Here on election day, I want to encourage all to vote and to sum up my views on voting with respect to and for our own and others feelings and beliefs. I do think it is undeniable that some groups, especially the more fundamentalist right AND left, engage in politics to promote non-political agendas, societal reforms or legislate morality.
This is something I fundamentally disagree with and feel polarizes debate, pointlessly prohibiting progress.
Abortion, education, stem-cell research, healthcare, same-sex marriage, Irag and taxes. All clearly issues where many have strong categorical beliefs. I would only caution that national politics is not an effective place to champion single causes.
I have cast my vote for Barack Obama and find that Obama's strength and what I hope he brings to the nation and the debate is devaluation of the oversimplified, sound bite politics of the binary argument and promotion of the pursuit of alternatives, a third path. World, national and political issues are never black and white and we need leaders and discourse that weigh the costs and benefits of varied alternatives.
Due to gross deficiencies in the legislative process, bills that become law are often lengthy, complex and filled with unrelated clauses and amendments. Our politicians must weigh all the alternatives and aspects of an entire bill and vote for the greatest good in an often very flawed context.
This is very similar to what we must do in an election.
There is no black and white and the entire spectrum of issues matter more than any single one. We must choose a candidate, a party and a packaged platform of issues based upon the greatest good of the whole for the nation. In the end, any current platform of issues is no more than a yardstick.
Optimally, we choose one to lead based on their intellect, capacity and perceived ability to make sound choices and lead us into the future.
G'Obama!
This is something I fundamentally disagree with and feel polarizes debate, pointlessly prohibiting progress.
Abortion, education, stem-cell research, healthcare, same-sex marriage, Irag and taxes. All clearly issues where many have strong categorical beliefs. I would only caution that national politics is not an effective place to champion single causes.
I have cast my vote for Barack Obama and find that Obama's strength and what I hope he brings to the nation and the debate is devaluation of the oversimplified, sound bite politics of the binary argument and promotion of the pursuit of alternatives, a third path. World, national and political issues are never black and white and we need leaders and discourse that weigh the costs and benefits of varied alternatives.Due to gross deficiencies in the legislative process, bills that become law are often lengthy, complex and filled with unrelated clauses and amendments. Our politicians must weigh all the alternatives and aspects of an entire bill and vote for the greatest good in an often very flawed context.
This is very similar to what we must do in an election.
There is no black and white and the entire spectrum of issues matter more than any single one. We must choose a candidate, a party and a packaged platform of issues based upon the greatest good of the whole for the nation. In the end, any current platform of issues is no more than a yardstick.
Optimally, we choose one to lead based on their intellect, capacity and perceived ability to make sound choices and lead us into the future.
G'Obama!
2 comments:
So, do you think PBO is living up to the reasons that you voted for him? After reading his books and researching his US Senate record, I did not vote for PBO. Personally, I think we need to radically change our elected officials -- the vast majority are *not* looking out for us. As Arlen Specter so aptly demonstrated, he only cares that his career continues, and that he gets favorable status from Dems so that his pork can be brought back to (my) state.
If you want a chill to run up your spine, read Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged." Holy sh!t... I am half-way through it and it is gripping.
I hope we can save the republic... though in 100 days we ran up more deficit than 8 years under Reagan, and had more prime time press conferences than under clinton's terms.
But much/all(?) of PBO's course of action was right out there for everybody to read about. The folks who shaped his world view are all there for the reading in his books.
With a complicit mainstream press not doing their job (as envisioned by the forefathers as one of the pillars of our government experiment), we are treading on thin ice ... As Jarred Diamond points out in "Collapse" -- "great" nations do fail despite the obvious signs when one looks in retrospect.
But we are not a nation of retrospect, deep thinking, or meaningful politics -- to your point about stupid national dialog on private stuff at the expense of talking about the things that might matter more...
Hi Jon
Thanks for your comments. I read the Hope book, his record, Atlas Shrugged - and I'm from Illinois too. :-)
Yes, I am less worried for the republic these days. I'll swap Honeymoon media treatment and some deficit spending instead of the exploding Political Debt of the last 8 years any day.
/Kevin
Post a Comment