Posted on 07/03/2009 7:20:33 AM PDT by teg_76
Please excuse the vanity. This is a serious question I have. I am seriously distressed at what is going on in our country. I know that I am too into politics, which makes it worse. To some extent seeing the fall of this country and the current administrations push towards socialism is really stealing some of my joy in life. I know there are obsessive political type on FR who feel the same way. How do you deal with it?
Works for me.
I suggest faith. Sometimes it works for me, sometimes a fresh headline overwhelms it. Pray for leadership, attend a tea party.
This is a serious question I have....... How do you deal with it?
Turn off the tv, computer, etc., find other outlets/venues for your spare time, develop them and you’ll find life is much greater than just politics. What those outlets/venues would be you must determine for yourself. Good luck.
Start looking to God more than politics.
Try escapist activities. Read some fiction. Listen to J.S. Bach. Go to the local range and blast .45 caliber holes in UN flag targets. Do some gardening. Take up an instrument.
Play Mah Jongg, Take walks and hikes, don’t socialize with your liberal friends for awhile, talk and email people of like minds, and go to the Tea Party in your area tomorrow.
Cordio
Scotch
ignorance ...
Bless your heart Teg;)
It’s hell ain’t it! I deal with it by not watching TV at all.
I deal with it by realizing that my time on this treasured earth is winding down and its influence is better directed at friends, family and the occasional smack down of liberal lunatics. I think God expects it.
Say we become completely Communist, in America. That would cause our standard of living to fall. But in reality, does that decrease the joy of seeing the smile of a young child? Does that make birdsong in the morning less delightful? Do sunset-clouds become uglier? Is making passionate love to your mate less intimate and fulfilling?
When one is no longer at war with what is, then one has a much better life -- no matter the circumstances.
True dat! And reminds me that it’s been WAY too long between meetings for me.
and by not watching the subverting news programs. It is so bad with me that I can only watch a minute or so of liberal horse hockey until I'm angry and frustrated ... thus I do not watch.
I come here to Free Republic for the important news and discussion. It all is presented here in more depth and with informed sources and opinions. MO
It is simply unbelievable to me that all this destruction of our nation is occurring and it is business as usual ... “America (capitalism) goes down without a whimper”, as Putin stated.
God help us in our day. God bless America. Amen.
Back during the Clinton years and his blatant decisions ...I realized that Rush (whom I listen to and know he is right on in his analysis) only seems to defuse our angst, our frustration, our passiveness.
We do nothing. Very ineffective as the last election demonstrated. For evil to prevail ... the good man does nothing. paraphrased.
We are witnessing a civilization in collapse; and I don't honestly think anything going to change it.
Historians generally agree that civilizations are built by the warrior class, and sustained by those values. ALL of them eventually give way to the parasite class (artists, poets, politicians, etc.) once they become the majority in the population.
We may be able to forestall or perhaps even reverse to process at this moment in time, but I doubt any of us have the discipline and hardness of heart to accomplish it. As I said, those on the Left ARE THE PROBLEM! Unless we were willing to commit genocide on all those that hold the anti-civilzation values, then it would fail. I AM NOT ADVOCATING IT!
An inferior alternative would be a tyranny for several decades to restore the traditional Judeo-Christian values of Western civilization, but that's kind of an oxymoron, and tyrannical governments almost never step aside!
The best we can do is keep our faith in the Lord, and prepare for the coming Dark Age and the war against Islam.
The American Revolutionaries went to war with the status quo, and thank God for all of us they did.
It doesn’t mean I wouldn’t rise up in revolt, it merely means I would do so lovingly and with acceptance that I might die. :)
Whatever you give your attention to, you get more of. Change what you are focusing on.
“”This is a serious question I have....... How do you deal with it?””
Chocolate! I think everyone on here feels the same as you do and some have managed to turn off the TV and I applaud them. I spend way too much time on the computer but I also read several good books each month. Being retired allows me this indulgence - and the heat in GA doesn’t allow me to go outside and do all that awful weeding....
I’m not for being UNINVOLVED - there is too much at stake so we have to strike a happy medium. PRAYER does help.
I know I should reading my Bible more than spending so much time at the computer.
Hi, Dysart here!
Are you tired of feeling this way?
First, turn off the tv. Keep it off.
Same goes for talk radio, although I listen to it quite a bit, they thrive on outrage and if this is getting to you consider listening to your ipod as I’m doing. May I suggest some Kate Rusby for something a little different and pleasing?
Read- not FR if you are seriesly bummed. Books are good; the Classics never fail to provide fair escape and inspire.
But wait, there’s more...
Buy some property in the country and go there to unplug whenever possible. Plant a small garden or something more ambitious— your call. Study the local wildlife. Write. Build something.
Follow this simple plan and you will lower your level of discontent. I guarantee that or your money back. Try my plan now!
It really is a serious problem.
I was a Republican county chairman and worked my rear end off (and spent a lot of my money) trying to recruit, support and elect good Republican (conservative) candidates in a Democrat county. No Luck.
My conclusions:
MORE THAN HALF of the population is below 100 IQ. Scary when you’re driving on road with them, much less in an election campaign. (Mathematically, I think the average IQ must now be in the 95 range. Worse, since the schools now do not teach civics, their ignorance is astonishing.)
The Media is absolutely in the bag for liberal/progressive/reformist” ideology.
Businessmen may be conservative but they must pretend to support liberal causes to keep from being crucified in the press.
Even the finest man you can elect to congress will catch “Potomac Fever” and become just another hack looking for a job (congress pays well, spectacular benefits and more secure than 99% of the jobs in the US).
My response:
We absolutely quit watching TV, especially the TV News - including Fox News since they went to the Blond Bimbo approach to television.
