Plea for politics
The health care debate seems to have plagued our country with a darkness. The solution achieved may not be popular with all people. There are those that believe that the Congress has gone too far. There are others who think that it isn’t far enough. The core issue is that something had to be done. People are dying because of problems in the system. The point of contention is how to go about solving that problem.
At ASU we learn that politics is the study of power and the distribution of that power. Those in the majority, as elected by the people, have the ability to move things in their direction. The beauty of democracy is that people have the right and privilege to disagree and promote their point of view.
However, the actions that are being taken around the country truly disgust me. Just because someone is a Democrat, Republican or a Green Party member does not make him or her evil. There is no place in civil discourse for degrading an African-American congressman by calling him the n-word; nor is there room to refer to a gay congressman by the “F” word.
This propagation of hate has no place in our society. When we have permitted its growth, we have created the periods of our history that we are the most ashamed of.
As a student of political science, I make a plea. To my fellow students, I ask that you as an individual of the United States of America do you part to stop this conversation whenever you see or hear it, because at the end of the day we are all united by our country.
I understand that we cannot change the minds of people in a day or week. But I fear for children of today, when you show them again and again that this is okay. It is okay to spit on our elected representatives. It is okay to throw bricks at the homes of people you don’t like. In times like these, we must worry.
Chris Gast Undergraduate
