I Need to Insulate Myself From ... the US?

The past couple of weeks have been really disheartening for me. The political stuff has been pretty much awful, and the financial woes of our country are astounding. I listened to a guy today on cable news on my satellite radio; he was speaking to our current economic crisis. His assessment was that it will get worse before it gets better and right now the only time worse in history was the Great Depression. He was discussing some new regulations implemented in the last day and how lending will dry up; he indicated growth depends on businesses expanding, which they do with loans, but now less than 85% of US businesses will be able to get a loan. That combined with our HUGE debt (individual, state, and federal) will make for some very difficult years ahead. Then, I was reminded by the newscaster of the the hacking of Gov. Palins personal email. I am appalled, and that word doesn't nearly indicate the depth of my feeling. Her privacy has been invaded as equally as if someone broke into her house. What is worse, is things I've read online AND listened to on the news - I can hardly believe the vicious, truly EVIL feelings and pleasure some people are taking in this new invasion of privacy for Gov. Palin. What would possess a person to gloat over someone being invaded in this manner? I have to be honest and say I don't want to be associated with anyone who behaves that way - not even through citizenship.

This is not a party matter (and if news sources are to be believed, it truly isn't - just some left-wing nut operating on their own); I would feel this way no matter who it was. Our personal mail is personal - both snail mail and email and should not be invaded any more than our homes should be. The last straw today was listening to the next bit of news of a CBC (Canadian) "journalist" (Heather Mallick) who wrote an "opinion" piece on Gov. Palin in which she indicated Palin only appeals to white trash, so only white trash in the US will vote for McCain/Palin, that her husband is a redneck fool, her daughter a #$%@&, and so on. First of all, that is NOT journalism. Second, I do not take kindly to half our country being referred to as "white trash." I am amazed by this woman, who writes for an acknowledged "liberal" company said these things. Doesn't the word liberal come from the Latin word "libre" meaning free?? I thought liberals prided themselves on being open-minded, accepting, etc. This woman must be one of the most prejudiced people I've ever heard of (if you doubt that, replace the words "white trash" with any other racial slur you can think of and tell me if it would have been printed).

I read a book last year entitled "Empire," which discussed this very thing - the "liberals" promoting hate-mongering of anyone ballsy enough to disagree with them and the country being taken over by the president, as an empire, with a resulting civil war. Not too far off. I have to say, I'm not sure I would fault any successionists at this point. What has happened to common decency and respect? Socialism in the rest of the world isn't working - Europe is in a full-blown recession and has had no job growth at all (go ahead, research this on the internet). I take great exception to other countries encouraging us to become more socialistic - if it's not working for them, why should we do it?

So, I've been really frustrated and disheartened and appalled, as well as frightened by the viciousness of the past few weeks. If I have ever doubted the existence of evil, I no longer do. While I have always been somewhat of a "doubting" Thomas, preferring a more liberal and personal belief system, I found myself praying today in a very traditional way. I pray that our country doesn't split apart, even through social unrest. I pray the right candidate wins the election, admitting my personal choice may not be the right choice - I simply pray that God will guide the election in the right direction. I pray that our new president will see the importance of unity and bringing our country together, not splitting us further apart - and this can only be done through cooperation and working together. I pray the evil, hate-mongering, vicious attack behaviors I see are reduced and we can live in a world that respects others and listens calmly. I pray we find a way through this mess.

So, I'm thinking I have to go back to hiding my head in the sand. I haven't watched television programs for years, as I am familiar with all the research done and know it will diminish my cognitive capacity. Now I think I may have to stop being aware of current events (stop watching and listening to news) because it's almost too awful for me to cope with. Truly. I don't know what some in our country have come to, that they thrive on such evilness. I'm going to make an effort over the next few days to watch movies I like, listen to music when I drive, and try to find some peace within myself.