A little slice of redemption

Submitted by charlie.collins on Wed, 11/05/2008 - 19:07

Tagged:

Politics

It has been said by many others by now, but on a follow up politics note I have to say that I am very proud of my country today - and it is the first time in a long time that I felt like I could say that (about the country as a whole). The election of Obama to the office of President sure feels like a fresh start - a start based on logic and reason, on issues, and yes on hope. It won't be an easy road ahead, but at least I now feel like this country has some leadership, for the first time in over a decade (yes, I include the last few Clinton years as rudderless as well). I am even optimistic that the different parties will be able to work together on a few things. I would like to see the president elect appoint John McCain to be the Secretary of State, for instance (if he wants the gig, which he may not). That would be a REAL way to start off reaching across the aisle and showing that the work is more important than the ideology. I believe McCain could potentially be very good in that position (really can't be any worse than what we have, but I digress). I saw a glimpse of the old McCain in his concession speech, not the 2007-8 McCain that sold his soul to the Republican party to get the nomination and had to swallow all their crap to do so, but the McCain of old. The real McCain, the one that spoke of the dangers of the far left AND RIGHT fringes of the parties, and of issues rather than of fear. Now there would be some differences to potentially work out mind you (we wouldn't really want a secretary of anything that states even in hindsight he would have still have supported the Iraq war - an unfathomable stupidity - or who plays fast and loose with threats such as what was involved with Georgia and Russia), but the gaps might not be as wide in reality as they have been played out to be in a campaign (I am not sure John McCain himself believes a lot of the crap he was forced to push in his campaign, he was being led by the wrong elements in his party, and he was trying to play certain situations to gain certain advantages). Also, I have to add that the retirement of Chuck Hagel from the Senate is a sad notion. He was my favorite Senator, an actual straight talking, logical, seemingly non-special-interest-beholden legislator (what our system really needs is to get rid of the special interests on BOTH sides). I have heard his named mentioned in Defense Secretary discussions, and that would be an excellent across the aisle choice as well. So it's a historic time, yes, and many people are hopeful for the future, and the choice certainly has resonated well around the world, but Obama could take it even further and build a coalition now, and then actually get some non-partisan work done.

Comments

I couldnt agree more

Submitted by Robert (not verified) on Thu, 11/06/2008 - 08:22.

You hit the nail right on the head about McCain.If he was the McCain of old I would have voted for him.He sold his soul to the devil,the Republicant party, to run for President though.Its a said state of affairs when a person has to give up who he/she is in order to be president.When will the people of this country learn that until they embrace a third party in this country things will never change.

The problem isn't the any one party alone

Submitted by Brandon Atkinson (not verified) on Thu, 11/06/2008 - 10:11.

I agree that McCain failed in standing on his own. He, out of fear, hugged the age-old Republican rhetoric during his campaign, rather than make a coherent and logical assessment of the current state of the country. I don't think there is much room for argument here. The real issue is why are public servants* afraid to run campaigns based on logical arguments and the facts? The answer, sadly, is that the American culture has become one most easily classified as one of laziness. Citizens have come to welcome broadcasters who give interpretations of the facts, rather than report the facts (some public broadcasting outlets are a notable exception, but are not completely immune to this either). I've come to the conclusion that the fix to our nation's woes will not come from an election first. I attribute Obama's win partially to counter-racism than to critical thinking from the citizenry. While many understood that Obama was the correct choice logically, many others voted for him because he wasn't white, which is the inverse of not voting for someone because they are black, and is equally wrong. Making the right choice for the wrong reason still ends in failure in the long term. The long term solution will come through a resurgence in people learning to trust their own senses and instincts, to observe current and historical events, and to _apply their minds_ to identifying the root causes of our problems and coming up with solutions for them. This will only happen after the people who already are thinking critically get involved in a way that is attractive and visible to others**. These courageous leaders may fail at first, much like early civil rights advocates did, because it takes time for people to come around, but fear-mongering and illogical rhetoric cannot hope to contain logic and reasoning in the long term if the thoughtful stand up, and stand together. Part of this is discarding the two-party culture, and evaluating potential leaders based on their ideas. This requires keeping an open mind, and not classifying people into bins based on one or two viewpoints. I'd encourage people who want positive change in government to look at what Ron Paul and BJ Lawson have to say. Many label them libertarian, but rather than label candidates (so one can easily classify them and ignore them) read or listen to what they are saying. I think you'll find that they are some of the 'good guys' in government. -------- * I despise calling them politicians, because government is too important to relinquish to people who play politics, even if that is what we have done in the past ** Rather than sitting behind a compter screen and posting on the Internet

Sorry, not just counter-racism

Submitted by Brandon Atkinson (not verified) on Thu, 11/06/2008 - 10:29.

Sorry, after reading what I posted a little more, I have to refine what I said. I don't really think that counter-racism was the predominant factor, though I argue it was not an insignificant factor. I really feel it was a combination of counter-racism and a hatred for an entire group of people based on their party label. In the end, this results in an overshooting effect, where we run from bad leadership in one direction to bad leadership in another. While I think that Obama was the best choice, I don't think that _all_ the Democrats that got elected were. Though some of the blame for this rests on the way candidates label themselves, most of it rests on the public's refusal to take the time to honestly evaluate the candidates ideas, rather than rest on an 'easy' and flawed way to identify friend or foe (the two party system).