My family has a saying never discuss religion or politics
with people you want to stay friends with.
Politics in the US wears its heart on its sleeve, I
knew that when I moved here. As those of you who’ve read this blog before know
I don’t exactly give a flying fig for it. In the UK it’s easy to ignore-sure I voted
back home and if you know me well you might be surprised who I voted for but
that’s not the issue here. Because right, left or independent should never be
the basis for liking someone, and should never ever be hurled as an insult. Yet
in the US
it never fails to be and this election campaign is one of the bitterest insult-ridden
yet. You can blame technology for a lot of it, citizen journalism, one click
and your facebook comment or tweet can go around the world if it is
controversial enough. Negative attack politics is rife. Now I know that honest
politician is an oxymoron but we didn’t come out of the womb with a political
party symbol tattooed on our butts we choose our political affiliation or lack
of it, the same as we choose our best friends, our lovers, our jobs, the food we
eat, or how we use our brains. Here’s my favourite trick, don’t listen to the
words, use the mute button and look at the body language every politician has a
‘tell’ when they’re lying or flip-flopping the trick is spotting it and that's a lot easier when you can't hear the spin.
NB
In the UK Monster Raving Looney party candidates stand quite
often for local government-and they’re a joke. In the US tea party candidates stand for
election and Americans take them seriously even voting some into office.
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