i felt like the most selfish girl in the world..not because i'd said anything talked about in the post, but because i spent so much of my time nitpicking people about why they were voting for romney or obama...tearing people apart for trying to force their beliefs on others.

when really, terrorists did that same thing to us 11 years ago.

but i still feel the need to try to understand why people seem to think ONE person can solve our nation's many problems...& why that person has to be either EXTREMELY DEMOCRAT or EXTREMELY REPUBLICAN. (or, in mitt's case, claim to be bipartisan but pick a vice president who is....the opposite of that.)

[for those who aren't FB friends with me, i made it clear on there i voted for a third party candidate.]

the night of the election it's safe to say i was relieved romney didn't win...but i wasn't really stoked obama was reelected. my political beliefs have changed a LOT in the past 4 years.

but i do not believe it should ever come to this.

here are a few examples of facebook comments i saw the day after the election:

"well we're ****ed, obama is a muslim he's going to bomb us & slowly take us over & in the meantime take away our civil liberties & rights. he is the epitome of pure evil. who else is hoping for an assassination?" (posted by a friend who quoted thomas s monson in his previous post..i about died.)

"it's all the welfare people who are clueless as to what is going on in this country...they are just looking for a free handout and obama will give that to them." (a friend of my cousin said this about the HALF OF AMERICANS who reelected him...many people you & i know & love...who hold jobs & work hard.)

"great 4 more years of the world's biggest douche who does nothing in the white house all day"

"RIP america, it's over, we've lost, we're screwed"

"well i'll be ignoring politics for the next 4 years until we can vote a republican back who actually knows what the hell he is doing."

"i can't believe how many women are in the senate, & one of them is gay, i mean what is this world coming to."

i saw photos such as these (that made the rounds in the '08 election but i most definitely thought we had grown up a little since then):

& it brought me to tears.

first of all, i had no idea our country had stooped to such a level of racism. half of my friends at utah state were practicing muslims, & were some of the most peaceful people i have ever met.

it's like comparing LDS people to F-LDS people. are they the same? no. does the F-LDS try to use the LDS name to gain acceptance, meanwhile using it as a cover so some of them can rape & abuse women? yes.

no president is the perfect president. no matter what y'all think, romney would have screwed up in office..he would have screwed up bad. what president do we know that was perfect? that wasn't dealt a crappy hand? that didn't have the weight of millions of people on their shoulders?

this is pathetic.

none of us can do the job that president obama has been reelected to do. none of us could even withstand the pressure of running for president the way romney, obama, jill stein, gary johnson, & all the other candidates did.

this has to stop.

on the other end of things, here are some inspiring words i saw...okay, not saw but had to look up since 90% of my feed was people crying over "the terrorist president": 

" ..we MUST NOT be paralyzed just because that event and the events surrounding it are ahead of us somewhere. We CANNOT stop living life. Indeed, we should live life more fully than we have ever lived it. After all, this is the dispensation of the fulness of times....we must never let fear a

nd the father of fear (Satan himself) divert ...us from our faith and faithful living. Every person in every era has had to walk by faith into what has always been some uncertainty....This is the plan. Just be faithful. God is in charge. He knows your name and He knows your need. We must go forward. God expects you to have enough faith, determination, and trust in Him to keep moving, keep living, keep rejoicing. He expects you not simply to face the future; He expects you to embrace and shape the future".

-Jeffrey R. Holland

what better way to embrace & shape the future than by writing your congressmen & asking for compromise? there is such thing as middle ground. 

what better way to shape the future than to cease the hate speech that is teaching our children the president of the united states does not deserve any respect unless he is on your personal agenda?

next on my list of uplifting things:

this video of obama addressing his campaign staff, & being moved to tears. [gets me every time.]

"God isn’t into democracy. Jesus said, “Follow me,” not, “vote for me.” Though we might feel that our prayers for the election weren’t heard, God is bigger than an election. He’s about saving souls and changing hearts."

-Unknown (just saw on a comment feed on the Dalai Llama's Facebook page.)

"The people of our country have again entrusted you with a great responsibility. The Catholic bishops of the United States offer our prayers that God will give you strength and wisdom to meet the difficult challenges that face America."

-Cardinal Timothy Dolan, in his letter congratulating President Obama on reelection.

President Obama gave a great speech today concerning bipartisanship. if you haven't read/watched it yet, i highly recommend you do. 

in a way, the haters/racists on my page were right: nothing is going to change in the next 4 years. however, blaming it on president obama is not the right thing to do. if it weren't for the GOP blocking EVERY legislation obama handed to them...we wouldn't be here. if it weren't for liberals pursuing an agenda that makes some religious people feel their beliefs are attacked, we wouldn't be here. if it weren't for the highly conservative literally buying elections, sitting around buying expensive cigars & going on 6-week vacations, all the while ignoring the constituents they were elected to represent, we wouldn't be here. if it weren't for the gay bashing, hate crimes, racism, attacks on women's freedoms, we wouldn't be here.

obama reiterated one word several times today...a word that each & every one of us, including me, ought to think about:

compromise.

there is no way we will survive if we do not accept each other as human beings, with different beliefs. what does this mean? perhaps it means homosexuals won't get to use the word "married," but will instead use "civil unions." in exchange for that, however, wouldn't it be a nice change for atheists & agnostics not to have to hear what your God says is right every other day? wouldn't it be a true free society if a country founded on embracing religious freedom stopped using religion to persecute freedoms? perhaps it means we'll all have to pay the same amount of taxes. some things will be harder on people than others. but if we unite, if we strive to be accepting, if we strive to seek understanding of the sides we don't understand, if we strive to consider perspectives other than our own....change will happen. & it will come.

lastly, i'm sorry to all my friends/family that truly wanted romney to win. i wrote in gary johnson, though i really was rooting for jon huntsman the whole time. so..i don't really know what it's like to lose something that meant so much to you.

also, i wrote my representatives the house/senate today concerning my thoughts, & asking them to work for compromise that will best represent both parties. if you feel so inclined, you should do the same. :)

& that is all... until 2016! (unless people keep bashing our president who has the hardest job in the world. then you'll hear much more from me.)