I'll read yours, if you read mine...

Perhaps some who refer to me as a Republican would be surpirsed to discover my feelings on many of the larger topics that mark the traditional distinctions between blue and red. For instance, I doubt my view on a womens right to choose would get me invited to any Republican fund raiser even after I won the Megamillions Jackpot (which I will be this this evening BTW). Add my distain for the faith driven political machine and creationists I'm pretty sure I'd be excluded from even waiting tables at the event.

Having said that, what shapes my opinion most on current events and issues is reading about them. I'm always open to learn another angle on any topic. That's why reading blogs appeals to me so much. It's a great platform to read and share different opinions. When I was first peeped to the blogging thing, I made a deal with myself that I would take advantage of the transparancy that that the blogosphere offers to balance my reading between red, blue, and green blogs. I feel that, for the most part, I have kept my word. I enjoy them all immensely. Tom and Jason are obviously very intelligent bloggers and I have a great deal of respect for their talents. I visit their sites everyday despite Watson's nauseating love for the NY Mets. I also like the fact that John Cole, a moderate conservative, has added Tim F. as a writer to Balloon Juice this year for a more balanced view of current events. A ploy to boost readership? Perhaps, but it has certainly heated things up over there.

But I wonder if everybody's taking advantage of the blogosphere's transparency the same way, or do most read the political blogs that share their particular partisan beliefs. I was turned onto to blogging at the beginning of the last presidential campaign and I never imagined that the partisan rhetoric could be at any higher a volume nor did I think it could be sustained beyond the election itself, but alas I was clearly wrong.

My bantam league hockey coach once told me right before he sent me out to play goalie for one practice (that’s all it takes to discover you NEVER want to be a goalie), “…The key to minding the net is to ignore your first instinct”. Translation: When the puck is coming at you a 150 MPH don’t dive out of the way like most sane people would do, rather put yourself between it and the net. That’s the attitude that I try to envoke when it comes to political debate and reading current events, ignore my first instinct. Try to reserve an opinion until more facts are made available. Sometimes I’m successful, sometimes I’m not, and emotion gets the better of me. One thing for sure, the level of partisan rhetoric has to be ratcheted down in order for us to solve our problems more effectively.

This article is one that I like. I think the theme is timely. It makes me think of the dream sequence in The Last Temptation of Christ where one of the apostles is preaching about Christ dying on the cross in the town square. When a very much living Jesus confronts him and says, “…but I didn’t die on the cross, I’m right here”, the apostle retorts something to the effect of, “...It doesn’t matter, that’s what they want to hear and believe”. Sad, but true isn't it.