on Church and Politics

On Church.
Let me say this. Church can be the greatest burden and the greatest blessing and I don't speak often enough of the immense joy I receive from having the opportunity to serve my God and serve my fellow beings. I fret about the large time commitments asked of me but fail to realize that sometimes true service comes at a cost, and for me it is time. I never feel worse off after having done what I perceive as something for the Lord. My weekend is very busy but hopefully it will be time well spent.
On politics.
I have studied political science for the better part of seven years, with a few more to go. The more I understand the topic, the less I know. Without exaggeration, I have probably read nearing a million pages on politics (most of which I feel like have been since starting graduate school, ugh). But it is daily that I hear a completely ignorant political opinion that I am almost baffled by. For example, my dear vacuum salesmen from last night. He asked me what I was studying and given his not-so-firm grasp of English I told him 'government'. He told me that the President was screwing everything up and we need to get Reagan back. I found this interesting given that 1. Reagan would likely not have sought your vote as much as Obama, 2. Obama would do a whole lot more for Hispanics than Reagan, 3. Reagan's views on border control, and 4. Obama nominated the first Hispanic to the Supreme Court. Now I'm not saying this as a Reagan or an Obama supporter. I'm saying this as objectively. I said 'you like Reagan huh?' and he told me that he liked the old cowboy movies. Awesome.
I understand not everyone has had the same opportunity to study this subject as me so I don't ever say anything. If someone has an opinion on a topic on which I think they are ill-informed, its still their opinion and they're entitled to it. This, however, often places me in a position of listening to really stupid banter on politics that makes me want smack people on the heads. What a snob, right? It gets worse. Pretty much the only time I will correct someone or call them out on their ignorant opinions is if they are in my grad program, espousing an unfounded opinion and thinking they can get away with it because they can hide behind their degree. Nope, not in this house! If you are this far in school and don't even know the governmental system of Afghanistan and start going off on how Bush tried to push our form of government on their country and it backfired, you best believe I will ask you- really? and he did that by forcing them to have the same form of government as us, is that it? Yeah? Well they have a parlimentary system, friend, which they jointly elected to have and perhaps you are unaware that is actually not the same as our government. Thanks though. Stupid.
OK. Enough ranting. The fingers are flowing and its time to start this daunting paper.
Sorry if these posts have been all over the place. Next week begins the 30 day countdown till Europe. DUN DUN DUN. So I'll be mostly posting about that. WOOT!

Also thanks to everyone who reads this and comments and makes me feel good. I love you and it means a lot to me and it makes me feel really happy. so thanks.