( Justin Sullivan / Getty Images ) Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) speaks as Mitt Romney looks on during a campaign rally at the NASCAR Technical Institute in Mooresville, N.C.
By now, everyone knows that Mitt Romney has made his VP choice. I have had a few days to digest this information and really feel that Mitt just picked himself in many ways. Not that Ryan had the same life as Mitt but Ryan looks a lot like any one of Mitt’s sons. I saw the two of them on stage together wearing similar shirts. It reminded me of an image I can remember of my many brothers lined up in their white shirts and dark pants, except for the pattern on the candidate’s shirts. The image of Representative Ryan is that of an all-American family, much like Mitt’s image. However, the family that currently resides in the Whitehouse is just as all-American as Mitt’s family except for the ingrained image White America has of themselves. In many ways, the image Mitt portrays is a message he continually sends out when he refers to President Obama as not sharing your values. This ad is a message about values that I personally find repugnant.
http://youtu.be/IMv28sYQzCY
I personally believe in a separation of church and state. I do not believe President Obama has declared a war on religion. However, the image and message are clear. If you are white, the president does not share your religious values. He probably wasn’t even born in this country and he probably isn’t a Christian.
Therefore, we have the two religious candidates that share our collective values, a Mormon and a right wing Catholic. I’m not sure that those protesting nuns agree with Representative Ryan on his vision for the poor, so maybe they too are un-American because they don’t share these exact values.
http://youtu.be/nWulhADvzBg
We are not all the same. The beauty of our country is the fact that we are a melting pot of people, cultures, and ideas. I believe our greatest strength is the diversity of our people. With our diversity we are able to develop and create new ideas and stimulate thinking beyond the cookie cutter mode of one size fits all. We are not a cookie cutter nation where the religious right owns our brains. We can and must think for ourselves.
As an educator, I am appalled to be inundated with narrow-minded thinking that implies we are all of the same values…one size religion for everyone. How many times are we going to be told that we are a “Christian” nation? In our country, we are able to be what we want to be whether it involves religion or it doesn’t. No one has to buy into any of this nonsense. It’s like a subtle brain washing. I always thought that religion was a personal matter between a person and their God. I have never looked to a politician for my values and I doubt I ever will. When I think of most politicians and how they got where they are I certainly don’t think of religion. It’s backroom deals and money that talks. You scratch my back and I’ll scratch your back. We largely don’t have control over whom we get to vote for because it’s the money that gets them where they are. It isn’t God and it isn’t love of country. This is the same old crap they roll out every year to get the masses on board for the next big thing (You know tax cuts for the wealthy and shared sacrifice for everyone else). They put up something about how religious they are and stupid sheep follow them. Take your blinders off and see these people for what they really are.
Mitt Romney was a man born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He used his own religion to get out of fighting in the Vietnam War. He has five sons that will never go to battle for anyone except a hostile takeover of some company. He had a “cushy” gig in France where he tried to convert French Catholics to the Mormon Church. I think he converted two. While he was there, he had a car accident that I would like to know more about than I’m currently reading on the web. He is wealthy beyond our imaginations and he won’t let us know about his taxes because it’s none of our business. He has a lot of money outside of this country and we are supposed to believe that is a patriotic thing to do.
Then there is Representative Ryan who cannot wait to dig in and dismantle the social programs created by FDR. Here is a man that lived on the safety net of Social Security and Pell Grants but wants to deny them for the future citizens of this country. He wants more breaks for the wealthy and less for the poor and middle class. He believes in the same old trickle down bullshit the Republicans have been spewing for years.
I don’t see the pick of Ryan as being that big of a stretch for Mitt. They both are really after the same things. With these guys, the rich get richer and the poor look for the scraps left by the rich. Social programs and social justice, those things we were taught in church when we were kids are just some left wing Commie plot that we should avoid. In their world, they are self-made men and the rest of the world better get in line and pull up their bootstraps.
Last night I was talking to my son and he told me he watched “The Dictator”. Now I am not a Sacha Cohen fan but Josh wanted me to watch the dictator’s speech on Youtube, so I did. What can we learn from this? Where is our democracy? I will leave you with the dictator’s speech, as it is a parody filled with truth!