How are you? What is the weather like? Do you see yourself and what you do? Do you ever think outside the box? Do you ever get out? I hope you actually took your time to answer those questions. Even if only in your head, because that’s all that needs to happen.

I suppose you can call me a “liberal” or an “America Hater” or a “promoter of hate,” and that’s fine. In the end, you are the people that decide what gets on the news or not, right? You are the people that decide what is “true” and what is “false.”

Out of my twenty years of existence, I have grown to love sitting back and observing people and things. Liberals, conservatives and undecided voters are all alike in one way. They are all humans. And now, looking at the way we have chosen to live our life, I ask you: is it really worth it? Do your beliefs take into account the entire world? Are we here to to love or to hate? To accept or to neglect? To grow or to shrink? Do you believe in God? Do you think God would believe what you do? Support what you support? Say the things you would say?

I can guarantee my soul that the answers to the last questions are all a big “no.” Any god of any religion preaches tolerance, love, acceptance, kindness and charitable deeds. That is mostly every religion’s “goal” to say that their god is the way to that path. Yet, I don’t see it. In America, God has taken a ride with the Republicans. So many Republicans claim God to be their most inner desire. They claim God to be ruler and ultimate judge of all, yet, they are the ones acting as gods among mortal men. Ann Coulter, who are you to decide who God hates and who God doesn’t hate? Who are we to decide what is right and what is wrong when ultimately much of the time the answer is right under our nose?

Illegal immigrants, health care, war, welfare, our planet, education and jobs: these are all causes in which many are “fighting” for or against. Certainly we all know what the moral, educated and charitable decisions are. But we become so entangled with our own personal vendettas that we don’t choose a side, rather the side chooses us. Illegal immigrants are people trying to make ends meet. They come to this country to help their families survive and many hold two or three jobs at a time. What is wrong with that? Is breaking a “law” more important than feeding your family? In regards to health care, many other countries provide it at absolutely no cost. It’s not socialism, but rather keeping your citizens healthy and happy. Another big problem resides in global warming. Why are people fighting against cleaning up our world?

I’m not religious and do not identify with any singular religion, but I’m an intelligent, sensitive and observant citizen of a country, better yet a world that has gone astray. A world where political games are the norm. But most surprisingly, our own country has become embedded with the deadly stamp of ignorance and intolerance. We have gone from a superb high to a depressing low where TV pundits lead the march for ignorant stupidity. We are all blind to see that these people have no cares in the world. They have money that they can freely spend however they want and make decisions that they support because they are not affected by it.

We live in a country that has a government that does not fear the people. We live in a country where the people are sadly; very stupid in many areas. We blind ourselves with what we are told is right or wrong rather than thinking entirely for ourselves. Democrats have good, innovative ideas and so do Republicans. We can’t bear to keep the fighting of the pundits going for much longer because ultimately when we leave the world to the next generation, they will look back at us and blame us for their fear of their own country. Democracy should be the fear of the government of its people.

About the writer:

Daniel Olivares is entering as a junior at SMU. He can be reached at [email protected].