I am working on a series of blogs that I will title “Bridges”. The inspiration for the name comes from my wanting to build social bridges, not walls. Each of the blogs will outline my views on a subject as it relates to politics, rights, marches, our elected officials, etc. All of these will be considered “ongoing blogs”. I will continually update each as more information is provided or discovered.
My first blogs will be (in no particular order – others will be written as subjects come up):
How I Determine My Voting Decisions
Women’s March
My Political Affiliation Does Not Determine Whether I Am Patriotic
Dakota Access Pipeline, #NODAPL Protest
Lobbyists – What are they and how does that work?
Pro Birth vs Pro Life
Veteran’s Affairs – What We Are Doing Right/Wrong
Guns – Who has them, should they and why are we worried?
Amendments/Bills – How Do They Work
Words/Memes/Soundbites – Origins & Fact vs Fiction (What is Propoganda?)
What do our elected officals actually do and how can I have dialogue with them?
Supporting the LGBTQ community although I am straight
Media – Who Owns What and Why Does That Matter?
Charitable Giving – How To Support A Cause
Tax Breaks – who gets them and why?
The Vote – who can, how is that determined, why does it matter where I vote?
The Wall – How will it paid for and manned/What are the ramifications
So I told you the inspiration for the name. Now the reason for the blogs. I have a certain set of beliefs, that are unique to me. There is support for most of those beliefs through rights afforded to me by my government. Sometimes those rights are bent to the will of whichever politician holds whichever office that owns the pen for their signature. I Marched on Satuday, January 21st. The Women’s March (for me personally) was a pivotal moment where like-minded people were able to come together to provide support for each other in a time when it feels like many of us stand alone. I had a beautiful experience and came away with a renewed sense of purpose. Post-March, I became more vocal on my social media pages and chimed in on discussions as they occurred, offering feedback from my own research on a topic. Once I started that, I had a handful of people who reached out to me and asked that I comment on their personal posts because I was able to provide the statistics that represented their beliefs. I have come to believe that it might be useful to have an informative blog for each of the topics I have been asked to chime in on. I will welcome discourse from those who oppose and those who support, always polite and never abusive. It is my goal to have a constant stream of dialogue that opens up lines of communication between American voters who do not understand (or who misunderstand) the things they see on the TV.
Going forward, it will be easy for me to reference back to my blogs to offer source information for people who struggle to articulate their own views. Just because a person does not write well (or, I have found, type faster than the “other view”) does not mean their personal views matter any less. I hope to help those people and in the conversations I have with them (and with others on their feeds), I hope to understand more points of view as they relate to the things that matter to me.
What will be included (as can be found):
- News articles from sources on both sides of the aisles.
- Maps, statistics, demographics, numbers.
- Video feeds of elected officials as they discuss what their intentions are.
- Video feeds from citizens as they discuss their concerns.
- Timelines and Historical References (as they apply to particular subjects).
- POVs from Historians, Scientists and others who have studied the subject.
- Comments that have been directed at me through social media.
- Additional reading links on the subject
So, wish me luck – this polite discourse can sometimes be difficult. Especially with insults and slurs being hurled at me. But, I have a thick outer shell and I hope to soldier through.
If there is a subject that is important to you, I would love to hear about it in the comments below.
