I have just returned from vacation and have watched the
nominating process for our country with growing trepidation. I try to stay away
from politics in this blog, but, in good conscience, I want to explore some of
the observations I have had while watching this process from outside the direct
batteground. It is a discouraging sight and the anger that seems to be running
rampant in the parties and with the voters makes me fear for the future of our
country.
Hypocrisy seems to be one of the major products that we
manufacture in this country.
All the liberals are terribly sad that Justice Scalia has
passed away and can’t wait to get total control of the Supreme Court. All the
conservatives, who swear by the strict reading of the Constitution, are
suddenly reinterpreting it so that the “people” can decide who appoints his
replacement.
Liberals are in favor of abortion but are against capital
punishment. Conservatives are pro-life and pro-capital punishment.
Liberals hate guns but many of the most prominent opponents
are the same people who make Hollywood films and TV shows that are filled with
gun violence. And they do it because it sells, not to show the problems. If you
asked them to pull all their crime, combat, end of the world, zombie and Star
Wars type shows, they would all be out of jobs.
Conservatives say they want the government out of our lives…except
when they want the government peeking in our bedroom windows.
Liberals want lots of free stuff that someone else pays for…it’s
undefined who, but looking like it will be our great grandchildren.
Conservatives want the world the way it was fifty years ago,
except they would complain incessantly if they didn’t have all the modern amenities
that modern life provides.
Everyone wants good health care, but no one knows how to pay
for it…except it shouldn’t be them.
Everyone loves the internet, but also is afraid of what it
means for privacy and the developing total dependence of society and life style
on its sustainability.
It all has created a real quandary in where we go and how we
get there. Progressives seem to say the more changes and the faster, the
better. Conservatives limp along trying to protect the rear, and keep society
from getting blown up by a sneak attack.
So now we take our partisan feuds to politics in a hugely
important election, and we seem to be focusing on a bunch of gerbils as our
choices for leadership. Is there a real healer in the group? Certainly not
among the frontrunners.
Our voters seem to be taking on the character of the crowds
at the Roman Coliseum during the declining days of the Empire…except that everyone,
including the crowds, has bigger weapons.
All the disputing parties want total victories: complete
surrender by the “enemy”. We need to be seeking a peace that allows the country
to endure and prosper. This country cannot survive if its citizens are not
allowed some measure of self-respect. We cannot legislate through “thought
police” and demanding subservience to every new wave of conscience by some bureaucrat
or lawyer trying to break new ground on human relations. People aren’t all
going to agree on everything and we need to learn to live with that, because
the only alternative is what we are seeing in the Middle East right now.
I hope our voters and our political parties will all step
back, take a deep breath and choose some leadership for this country that we
can respect and be proud to have represent our country. We have done it before.
It isn’t impossible, even though right now it’s looking a little grim.
Let’s stop trying to squeeze all our population into a
one-size-fits-all hole. We will all be in our own unbothered little hole soon
enough, and at that point will finally realize that there is no total victory
in life. Perhaps a little patience and tolerance before we get there would be a
nice interlude.
Glenn K. Currie