Today I am thankful for compost bins.
Someone at work is bringing crap loads of literature from the Libertarian Party to my workplace.
They make sure I see it.
I do.
I do something about it.
I throw it away.
The Libertarian Party is never going to win any seat of any consequence.....
Ever.
They don't have the social skills necessary to win the trust of the voters.
It's a sad reality.
*****
I identify as Pagan. I was active in the party despite the sexism and bullshit. For the most part, women are expected to do all the administrative tasks. Men sit around and drink while telling you not to help Republicans fight tax hikes because preventing corporate welfare gets in the way of big business and jobs.
Yeah......when I heard crap like that, I figured it was the booze talking. It is unwise to do one's political strategizing in bars. The ideas don't flow very well.
It's akin to typing a blog post while waiting for your gel fingernail polish to dry and trying to convince someone to move out of your house nearly three years after they were ordered to leave.
My computer smells like acetone and my blood pressure is so high, I can see the veins in my hand writhe.
Just as I put up with the crazy ex who won't leave until I can get face time in front of a judge, I was okay with the crazies in the party. I only did what I could.
I let some of the men verbally abuse me. When it got to be too annoying, I'd grin and take out my pendulum and remind them that I'm a hypnotist.
They'd typically shut up. One guy got a little too abusive and nasty. I threatened to tell him my "limp noodle" hypnotist story. I never did because I liked his wife. This guy would tell me he was a Mason but I never saw him at the Masonic Temple. Thankfully he's in Utah now.
I was growing tired of the bullshit. I was growing tired of making excuses for the bullshit. When I got my job, I decided to tithe to the party rather than give them any more of my time. I started sending money.
The last straw was a press release Adrian Wylie sent out about a self-proclaimed Libertarian in Florida. It hit all the major news networks.
I thought I was good at getting into the newspapers. I just smile, flirt and try to network with the reporters. This guy was better at getting into the paper but for all the wrong reasons.
He had to dig up dirt to get printed.
Wylie derided this man for making a sacrifice to the God of the Forest.
He didn't deride him for being a Nazi.
He derided him for being Pagan.
He didn't understand that many Pagans are drawn to the Libertarian Party.
I brought this up to the guy in charge of the party and ask that he clarify that Pagans are welcomed into the party.
He ignored me.
I learned that this wasn't the first time the Party had offended Pagans.
Oh - yeah, they ran a presidential candidate who claimed that Wicca was not a religion.
For years the head of the party wanted to know why so many registered Libertarians failed to be active in the party. I think the answer is probably quite obvious - could it be that they are alienating people?
I hope the people at National get it now.
Another man at the National Headquarters welcomed Adrian Wylie back into the party quite publicly.
I left.
I'm just wasting my time with people like that.
They have so many little dramas behind the scenes that keep them from taking part of the greater play.
****
I've been asked, again, to join the Republican Party.
I might.
I don't know.
Truth be told, when something needs done - the Republicans and Democrats typically have my back. The Republicans help with the fiscal issues. The Democrats help with social issues.
The Libertarians like to argue while failing to listen.
Last week, I sent a letter to the fundraising guy at the National Headquarters asking him to remove me from his mailing list or clear up the idea that the Libertarian Party is hostile to Pagans.
I received my letter back un-read.
So....
they don't care.
This is why they will never win.
They have no social skills.
They won't win.....ever.
I will continue to throw away their crap.
*****
I am ticked at the religious thing. No one in their right mind is going to turn way from their spirituality due to a political ideology.
What would happen if they criticized a Christian farmer who slaughtered a cow to give the meat to charity?
The Christians would be up in arms.
This is what the Pagan man did.
He tithed by purchasing a goat and sacrificing it.
It was a stupid thing to criticize someone for. It's not how I make my tithe but it is how this man did it.
To each his own.
I used to be vegan. I pay farmers to kill fruit** by picking it from their mother tree and take those sacrifices to the food bank to honor the gods. Every God has a different food that he or she enjoys. My sacrifices usually entail sharing those gifts with others.
I'd be shocked if that were anything the press would go bonkers about. Some crazy red-headed chick who smells like cloves and cinnamon gives Golden Apples (for Aphrodite), Grapes (Dionysus) and Oranges (for Apollo and Asclepius) to the food bank - big story there.
People of many faiths tithe in their own way. A sacrifice is nothing more than a tithe.
I thought giving money and time to this stupid party was a tithing for Liber (a Roman version of Dionysus, known as the Father of Freedom).
Dionysus is a God of the Forest. He is one of my favorite Archetypes. How dare they piss on someone for making a sacrifice to the very Archetype that inspired me to give them money?
**This was a scenario posed by a Libertarian picking on me for not eating meat. He could imagine the screaming of the baby carrots as they were plucked from the ground. I am no longer Vegan due to my newly confirmed allergies to wheat, soy and peanuts. A fat chick has got to eat something.
*****
I'm disgusted that someone was harassed over their religion by people I used to devote a lot of time and money to their cause. That time and money can be utilized elsewhere. I won't support assholes financially without the threat of jail time (sadly, one has to support corrupt governments until we can whittle down their power).
The city I live in is now taxing V-8 and dietetic bars as soft drinks and candy. The local government and I are going to have to have a little chit chat (or ballot initiative). V-8 and whey protein bars are what I eat when I'm working hard to generate a head-tax for them and money to pay their sales tax. They may want to rethink their ideas about what actually constitutes a candy bar and soda pop.
*****
If you know me, you know that I am incredibly spiritual.
I am not going to offend my Deities by giving credence to a bunch of assholes that are okay with making fun of religion. I do wish a bunch of Maenads would tear the Party to shreds. That would be fitting considering their penchant for making fun of someone who honored the God of the Forest.
I figured it would be fitting to stop giving them time and money in honor of Liber.
I won't be the Maenad to bring destruction to the Party - they'll do it to themselves.
If you don't know the story, there was once a Greek politician who was upset that the single ladies would hang out in the forest to worship Dionysus and give into to their wildest desires. He passed a law making it illegal for them to do so. Little did this politician know that his mother was drunk with the delirium of the movement, she and the other women lured this politic-rat into the forest and tore him to shreds when he tried to take away their ability to worship.
The first lesson is to be mindful of how you harass people. You don't know who else has experienced similar harassment and will be turned away by your abuse or blindness to the behavior of people who abuse in your name.
The second lesson? Well....you never know who will tear you to shreds if you try to impinge upon their freedom.
Keep in mind, I grew up in the Mormon faith. Mormons have a history of being persecuted for their religion. This is probably why I am disgusted by the behavior of the Libertarian Party and their penchant for turning a blind eye to how others abuse people in their name.
My maternal Grandmother had Jewish relatives that died in Nazi Germany. I have memories of her sobbing in their memory quite often.....thirty years after she lost them. I was given the Navy hat to a great-uncle (allegedly a grand-nephew of Ulysses S. Grant). It is in my closet. He joined the war when they lost contact with their loved ones in Germany.
I have absolutely no tolerance for religious discrimination. I've seen too much. I've heard too much. I won't give money to organizations who f*ck with people over religion. This is why I never joined the Republican Party. Sadly, though - there really are no other viable options.
I've decided to play with the grown-ups now. Besides, the conspiracy theorists in the party claimed Republicans and Democrats were Pagan worshipers. I guess I'll fit right in.
On the bright side, I guess I can thank the Libertarian Party for my new compost, so I can plant trees in honor of the God of the Forest.
I've been sending money to a 501-C-3 in honor of Liber. It is run by a Republican who fights tax hikes. So long as they don't bitch about my religion, they'll get money.
Blessed be,
S.