Politics, American Style
OK, I'm gonna confess. I don't watch the news anymore. I get my main dose of daily reality from 4 minutes of Yahoo News, the brief images (and sub-titles) that flit across the silent TV as my wife watches CNN (with her wireless headphones on), and what I pick up traveling across America in my RV from the random comments from sage travelers. I'm old and cynical enough that I've figured that I've heard it all. I'm kinda like my dog Reggie. I get all I want and need from the body language and facial expressions of the politicians. I don't need to hear them. It also helps that I have a healthy dose of prejudicial reasoning (is that an oxymoron?). I can form an opinion rather quickly just from one quick look at them talking (not hearing them, but looking at them.)
I've decided long ago who I'll vote for President in 2008 and why. It's Hillary Clinton. It's simple why. I just want there to be one female President elected before I die. Why? I've wondered what the mothering instinct would do to someone leading our country. Would their genetic tendency to heal our booboos and make peace between all the neighborhood kids carry over to nations? Would their ability to love an ugly and mis-behaving child give them an edge in dealing with egotistical idiots that often become world leaders? Would their ability to woo a man into bed translate into a peaceful way of dealing with any world situation? Would their clever way of passing the credit for any successful decision on to Dad make for a better world for the rest of us?
No way to tell until we do it. Hillary is eminently qualified as a politician. My only question is what kind of mother was she? Since her daughter hasn't been in the news much, I'm gonna guess she did a good job. (Think back on Reagan's kids...)
If she doesn't pass the good ol' boys muster in this less than fair democracy, maybe I'll get to witness another first in my life: a black man becoming President. OK.. he's not the perfect Black man, representing the descendants of the slaves brought to this country against their will, but he's still the right color to be different. If for no other reason, he seems to be brighter than pretty much any Republican I've heard speak. And.. I'd love to see the good ol' boys in the south heat up to boiling. I just hope he has a lot of security around him. I've never felt that color of skin had anything to do with intelligence. Plus.. he's got to be about 10x smarter than our current choice as leader of the free world.
I guess my consolation prize, if neither get elected, is that our slow, rickety democratic system won't crumble if another idiot gets elected as President. Our system seems to have enough give and take that even poor decisions, lack of decision, and political and economic greed keeps this country going generally in the right direction. We aren't loved in too many places around the world, but we seem to keep our heads about us and do the "average" right thing in most years.
My dream is that a President would be elected that got up on a podium in front of millions and say something to the effect: "My fellow Americans... we will be in deep shit if we don't change our ways. We need to quit wasting precious natural resources, we need to look out for our grand-childrens' children's future, and we need to put moral decisions above economic ones. We need to recognize that humans are finally making an impact on this Earth that won't be easy to rectify for the future unless we make some major changes in our daily lives... now. The boundaries between countries are less important than the way we treat the land and natural resources we get from the Earth. Freedom is something that species behaving smart and intelligently towards their sustainer (the Earth) has earned, not something that you have a right to have due to your birth on this planet. Stop having children you can't love and support! Stop wasting and start saving for this planet's future."
If they said that and meant it, and got elected, it'd be a good sign. All would not suddenly be well in the world, but it would look a little brighter.
So... vote for Hillary, or maybe Obama, or just care a little about the rest of us. It might help us survive another 5000 years.
I've decided long ago who I'll vote for President in 2008 and why. It's Hillary Clinton. It's simple why. I just want there to be one female President elected before I die. Why? I've wondered what the mothering instinct would do to someone leading our country. Would their genetic tendency to heal our booboos and make peace between all the neighborhood kids carry over to nations? Would their ability to love an ugly and mis-behaving child give them an edge in dealing with egotistical idiots that often become world leaders? Would their ability to woo a man into bed translate into a peaceful way of dealing with any world situation? Would their clever way of passing the credit for any successful decision on to Dad make for a better world for the rest of us?
No way to tell until we do it. Hillary is eminently qualified as a politician. My only question is what kind of mother was she? Since her daughter hasn't been in the news much, I'm gonna guess she did a good job. (Think back on Reagan's kids...)
If she doesn't pass the good ol' boys muster in this less than fair democracy, maybe I'll get to witness another first in my life: a black man becoming President. OK.. he's not the perfect Black man, representing the descendants of the slaves brought to this country against their will, but he's still the right color to be different. If for no other reason, he seems to be brighter than pretty much any Republican I've heard speak. And.. I'd love to see the good ol' boys in the south heat up to boiling. I just hope he has a lot of security around him. I've never felt that color of skin had anything to do with intelligence. Plus.. he's got to be about 10x smarter than our current choice as leader of the free world.
I guess my consolation prize, if neither get elected, is that our slow, rickety democratic system won't crumble if another idiot gets elected as President. Our system seems to have enough give and take that even poor decisions, lack of decision, and political and economic greed keeps this country going generally in the right direction. We aren't loved in too many places around the world, but we seem to keep our heads about us and do the "average" right thing in most years.
My dream is that a President would be elected that got up on a podium in front of millions and say something to the effect: "My fellow Americans... we will be in deep shit if we don't change our ways. We need to quit wasting precious natural resources, we need to look out for our grand-childrens' children's future, and we need to put moral decisions above economic ones. We need to recognize that humans are finally making an impact on this Earth that won't be easy to rectify for the future unless we make some major changes in our daily lives... now. The boundaries between countries are less important than the way we treat the land and natural resources we get from the Earth. Freedom is something that species behaving smart and intelligently towards their sustainer (the Earth) has earned, not something that you have a right to have due to your birth on this planet. Stop having children you can't love and support! Stop wasting and start saving for this planet's future."
If they said that and meant it, and got elected, it'd be a good sign. All would not suddenly be well in the world, but it would look a little brighter.
So... vote for Hillary, or maybe Obama, or just care a little about the rest of us. It might help us survive another 5000 years.
posted by RVGuys, Newt Perdue at 7:50 PM
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