We subscribe to IBD and WSJ for news (WSJ is best on general news coverage but remember that the reporters are liberals but the editor (for now) is not. The publisher will believe in anything that will make a buck.
We depend on the internet (FreeRepublic, Lucianne, etc) for our “real” news.
We work with local conservative (not republican) organizations to try to “educate” the public.
Result: We are happier now. No TV was the best single part of the answer.
This is a good question for a lot of folks. First, dealing with the housing scenario and its future,then our investments going nowhere, our freedoms being taken away, a state run media, thugocracy vs democracy, rising taxes and costs, big job losses, the EPA encroaching on our lives, politicians who are not listening to their base, etc. I have Libs as relatives and these issues escape them, or they are STILL blaming Bush. I don’t see this improving, especially after Cap and Trade passed. I am glad for Free Republic though.
The nail has met the hammer.
A certain radio personality speaks of “American exceptionalism”. I don’t buy it. The Republic that our founders gave us was effectively changed forever in 1865.
We got on the Democracy Road then and on it we have journeyed to the present hour.
“”Read Ecclesiastes to start””
Thanks, I will do that!!!! It will be motivation for me to stay away from the computer. If we all spent as much time with the Bible as we do on our computers, we’d find some PEACE.
Cling to your guns and your religion.
BTTT.
That's a common perception, but false. When the war began in 1775, our forefathers were fighting to DEFEND their rights as Englishmen.
When the colonies were first founded, they each had their own legislative bodies that answered directly to the Crown, just as Parliament did in England. Following the French and Indian War, Parliament began to usurp the authority of the colonial legislatures by enacting laws applying to the colonies, thus placing the English Parliament above the colonies. This is what started the war.
After a year of fighting, it was clear to most colonial legislators that they could never be reconciled with their countrymen across the ocean, and voted for independence.
“”Whatever you give your attention to, you get more of. Change what you are focusing on.””
I like that!!! BOOKS, right????? Read any good ones lately?
Just noticed your tagline - you are correct!!!
I use my imagination ... that we all sign up for a class action suite against the corruption in government...
“Let go and let God” I also figure that we may need to hit rock bottom before we are allowed to make it better and I have faith in “real” Americans to be able to fix it eventually.
Home school your kids. The future belongs to those who are willing to pay for it. With their OWN money. This generation’s “saving remnant” will become the next generation’s most influential elite.
Well aware of the history. My point to Laz was merely that our forefathers were dissatisfied with their circumstances to the point of taking severe action. ...and he cleared up his position in the following post.
Fatigue comes from sense of helplessness, that we do things and there is still no difference. Know that you are changing hearts and minds EVEN when you don’t see evidence. If you have passion do not turn your back on it but find small ways to make changes which can grow. There is always something on some level that you can influence. An elderly man volunteered in my childrens’ school and handpicked those he would allow into his writing class. He changed their lives. Devise something like a “course in economics” as math enrichment for kids who finish their math assignmets too early and volunteer to teach it once a week at an elementary school. Educate others in simple logic and enlighten them about propaganda techniques without making it “political” and you will be performing a valuable service. Politics as currently constructed has many things in common with cults and getting someone out of that type of thinking can be tiring and difficult and frustrating.
I remind myself that I’m a Christian and living in a different Kingdom. Get your faith and trust focused in the right direction. During down time I find projects, like extending the deck, building a shed or hunting for a good boat. Cutting firewood works for me, so well in fact, I don’t have room for more in my yard, so this summer will be spent landscaping, rearranging, and making more room. Family is a good distraction, kids, grandkids, your spouse, if you have one. Fishing, hunting, work and more work, more fishing, whatever it takes to get you away from constant politics. Read a good book, like the Bible. It helps to show me that the greatest things of man, like the United States, are fleeting. Turn off the TV. If you must be on the Internet, find something besides politics. Think about the things you will need to survive the worst of the 0 solution, food, firearms, survival equipment, a garden, whatever strikes your fancy. Imagine the worst, and start preparing for it. Find someone who needs your help, and help them. Find a charity, a neighbor, a friend.
You’ve heard it before, but remind yourself:
God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
The courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
You do not rule the world (and either does Barack Obama, although he does not yet know this). You can only do your part to change things for the better, and that’s all you are able to do. I recommend that you adopt a little fatalism (without the apathy) so that you do not become agitated over events that are simply beyond your control. In the end, you only control yourself. You can’t even force your children to be a certain way; you can only try to influence them for the better.
You can do the same with other people. Look at all the responses you are receiving on FR. Your question causes me to respond, and so we influence each other. Do what you can. So called “progressives” have been at this for decades and we have to do the same.
Many people who are focused on changing the world never seem to stop to analyze their actual impact on others. This is because they are not really interested in helping others; they are interested in either projecting power in the world or relieving some kind of guilt. It all goes back to who they are within, but they don’t bother to look there. People suffer after they have imposed some well-intentioned plan (i.e., welfare), but they are already on to imposing their next great idea (socialized medicine). More introspection is needed, and any spiritual journey requires this component.
Remember that there have been other very dark times in human history. The bubonic plague killed one third of the population of Europe. It must have been horrible to have lived during that time in some village where people were dying. There have been many other such periods. It can take practice and effort, but try to be optimistic. If nothing else, you will keep yourself happier as well as those around you.
I compare the spending in Congress now to the final fireworks spectacular before all goes dark. I have the time to write all 100 Senators on issues I find important and may be doing that tomorrow morning. When I do things like that, I will at least feel that I have done my part to slow our Marxist death spiral.
I am stocking up on food. Prepare yourself and your loved ones for a time of impoverishment, because that is the only thing that can come from the deficit and loss of liberty, IMO. In the long run, more poverty may be a good thing for people in this country. We take too much for granted now.
Stop watching network/cable news shows. I quit with them election night last year and feel great.
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