On Politics

I was thinking about politics last night as the Elections come up and I felt overwhelmed with it all. I figured I couldn't be the only one, so I thought I'd mention it here. I took government class in high school and have tried to keep up with politics as much as possible, but sometimes not as much as I'd like. As I try to follow the news I feel like I need a refresher course or maybe I never learned as much as I should have in high school. I only had one government class for one semester, I think kids should have a lot more education on our government than that because it's frickin' complicated! Sometimes it all confuses the hell out of me! I understand the basic structure of our government and all that, but sometimes all the political BS that goes on just makes it difficult for me to follow politics, which maybe is the point of all that BS. It's more the political maneuvering that gets me confused, it makes it harder for me to see the truth and to understand what is really going on with our government. I was reading some of the issues that will be on the ballot and for some of the issues it's just impossible to understand what I'm voting for or against without some sort of interpretation written (and even that can be biased). It makes me feel dense and ignorant. Beyond that, I know there are the people who blindly follow a certain party and vote for their party only, and I understand why people are inclined to do this. It's a lot of work and effort to research the candidates and decided if you support them, you tend to trust your party to choose the best candidate. Yes, it's partly laziness, but also I wonder if it really is as confusing and overwhelming to the general populace as it is to me. I don't really want to be a party follower per se, though I am obviously closer to one side than the other, but I would like to feel more educated on the issues and candidates which I feel is hard with all the bashing each other campaigns that are out there right now. I don't learn anything about the actual candidate in the campaign commercials, only what the opposing candidate did wrong. While I don't believe at all the Kerry was bashing our troops with his "botched jokes", just the fact that his was once again bashing Bush makes me lose respect for him. Stop bashing and start telling me why you're a better option. There's criticizing a political opponents policies or approaches, but then there's just below the belt bashing by calling someone uneducated and lazy, which is basically what Kerry called Bush. Grow the fuck up. Everyone in politics could use a little growing up. I mean, they're supposed to be solving our nation's problems and all they can do is bash each other. Are we in elementary school here?

I, as many do, of course hate our politics. It's dirty and shady without a doubt and has lost much of what it was meant to be. Many things dismay me, from the blatant use of fear to control people to the lack of separation of church and state. I feel that many people end up washing their hands of politics because of the distaste it leaves in their mouths, but I think this is a mistake. It's clear to me that apathy in the people is what has led to much of the debacle in Washington. When people stop paying attention, that's when the government can start taking advantage of its people. So despite the fact that it is perhaps harder than ever to keep up with politics because of the over-information and the lack of any objectivity in the majority of the information, I will still trudge forward. It's gotten to the point where I skim headlines on politics because there are so many and when I read the content often it's so laced with biased I can't stand it.

I'm wondering what do you do to keep up on politics and stay educated? What non-biased (or as non-biased as possible) sources do you read/watch/listen to in order to stay in the know with politics and what's going on in the world? I'm sick of the strongly biased stations, etc. Where do you go for some Good Reporting? I'm so sick of sifting through all the political bullshit, I just need a No BS Zone for my information. Does one exist anymore?