More Rhetorical Discomfort

So, I've been watching the Democrats' campaign get increasingly nasty on both sides. I'm kind of dismayed at what's been happening - Hillary can't stop grasping at straws and pulling dirty punches, and Obama, well...honestly, Obama lost a lot of my respect over the past couple days, too.

What got me wasn't his remark about people being "bitter" - I think that's a fair assessment, even if worded unfortunately. What upsets me was his following statement about how those same bitter people "cling to guns and religion..." as a result. I'm really offended by the attitude that religion is something that for the poor, the uneducated, the bitter people to clutch onto. It tells me that he has the attitude that religion doesn't have much inherent value to society, and that it is the mark primarily of the sort of people he was referring to. I'm not looking for a right wing conservative to replace the current administration, and I'm not even looking for someone who makes statements blatantly in support of religion (Christianity or otherwise) - I'm really looking for someone who doesn't make categorical, values-oriented statements either way.

Right now, I'm seeing Obama gather a huge following of a lot of well intentioned, hopeful, optimistic, kind, caring people. Those are all good things. My only concern is that in this sweeping wave of charisma, certain other perspectives are being completely wiped away or suppressed, and nobody is standing up for them because, let's face it, the charisma feels good. Obama has young people thinking that they can make a difference, and that's fantastic. Reaching out to this generation is absolutely the right thing to do.

However, I'm really uncomfortable with the almost irrational wave of support that's going along with it. Nobody questioned the implicit criticism and dismissal of religion's value in society, or the derogatory attitude towards it - and I think that a lot of that is related to the fact that Obama's campaign "seems" so "good" and so "caring" and so "hopeful." It's really easy, and understandable to get swept up in that, but I just think we need to be careful not to lose our liberties, and to create a society that has in the long run just as much intolerance and elitism as the one many people feel that we are living in now. What will be the next idea to be dismissed out of hand, without question? Even if Obama and his campaign themselves have no ill intentions, it is SO easy (and there are SO many historical examples) of societal norms and laws created in one era to have disastrous consequences in the next just because nobody stopped to think about the consequences.

I think my vote for President is going to go to the person that seems to be the most in favor of preserving the role of government and the help that it gives to society, while not trampling individual rights in the process. In the long run, individual rights, and the due respect thereof, are much more important to me, and so that's the way I'm going to lean - because without a true, deep seated and personal respect for others, I don't believe we can make a lot of progress towards the other goals that we all hope for the country.