It's been a short time since my last post and frankly, it has not been unintentional.
This particular post is not about some great social injustice, some administrative hooplah, some corporate scandal, or some spiritual awakening. It's about being a lame duck.
The coming legislative session is sure to be rife with, well nothing. Much will happen in the news in the way of punditry, commentary, empty threats, and faux ultimatums as the Republicans take their new seats and Democrats check theirs for mousetraps. However, at the end of the day, most of these recently ousted men and women will do what most of us do when we know of our impending termination: nothing.
The question is, what do we do? Politics is a daily event, an unavoidable component of our lives. While the collective legislative mechanism of our country sits on its ass and politiks about nothing in particular, how are we affected?
Well, from my perspective, the lame duck session is an important one. We now have the opportunity to do what we please, recharge, collect our thoughts and prepare for the ensuing fight. What's sure to follow the lame duck session is a tidal wave of distracting fights, frivolous arguments, and misdirection from the issues that really affect our world. It will be tense, it will be constant, and it will be taxing.
So I'm not telling you to sit out. I'm barely telling you to sit down. But instead, stand up, hit the books, relax and catch your breath, but remain on your toes. If you care about anything, know that any fight is worth the work, so do the work while your plate is empty.
Be a lame duck, just this once.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
In the Wake of a Shellacking
A "shellacking" is what President Obama decided to call it.
He may have been right.
As the economy continues to creep along without jobs, social issues like gay marriage and immigration continue to remain unsolved, and reasonable American concerns remain unanswered, the "informed citizenry" decided to vote for the party of no; the party that has obstructed the conversation for two years, the party that puts petty holds on trivial nominees, the party that refuses to acknowledge the need for conversation and compromise in a discussion that needs resolution before our country can move forward.
Next thing you know we'll be drinking Brawndo. It does have what plants crave after all.
What makes the situation even more maddening is the complete ignorance of the intentional plutocracy that allowed these road cones (John Boehner) and turtles (Mitch McConnell) to assume the mantle of power (which they do not see as a call to action, but instead as a mandate for uncompromising partisanship). The Reagan era theory of trickle down economics, the Bush era doctrine of deregulation, and the myth of the unmoderated free market have exploded the social division in this country, demolishing the middle class and (coupled with key Supreme Court decisions) organized political power firmly in the hands of the elite.
The bottom line is this: on a day when Americans had the opportunity to vote against partisan gridlock, ideological tomfoolery, and money fueled campaigns dictated by those who would sooner milk us for our paycheck than give our children a good education, Americans voted against their own best interest.
The Democrats may have lost the seats, but it was the American people who received the "shellacking".
Moving forward, we have a lot of work to do. Here in Iowa, Governor Branstad and the newly politicized judiciary will be pushing a reversal of the decision that allowed gay marriage to become a reality (they have a long road ahead, but the intention is clear). In Washington, Boehner and McConnell have made no qualms about their intention to steamroll as many time-wasting hearings and inquisitions as possible through the legislature. Regardless of how Democrats and even moderate Conservatives feel, GOP leadership now sees the Tea Party anger as their guiding compass.
The patients run the asylum today, but we cannot give up hope. With a simple majority in the Senate and a competent, reasonable president in the White House, life will continue. Let's just hope the Democrats have learned their lessons: progress does not speak for itself, even good ideas can be spun as bad ones, and the American people are as impressionable as the elite believe them to be.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to try and keep progress un-shellacked.
Fight on.
He may have been right.
As the economy continues to creep along without jobs, social issues like gay marriage and immigration continue to remain unsolved, and reasonable American concerns remain unanswered, the "informed citizenry" decided to vote for the party of no; the party that has obstructed the conversation for two years, the party that puts petty holds on trivial nominees, the party that refuses to acknowledge the need for conversation and compromise in a discussion that needs resolution before our country can move forward.
Next thing you know we'll be drinking Brawndo. It does have what plants crave after all.
What makes the situation even more maddening is the complete ignorance of the intentional plutocracy that allowed these road cones (John Boehner) and turtles (Mitch McConnell) to assume the mantle of power (which they do not see as a call to action, but instead as a mandate for uncompromising partisanship). The Reagan era theory of trickle down economics, the Bush era doctrine of deregulation, and the myth of the unmoderated free market have exploded the social division in this country, demolishing the middle class and (coupled with key Supreme Court decisions) organized political power firmly in the hands of the elite.
The bottom line is this: on a day when Americans had the opportunity to vote against partisan gridlock, ideological tomfoolery, and money fueled campaigns dictated by those who would sooner milk us for our paycheck than give our children a good education, Americans voted against their own best interest.
The Democrats may have lost the seats, but it was the American people who received the "shellacking".
Moving forward, we have a lot of work to do. Here in Iowa, Governor Branstad and the newly politicized judiciary will be pushing a reversal of the decision that allowed gay marriage to become a reality (they have a long road ahead, but the intention is clear). In Washington, Boehner and McConnell have made no qualms about their intention to steamroll as many time-wasting hearings and inquisitions as possible through the legislature. Regardless of how Democrats and even moderate Conservatives feel, GOP leadership now sees the Tea Party anger as their guiding compass.
The patients run the asylum today, but we cannot give up hope. With a simple majority in the Senate and a competent, reasonable president in the White House, life will continue. Let's just hope the Democrats have learned their lessons: progress does not speak for itself, even good ideas can be spun as bad ones, and the American people are as impressionable as the elite believe them to be.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to try and keep progress un-shellacked.
