The Mr. Brightside Essays

The Advocate reminds me of why I'm not as political active as I once was. The politics of intelligent debate give way to the politics of rash, emotionally charged nothingness. Is it worth it? Was it ever?

Sing your songs and wave your banners; I'm wrong, you're right. I'm an idiot, you're not. I missed the point, you didn't. Conservatives suck, Republicans are evil, I'm backwards, liberals aren't. Everything you say goes. That's fair. You don't have to prove your points. You don't have to consider what I've said. You don't have anything to apologize for.

Would you have apologized even if you were wrong? Did you read my letter more than halfway through before deciding how to misinterpret and ignore what I said? You disregard the conservative movement as destructive and unworthy of intelligent debate, then implore me to continue the discussion with you.

That's not a discussion. That's a waste of my time and yours, and while you might be willing to squander your time, I am not.

I did not miss your point. I did not misinterpret what you said. I understood what you said, looked at the logic you used to make your points, and then pointed out where your logic wasn't consistent.

I am not a hypocrite for being insulting, partisan, or angry with you. I never claimed I wanted bipartisanship. I never claimed I wanted to end political bickering. I'm not naive enough to expect that could ever happen. But since you clearly are, I pointed out the irony in the hypocrisy of your own writing.

I look back on the past few years of my life, and I realize, I'm growing up. And that's a good thing. I used to get mad, yell, and kick and scream about such things. Politics were a passion, and I devoted hours to writing about them. Tearing into other people, denouncing everyone.

Is it worth it? Was it ever? Probably not. I have peace, but not in man-made system of checks and balances. Liberalism is no more the ultimate answer than conservatism. So if it appeases your appetite for being correct, so be it. Consider yourself right. You win. I lose. Congratulations

I have somehow been blessed enough to stumble across the things in life that really matter. This is not one of them.

[wrote this in response to this article, in MSUM's school paper]

Columnist, Tony Mansourian, claims in his mockery of an editorial "Come on Democrats," that "now is not the time for bipartisanship and subtle politicking." Really? Is that why the column is filled to the brim with anti-conservative rhetoric and poorly conceived insults? I expected the typical amount of hypocrisy from the aforementioned writing, but seeing such conflicting statements made mere sentences apart and in such abysmal form was quite disappointing.

Here's an idea, genius; Lead by example. If you want to usher in a political era where everyone is holding hands and singing along to your (dimwitted) tune, perhaps the best way to start is not to alienate half the nation by calling them "enemies of equality and progress."

In other news, Healthcare Reform has not been deadlocked because of cheap party politics, conservatism, or Blue Dog Democrats. Perhaps it's because the majority of Americans don't want Pelosi's inflated healthcare bill. Perhaps it's because 66% of Americans realize that competition, not government involvement, is the answer to heath care woes. Perhaps it's deadlocked because the American people are quite, quite wary of blowing 1.2 trillion dollars during one of the worst economic meltdowns in our nation's history.

Speaking of economies, you want to "combat the lingering ghost of Reagan?" Surely you don't mean President Ronald Reagan, the man responsible for the largest (non-wartime) economic growth in American history and the creation of, count 'em, 35 million jobs. Meanwhile, your wonder-child president is currently sitting on 10% unemployment, which hasn't happened since 1983. I say "sitting," because all his bright ideas to fix the economy have only served to make the problem worse. Awesome.

Also, please consider paying attention to the current political state of affairs before you shoot off several more paragraphs of reckless blathering. You state that the current political varsity team in America is the result of a "resounding rejection" of conservatism. Yet mere days ago, a resounding rejection of Obama-era "tax-spend-tax" politics occurred, when states Democrats proudly carried to glorious victory in 2008 went red with stunning decisiveness.

The voices of the people truly are quite "clear," Mr. Mansourian. Perhaps you just aren't paying attention.

It's no wonder people don't take us seriously. Why is our immediate reaction to a serious, complicated issue to make light of it? To treat it as a joke? It's not funny; whether you're pro-choice or pro-life, it's not a mindless punch-line for your enjoyment.

I'm listening to "Swallowed in the Sea" for the 9th time. It's on loop and it's going to stay that way until I leave to run errands.

I'm going through Scrubs in it's entirety this summer, and I'm nearing completion of season seven. Sadly, season seven is probably the worst grouping of episodes in that series.