Thoughts (things floating around my head) on touchy subjects

First off topic wise..Politics. (One I rarely cover anymore because it causes a lot of problems and it is a heated topic for many) Then I will go to religion which is another one...

I've had some random things on my mind that I thought I'd put in a blog of their own. 
The first being I notice one problem with social media being that people seem to be really bad about the whole bandwagon thing. It is like everything you are either for 100 percent or against 100 percent. Crowd mentality. Have people forgotten how to think for themselves and do research? I have to admit I fell victim a few times w/ it for some things. No one is immune I don't think BUT it seems rampant anymore. 
One example is all the presidential posts. I don't mean the current one either. People seem to all think that the president sits up there and makes ALL The decisions himself. He doesn't. They forget all about the House and Congress and all and that he doesn't just say okay this goes and it does. There are a lot of games going on there. He may try to pass something and the Republicans shoot it down and then they turn and give him issue about it and visa versa.  It makes me seriously think people need to go back and go over again how American Government works. I've even sat here a few times and went wow did I miss something? Is there no one that remembers the cutsie little video on how bills are passed ? Things like that? Does no one remember this?: 

1. The federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, executive and judicial, whose powers are vested by the U.S. Constitution in the Congress, the President, and the federal courts, including the Supreme Court, respectively.
2. Or this? To ensure that no person or group would amass too much power, the founders established a government in which the powers to create, implement, and adjudicate laws were separated. Each branch of government is balanced by powers in the other two coequal branches: The President can veto the laws of the Congress; the Congress confirms or rejects the President's appointments and can remove the President from office in exceptional circumstances; and the justices of the Supreme Court, who can overturn unconstitutional laws, are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
   In creating this balance, the framers of the Constitution hoped to form what they called "a more perfect union" — a government that would not only serve the people but would also be a long-lived exemplar to other nations around the world.
3. If you think something is wrong with our government I don't disagree.... I actually fully agree... however my disagreement lies in that it isn't the President by himself. it is the whole thing. If they are no longer serving the people then the "perfect union" is broken. I think people are just missing the bigger picture. 

The President is more like a figurehead. He is not the only decision maker yet he is the one who is going to take all the hits. (I feel I need to throw in there I am not a huge fan or anything I just feel like people miss these facts a lot) I also feel like the whole election process is a sham. People feel like someone sits there and counts all their votes separately. Do they forget how that actually works with electoral votes and all? It is like they have some fairy tale idea of how our own government works. What is it based off of? Movies? I also am disappointed that despite my feelings about the electoral votes etc... that in certain states we don't even get a choice to vote for all the candidates running. Such as if we have an Independent running they aren't a choice for us. 
Speaking of Independent I think that I've pretty much decided that is what my political affiliation may be. I tried Republican... I became disgusted with that when the Tea Party ruined it (In my honest opinion) They became pretty extreme. I tried Democratic...and yet there are some things I disagree with there as well so I feel I guess that I fit in more with Independent. Though I am still swishing the taste of that around to see if it fits me. I feel like in general politics is the name of a game that is played with the people. Not just American but ALL of the people. 

