There is a Voice ascending in the crack between the blathering of the two major political persuasions, a voice that says America is headed for a nightmare of disastrous proportions.
Of course the Republicans will attack any such Voice-- that is the person -- as is their wont rather than to honestly address the issues. And of course, the Democrats -- as is their wont -- will scurry off in fear that they may offend someone, however deserving and necessary of offense the monster may be.
Several thousand years ago a Chinese philosopher offered that the only virtues worth considering are Courage, Intelligence and Goodwill. Today's Republicans (hardly the party of Lincoln) would instead offer simply one: Greed, along with of course the government's active assistance thereof. Today's Democrats (hardly the party of Roosevelt) would instead offer Partisanship, that is that they rather than the opposition should get to muck up the people's government.
We can't get to the old Chinaman's standard because as a people we lack the prerequisite of Awareness. The cure awaits the diagnosis. Our current endeavor at diagnosis is that the other guys are the problem, or at best we should proceed with the lesser-evil choice of political colitis rather than to risk rectal cancer.
Mr. "Hope" or Mr. "Change" never did promise much specifically; what he did promise was generally everything. And WOW did the Dems eat that up!
The Voice has it aright also when it says that our time, America's time is running out, one supposes toward a second or third rate status (where in fact we are already in such as medical care and education) or perhaps toward revolution (Wow! The dreaded and forbidden "R" word -- goodness gracious, is that not what we were taught since toddlers was the courageous and honorable beginning of it all?)
(OK, Rafe, so much for the criticism: What positive and productive advice can you offer?)
Well, we can't afford to turn our fate over to the Republicans in the elections of 2010 or 2012, without expecting them to do a hard right rudder to more greed service, citizen indenture and even wider wars.
And we can't afford to re-endorse President Bojangles and his merry crew who will chance offending no one by taking charge of the tiller to avoid the rocks and pursue a course actually beneficial to the people and to humanity.
But the Dems do have options, if only they had the intelligence and guts to employ them. The Dems need to swallow hard, disavow their greed-manager contributors, and grasp the courage to select champions to actually do the right thing for the people, that is not to select the best compromise, the lesser-evil approach to"win" elections.
And they can do this within the Dems' own camp. Examples that occur to this political naif are such as Kucinichh, of course, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (Do they know who she is?) and keep an eye on Congressman Alan Grayson. ("Oh, perhaps too divisive? Could such win, which is all it's about!" Yoi, yoi, 'ere we go agin!)
Sadly, as the Voice suggests, it appears the odds favor third rate-ism or revolution.
