Brinksmanship

And on my third attempt at posting without losing everything I've written so far...

I am truly scared for where this country is headed. The republicans vying for their party's nomination for president all sound like crazy reactionaries desperate for any attention they can get. What really worries me is that they must all have polls telling them people want to hear what they saying. Do I really want my president, or even a person seriously being considered for that office to be able to say in the same breath that women who were raped should have access to abortions (hooray for even hearing that from a Republican) AND that abortion should be illegal while completely ignoring the cognitive dissonance? That just brings the national conversation down several notches. And that man, Herman Cain, is currently the GOP front runner.

Maybe the Occupy movement is the start of a new conversation. Maybe enough people will be inspired to speak up that we can pull the country back from the brink of social destruction. I don't even think it all has to be out in the streets. People should be talking to each other about what's going on so they can hear opinions that aren't their own. Right now we are all too afraid to mention it for fear of offending someone.

Maybe we are beyond hope. We might find out next year when election results come in. This next year could be a defining moment in our history. Lofty ideas, I know, but shouldn't we be allowed to have those?