Next topic for me is Religion: yeah another touchy one.  I have some Christian friends too who do not feel threatened by other faiths. They know that their own beliefs are strongly enough held that they don't have to fear being around people of varying faiths NOR do they feel the need to push them so hard to convert. (I'm not saying they don't share their beliefs etc but they aren't harassing about it) I am glad for one that they don't feel threatened by others. It is the ones that look down their nose at you and try to shame you for believing differently that get me. Those are the ones who I know are still new and not so secure in themselves and their religion. I can only hope they find their footing enough not to feel so threatened by everyone and everything around them. Those are the judgmental ones who go to the extreme with it. I guess the more extreme they are the more they feel like they "belong" when it isn't about "belonging" it is about a personal journey and is between you and your higher power and no one else. (and by this I don't mean that anyone should hide it. I mean the journey itself is between you and your higher power) Also to add...when I am talking about belonging etc that isn't to say there is anything wrong with finding a group of like minded people or a church you like but when "belonging" turns into more like a huge display of trying to prove you belong to something as in a certain religion then that is where the problem lays.  You don't have anything to prove to anyone else. Yet  they seem to think they need to though there are those who don't even seem to realize what they are doing and I find it sad. I think those are the ones who bother me the ones that think they have to prove it to everyone around them with extreme behavioral changes. (now if you are talking about changes like say a drug addict or alcoholic seeks help and stops what they are doing there that is a different story that isn't a bad change...I am talking about the ones that suddenly change everything they ever stood for and expect everyone around them to follow suit or they find them a threat to their new found life changes) The ones that see everything as evil or the devil. Those people are worrisome. yes there is evil in the world but not everything is evil and not everything is out to get you or to try to deter you from your relationship with your higher power. The only thing that can shake your beliefs is yourself. Not sure if that will make sense to some people but if you fear that someone else can take your beliefs away from you then I think you need to rethink that a bit. Why would anyone else even be able to do that? It all goes back to it being a personal thing. That is something you need to look inside yourself for. There are topics like Morals: It gets me when people act like if you aren't Christian you can't possibly have morals. While different religions enforce the idea of morals in different ways no religion holds a monopoly in the department of having morals. I know of Christians who seem to have none and I know of atheists or people of various other religions who have a lot of moral value. It depends on the person individually. It is something deep within you that tells you right from wrong. People seem to think also that their religion or personal beliefs should dictate how another person lives or what life choices they make. This is one of those bandwagon topics. I've seem people group up on someone and try to trash them using their personal beliefs. Those are YOUR personal beliefs. That can be a two way street. You don't want to have to adhere to someone else's religious beliefs I would imagine. You don't believe in birth control? Fine don't use it. Someone else doesn't believe in blood transfusions. Does that mean you shouldn't be allowed them? Our hospital recently went to being a Catholic hospital. I will say I am glad I was able to get my tubal done before they made it a rule that it has to be a life threatening situation. I can respect that someone does not believe in them and would not choose one for themselves but I don't feel like it should take away my right to have a tubal when I am for certain I was done having children. (on a side note I am highly allergic to synthetic hormones. I was told I can't even use a nuva ring due to how strong of an allergic reaction I have now. it is something that build up over the years but I began to have an anephelactic shock reaction to most all of them. I didn't have the choices that most people have and I had severe bleeding and hormonal issues after my last two children) I think it is in the people's best interest that church and state continue to be kept separate. I think some people actually see this as encroaching on their rights when it does not. It simply keeps one religion from taking receiving special precedence over others and we are a melting pot of religions. We used to embrace that. As a country we used to embrace the differences. We were doing betterand now  we are back sliding. One religion should not be able to make all the decisions for everyone else. Also something to think about is that "one" religion actually has many branches and each branch has their own beliefs in a way or their own idea of how to interpret the bible. Which one would we go by? That is one of the many reasons there is such a huge problem with that.
 People also seem to not realize how much the media plays into everything. (again with the crowd mentality) If you really sit back and pay attention there is a lot there that influences the crowd mentality and people just go along with it. I will give an example of the Duck Dynasty thing. You take a show that you have a lot of people of a certain audience watching and you can do things like the publicity stunt (I'm sorry calling it for what it was) where the father was going to be kicked off the show for whatever it was. People freaked. Sales went up in support of the show and of course he was back. I was sitting there going seriously do people not see it for what it is? There were some who did. They even had a movie deal from it. Half the time when they proclaim a certain religion is being attacked it is the media that is attacking it in a way. There may be some small obscure group who complained about something and then it is put out there that it is "the atheists" or whatever and then somehow that gets expanded to anyone who isn't Christian. Most of the time the way a news story plays out it is the way the spin is put on it and the light that someone wants you to see it in. You can read a story on the exact same topic by two different sources each having their own spin on it determined by which 'side" of it they are on (you see this a lot with democratic and republican stories) and you can come away with two totally different things.     I've noticed as of late several news channels are using what they are seeing in their facebook feeds as filler for their stories. I am just sort of shaking my head going wow. A lot of times they have to go back and report when they discover the story they aired was based on a false post. Some of which have been cycling through for years. There is not a lot of fact finding and research going on anymore.  Anyway I hope people take the time sometimes to do some deeper thinking. Don't always assume that the crowd is right. 

 If we were all the same life would be boring. Accepting someone else's differences does not mean that you have to give up who you are.