Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Turning Point 2012

It may be arguable whether any moment in time is truly a 'turning point' - unless you have the luxury of looking back on that time with the perspective of some distant future, but it is my belief we are approaching one of these moments.

And it is NOT the Mayan Apocalypse 2012, but rather something much more alarming because many of us may live to feel the consequences.

Yes, this moment, as some of you already have guessed, is associated with the upcoming Presidential Election, but it is not about who wins.  Really, it isn't.  It's about WHY - or perhaps it should be HOW - they win.

Our future will be shaped by the means used to win this election.  And that is because the winner will likely have spent more money and exercised more undue influence than the loser.

It is true that politics has always involved money and influence, but we are entering an unknown sea of excess brought on by Citizen's United and PAC-mania, and made worse by an aggressive media that has corrupted the News into focused propaganda.

So when the dust clears on the morning after the election this Fall, take a moment to ponder what was done to get (or keep) the winner in the White House.  Consider what promises, alliances, and departures from ethics and conscience were made.  Think about how much more of this will be needed at the next election.

It's my dystopic opinion that We will be lucky to survive with a functioning national democracy.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Poetry Break: At Speed (In A New World)

At Speed, with no particular destination in mind; just the road ahead observed and quickly dispatched, was there, then here, now gone.

Nothing sticks when you are moving fast, and doubly so when that movement is on two wheels.  Maybe it's the wind that makes the difference.

If only this could be a permanent state, a life spent at Speed In A New World.  Perhaps it will when the time comes ...

For now there is a downtime, a return to stasis.  But Souls aren't meant to be still too long (Rev It Up).

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

The End of The Party?

Do any of you reading this have friends who post political opinions on Facebook?

Sure you do ...

Recently one of my more progressively political friends posted his decision not to vote for Obama.  He's chosen to vote for another candidate who is less prone to compromise. My arguments that unwillingness to compromise is anathema to democracy, and lies at the heart of our governance problem posed by an unrelentingly stubborn Republican House of Representatives, have so far fallen on deaf ears.  He is firm in his belief the only honest option is to (essentially) opt out.

Of course, his alternate liberal candidate has no chance in the election ...

As with every other random perturbation of logic that has floated across my path of late, I have chosen to take this as a sign of impending change.  Potentially negative, possibly the harbinger of Doom ...

And here it is:  the future of the Democratic Party looks grim and dim.  Or grimmer and dimmer, for those of us already sensing a mean twilight approaching.

Before you mention it let me say that I know my friend's opinion is not the majority.  But his views aren't exactly extreme fringe, and are shared by more than a few, even if most aren't ready to abandon Team Donkey for 40 days in the political wilderness just yet.

But the worry lies in the comparison with the Republicans.  Somehow they encapsulate their fringe and incorporate it while neutralizing its worst political (but not social) effects.  Their fringe will definitely vote for Romney come November. The GOP seems to move forward after disasters like a headless chicken that can still find the coop.  

Not so Demos.  We are divided by failure and then divided again by success.  It's crazy, but that's where we seem to be right now - a party with a sitting President with a chance of being beaten by Mitt Romney, who comes with a classically handsome head but with an indiscernible brain.

So it is that I wistfully predict the demise of the Democratic Party, no matter who actually wins in November.  I hope what arises in its wake is truer to my friend's ideals, but I am not optimistic he will ever get what he wants.  After all, politics is compromise and so is democracy; you really can't have the one without accepting the presence of the other.

Personally, I am hoping that on the day after the election, compromise will begin in earnest, and a functioning democracy is restored.