Fight on.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Stand and Be Heard
"When we amplify everything we hear nothing."
Jon Stewart is a smart man.
This message came from the lips of one of the most underestimated political commenters of our time. In a few words, Stewart offered the most concise diagnosis of our political discourse to date. We live in an age of muted conversation, confounding roadblocks, and stifled progress born of a discussion overwhelmed by the volume of a minority of participants.
Today, however, I'd like to take this discussion one step further. The overwhelming din isn't simply a problem endemic of election season or even caused by the Tea Party. Frankly at this point progressives are joining in the chorus, adding their own tune to the disharmony. Yelling, anger, and the unwillingness to compromise, even for the sake of progress, are symptoms of something deeper than television commercials.
At this point I am certainly primed for a rant, aren't I? I could launch into a discussion about corporate spending. I could raise hell about "beltway politics". Frankly, I could even concoct some kind of "state sponsored drug war/chemtrail" scandal that would magically assume the appropriate piece to my puzzle.
However, these stories feel more like cop-outs than explanations. The truth is, most societal problems are the conglomeration of bad behavior sparked by some flaw in human psychology that reaches critical mass due to enabling sociopolitical and economic circumstances.
So the question then becomes, what mental disease, born of our American environment has so crippled our national immune system as to prevent us from even voting in our own best interest? The answer: purity.
Deliberation is dirtied by the purification of contending ideologies. The unwillingness to even consider that your opponent may possess a grain of truth (especially in politics) prevents the bridging of gaps of any kind.
This purity, born of anger and confusion, fear and frustration, has poisoned the conversation entirely, preventing us from tackling even our most basic problems. The Tea Party is the epitome of polictical zealotry, and even some Progressives hint a move in a similar direciton, thinking it the most effective counterattack to the madness.
I assure you, it is not.
So now we know the problem. Discussing it any further risks running the issue straight into the ground. What people really want are action. But what action is best?
Well friends, despite the smothering wave of attack ads and phone calls, the very season that accentuates our condition presents an opportunity, nay, the opportunity for its cure. You see, voting is the very essence of our fight. Pens replace swords, voices replace violence, and at this time we can be united in a single purpose, fighting not against each other, but against our common demons.
Question your vote. Leave no doubt in your mind that you cast the right vote when you leave your polling place. Will you vote for purity? Will you further the stalemate of contending zealots? Or will you consider pragmatism, the reasonable conglomeration of humble ideas, as your candidate?
Vote not A vs. B, but instead vote C. Vote for progress. Understand what progress means and demand it of the most qualified candidate. Ignore the rhetoric and consider your future, your circumstances, your dreams, and your country. Ultimately, do not perpetuate the stalemate, but instead liberate yourself from it.
Vote and take charge. And when you enter that polling place, consider just once that despite your colors, we all believe in the same thing: progress.
Vote.
Jon Stewart is a smart man.
This message came from the lips of one of the most underestimated political commenters of our time. In a few words, Stewart offered the most concise diagnosis of our political discourse to date. We live in an age of muted conversation, confounding roadblocks, and stifled progress born of a discussion overwhelmed by the volume of a minority of participants.
Today, however, I'd like to take this discussion one step further. The overwhelming din isn't simply a problem endemic of election season or even caused by the Tea Party. Frankly at this point progressives are joining in the chorus, adding their own tune to the disharmony. Yelling, anger, and the unwillingness to compromise, even for the sake of progress, are symptoms of something deeper than television commercials.
At this point I am certainly primed for a rant, aren't I? I could launch into a discussion about corporate spending. I could raise hell about "beltway politics". Frankly, I could even concoct some kind of "state sponsored drug war/chemtrail" scandal that would magically assume the appropriate piece to my puzzle.
However, these stories feel more like cop-outs than explanations. The truth is, most societal problems are the conglomeration of bad behavior sparked by some flaw in human psychology that reaches critical mass due to enabling sociopolitical and economic circumstances.
So the question then becomes, what mental disease, born of our American environment has so crippled our national immune system as to prevent us from even voting in our own best interest? The answer: purity.
Deliberation is dirtied by the purification of contending ideologies. The unwillingness to even consider that your opponent may possess a grain of truth (especially in politics) prevents the bridging of gaps of any kind.
This purity, born of anger and confusion, fear and frustration, has poisoned the conversation entirely, preventing us from tackling even our most basic problems. The Tea Party is the epitome of polictical zealotry, and even some Progressives hint a move in a similar direciton, thinking it the most effective counterattack to the madness.
I assure you, it is not.
So now we know the problem. Discussing it any further risks running the issue straight into the ground. What people really want are action. But what action is best?
Well friends, despite the smothering wave of attack ads and phone calls, the very season that accentuates our condition presents an opportunity, nay, the opportunity for its cure. You see, voting is the very essence of our fight. Pens replace swords, voices replace violence, and at this time we can be united in a single purpose, fighting not against each other, but against our common demons.
Question your vote. Leave no doubt in your mind that you cast the right vote when you leave your polling place. Will you vote for purity? Will you further the stalemate of contending zealots? Or will you consider pragmatism, the reasonable conglomeration of humble ideas, as your candidate?
Vote not A vs. B, but instead vote C. Vote for progress. Understand what progress means and demand it of the most qualified candidate. Ignore the rhetoric and consider your future, your circumstances, your dreams, and your country. Ultimately, do not perpetuate the stalemate, but instead liberate yourself from it.
Vote and take charge. And when you enter that polling place, consider just once that despite your colors, we all believe in the same thing: progress.
Vote.