A DAY IN THE LIFE

A legendary day in the life of America…it’s 2:28 a.m. and I am both exhausted and exhilarated.  Have been reading all the Twitter posts about the election;  so much elation and excitement.  So many people voting for change and willing it to happen.  And I can’t remember how to spell exhilarated — still not right (now it’s right ’cause I looked it up).

For how my visit to the polls went, check out Lisa Murray’s site; she’s collecting stories. I am so happy about the enthusiasm for democracy that seemed to invigorate the country today.

This is a cool emotion cloud the NY Times is running, asking people for the one word that best describes their current state of mind — and you can get the red and blue breakdown. Even hope is turning up red. Maybe we can work together. I think McCain did well in his speech to remind everyone how historic a night this is and how we are all Americans with a history that we are still forging. Obama’s speech (and I must admit, I usually zone a bit during them) impressed me for how aware he was of the tremendous responsibility he has just been chosen for.

Who knows where we go from here; but I hope that we can be a less divisive country after tonight. All sides will require leaders of courage and wisdom able to unite on common goals.

BACK TO ISSUES

Call from Clive Crook of the Financial Times for the Presidential Race to get back to issues and for McCain and Democrats at large to behave respectfully. Here’s the column.

I am so fed up with the whole mess. McCain has lost my respect; he seems to be more interested in winning than maintaining his integrity. There were several reasons I did not like Obama but now I’m being forced to consider if I am wrongly holding the too emotional enthusiasm of his more vocal supporters against him. So I am going to have to find neutral information and make a more informed decision. Republican volunteers are calling up and asking what is the most important issue: economy and jobs, terrorism, gas prices or healthcare. And I’ve finally figured out the most important issue for me: civil rights. I am appalled at what I am hearing is STILL going on in Minneapolis/St. Paul (Twitter’s great for on the spot updates.) As a country, we seem more inclined to defend the Second Amendment than the First.

Gayle sent me a quote from the Joseph Torsella, President of the National Constitution Center, commenting on a poll that shows Americans reluctant to hand too much power to a president: “I think it’s a basic chord in the American song and it gets louder and stronger depending on what’s happening in the headlines,” he said. The Associated Press article showed up in papers all over the world. This is the most cheerful thing I’ve heard this election season.

CONVENTIONS

I am very glad they’re over…McCain is not a natural born orator, but he showed humility and everything around and about him shows heroism. I thought he handled the protestor well. I am concerned with the e-mails I receive from the more social active members of my internet world detailing police vs. protestors episodes in both Minnesota and Colorado. I begin to fear we are not as committed to the First Amendment as the Second. It would be nice if the country had enough of a sense of humor that we could mix history in with comedy or popular entertainment, something other than the Schoolhouse Rock series, something more like Black Adder or Yes Minister where fun is made of the powers that be but a certain amount of knowledge is required to understand the jokes. And then we should ensure a base level of understanding American history. I agree that “education is the civil rights issue of the 21st century,” but if you’re going to get rid of bad teachers, how do you encourage good ones. And actual learning, not just surviving school. Society and the choices we make growing up are more and more about economic security in a world where everyone needs to work and less about dreams or talents. We might need more engineers, but we also need more programs that teach people how to think and how to use reference books and to make their own good choices, not just to memorize facts for a test or decide in 8th grade what you want to be.

Ah, hear someone say I served my country, what are you going to do, have an crisis of conscience (should I run for president and does that mean I shouldn’t have broken into Alice Millar Chapel that one of many long nights in college. And who can prove what I was doing on the Lakefill on Armadillo Day (actually on one of them, I was inside listening to Bach’s Mass in B Minor, but that’s another story) and blog out my angst (and twilight secrets).

Right, this is why I have a category called meandering. I am glad the conventions are over, as well as the Cold War. I am saddened that the Middle East situation was handled so poorly starting with the partitioning of Iraq by the British, followed by the first Bush and continued to date. And that so many have died, returned wounded and resources we should be using to feed the hungry and educate our citizens are being turned into munitions.

Where was I? Right, First Amendment, say what you want, say it with respect and don’t yell fire if there isn’t one. And stop the police harassing pacifists. My vote’s still out there.

POLITICAL CHAMPAGNE

Well, the fizz has gone out of my political champagne because now the exciting and unpredictable is going to turn predictably ugly.  Well, depending on which side of the Internet you drive down, it already has over the revelation of Bristol Palin’s pregnancy.  So much for rational decision making and weighing merits rather than demerits.  I think this might be the ugliest/most emotional election yet — will another 24 hours bring new revelations about Obama, McCain, Biden, or Palin?  Change is a painful process and so many people are so invested in seeing someone who mirrors their struggles reach office that failure is inconceivable.  And so emotions and loyalties and vulnerability and anger and heartbreak loom. I hope that we can get down to true characters and real abilities rather than rumors and accusations.  And make the right choice, or if there’s not a right choice, the best choice.  I always hope for a thoughtful president, one who will be able to take issues and think them through well.  I will begin to hope for thoughtful voters as well.

POLITICS, INSOMNIA, ETC.

Enough — the Founding Fathers said 35, here it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Constitution

Let’s talk about something else.

 

And yet, here I am still Googling politcal commentary.  I like the Financial Tmes takes about the Palin choice risk/reward assessment; squares with what I’ve been saying:  http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d2131e4c-7763-11dd-be24-0000779fd18c.html

This is a storm stirred that isn’t going to settle anytime soon.  Too many people, too much emotion, country will implode by November at this rate.  I am curious to see how she speaks at the RNC.  I like to give each politician a hearing.  It seems only fair; sadly that means I’ll have to sit through an Obama speech again sometime and I just don’t like his rhetorical style.  Maybe I’ll just sit through a debate.  

 
I am glad they evacuated so many people out of the Hurricane Gustav path.  There are bigger problems than politics.  What really needs to happen is we need to throw out all the levels of bureaucracy that can impede any good and inflate any purchase and start over.  Too many politicians are only politicians and not patriots, only interested in reelection and not progress.  And now I’m starting to sound like I’m running for office.  I have other things to do besides get this involved in politics.

 

Read your Machiavelli and your Tao Te Ching, register to vote, research your choices, go with your gut and watch the season finale of The Middleman tomorrow — laughter doesn’t hurt unless you fall off something so stay safe.