Skip to main content

They just don't get it . . . .


If you're anything like me (I know no one wants to readily admit to it but there are people like me) you've come away from recent elections shaking your head and thinking, "They just don't get it . . ."


No matter what happens in an election in recent years, it comes back to party politics. Like a fight - the fighters retreat to their corners where the same 'experts' and advisers whisper sweet motivations in their ears and the same fighters come out swinging in the same fight over-and-over-and-over . . . Like tired boxers they no longer know what they're fighting for but they keep fighting because the bejeweled experts in the corner are paying them to get into the ring. The fighters become tired and entangled and throw half-hearted punches until the bell tolls again and they retreat to their corners where the same . . . Imagine a Rocky movie here but instead of  the old gravely voiced manager, there is Bernie Madoff or worse. Meanwhile, we in the audience are reading our magazines or napping because the fight doesn't really matter, we don't have any input because no one is listening to us and we feel powerless to change the way the fight is fought. We know we should care but after awhile well, we don't.


I could get carried away with that fight analogy and maybe I already did. My point being, we no longer have influence on the results of the elections. We vote but once someone is elected, our influence may very well end. It's become a pay-to-play system and I don't have enough cash. 


We're lulled into thinking we have influence in the party-political game - but most Americans are not just one party or another. As a matter of fact, I think most Americans could care less about the labels given by party politics. I heard an interview with Robert Frank on his book, "The Darwin Economy; Liberty, Competition and the Common Good" - and I thought - that's exactly what I think is wrong with politics today!!!!!! (I've included a link below to the show and book). 


Going back to the fight analogy, we as an audience need to get out of our seats and demand equal time whispering in our fighters' ears. We need to remove the 'experts' - in this case lobbyists from ringside seats and demand they move to the back of the line or get out of line altogether. Because until that happens, our politicians just won't get it because they're not listening.














Robert Frank: "The Darwin Economy: Liberty, Competition, and the Common Good" | The Diane Rehm Show from WAMU and NPR:

'via Blog this'

Comments

Post a Comment

It's not a popularity contest, but ...

When a New Year begins with only whispers of the previous year

  I spent the last 45 days of 2024 suffering with a wee bit of the plague.  It didn't completely stop me, but it came close. I only briefly came out of my isolation to participate in the Lakeshore Community Chorus' holiday concert, to take care of the world's most adorable bairn and then celebrate his first birthday, to attend Christmas Eve worship, to see the bio-pic of Bob Dylan, celebrate NYE with the previously mentioned adorable grandson and his parents and to have short visits with my daughter from a different mother/father and her adorable daughter. I don't think I missed any 'events'. After each of these 'events' I then went back to my cocoon (the recliner in the living room, with my blankie and water bottle). There I could cough, sneeze and ache in relative comfort with my tissues, Mucinex and Advil nearby. I also discovered the comfort of an occasional hot toddy. When there were no signs of improvement, I went to my doctor and she prescribed an...
1 comment
Read more

When it snows and blows

  be careful what you wish/pray for. On Christmas Eve, I was lamenting the lack of snow. "When it's winter, I'd rather there was snow on the ground," I mused, "instead of this ugly grayness." Well, there's snow on the ground and plenty of it. In fact, I estimate about 250 inches (though we all know how bad I am at math) and there's more coming down and even more in the forecast. Looking out, it's kind of pretty. Like a snow globe. As a four-wheeler, I feel though almost trapped inside that snow globe because traversing the snow is difficult and messy in a wheelchair. Imagine pushing a stroller through a sandy beach and you have an inkling about the challenges of propelling my chair through deep snow. And sometimes, getting the snow off the wheels of the chair is a frustrating task. I towel off the wheels, but they are still a little wet and/or dirty. Imagine coming in from the snow, wiping your boots on a mat but then walking in to the house with...
Post a Comment
Read more

When being negative is positive and other wonky 'things' in the time of Covid

The world is upside down and back ass-ward. Know what I mean? I was chatting with a cousin the other day and her potential exposure to the corona virus. I wrote, "I'll say prayers for negative results for all. Don't like negativity but these days negative is a positive." Back ass-ward. Remember when we first went in to shut-down mode in mid-March? We were told that it was to flatten the curve of hospital admissions so that our ICU's didn't run out of capacity and to ease the virus' spread. It felt then like we were in this together, all of us were going to help beat this virus and stay home. (Aside from the run on toilet paper!) We were committed, or so it seemed, and our closets were going to be cleaned, our junk drawers were going to be a thing of the past, our garages/basements/and other yucky places were going to gleam. We were going to read "War and Peace" or "Hamilton" or other weighty tomes that we'd always wanted to read. We...
Post a Comment
Read more