Quoting the smartest man I know (emphasis mine):
Today is Super Tuesday. News reports, polls, and interviews seem to indicate that many people in the US are concerned primarily with moral and social issues. I want to try to change the subject. If you're voting today in the Republican Primaries, I'm not going to tell you who to vote for. I'm not going to promote one candidate over another.The Guardian, a newspaper from the United Kingdom, has a video from a film-maker who went to several states asking people about their opinions on the issues and finally, who they would vote for.
I will tell you that throughout human history, almost every case of one group imposing their beliefs on another has gone badly. I will tell you that unless a person is causing harm, then it is wrong to tell them how to live. It's called oppression, and everyone who has ever tried it has been called an oppressor. Having a different opinion is not harmful. Having a different lifestyle, set of habits, hobbies, or preferences is not harmful. It is always wrong to tell a person how to peacefully live their life.
If you find that what is most important to you in this election is influencing other people to behave how you want them to, or even to legally restrict their peaceful behavior to what you find acceptable, then shame on you. You have a sad, corroded view of what freedom is.
It is OK to criticize others. Even publicly. Even vehemently. It is OK to have contempt for others and their lifestyles; people have the right to their own opinions and the right to share them. People do not have the right to use government as a big stick and beat the people they don't agree with. A difference of opinion is a peaceful issue that should never be resolved forcibly with law.
There are much more important issues than worrying about how other Americans spend their free time. Foreign policy for one. I have read more about which candidate legally paid more in taxes than I've read about their stances on US interventionism. Just yesterday, Eric Holder outlined justification for assassinating US citizens. I want to hear the candidates talk about that. I want to hear discussions about police using drones domestically. I want to hear more about funding for energy research. There are so many issues that actually affect everyone that it is shocking to me to find most people seem stuck on issues that don't affect them at all.
I have never been so ashamed to be an Oklahoman and an American after watching this Hitchcock-esque video. I wish it had been a video of an Inuit eating a baby seal. It isn't. It's worse.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/mar/05/primary-voices-oklahoma-video
If you suspect I am being melodramatic, know this... I have never, ever been ashamed of or have ever said I was ashamed of where I come from. I'm proud of my country. I love my state, but if mainstream ignorance continues to flourish, if lack of critical thinking pins my fellow state and countrymen with a big red arrow in Las Vegas neon saying, "Hi, I'm the lowest common denominator", then put me on the next rocket to Mars.
Voices need to be heard, opinions must be developed. These two aspects of ourselves are the pinnacle of revolution. Yet, I am of that mindset that if you are voicing your ill-informed opinion because you haven't deigned to do the legwork of research into a candidate's viability, you are the idiotic LCD. You are the detriment, not the ones who are different and "other" from you.
For Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Ohio and Oklahoma, it may be too late. For all the rest of the states who have yet to have their primaries, it might not be. After August 27th, we'll find out the mood of half of the nation. What kind of nation will it be? Will it be a progressive, tolerant, and innovative one or will it regress a la Iran and Afghanistan?
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