Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Ozzie and Harriet would be Mortified

A man and his wife were driving down a curvy mountainous road. The wife was driving.  They were arguing. All of a sudden the man yells out "Pig!" The wife looks at him in disdain and says "Jerk" and then immediately she ran into a large hog crossing the street. 

How many situations are like this? How many times do we go off half-cocked? How many times do we perpetuate arguments and differences of opinion because we fail to consider other viewpoints? Are we really always right and the other people are always wrong? Are there no truths somewhere in between? 

Consider all this in the context of the coming election. The majority of things we read and see today are not involved with anyone trying to convince us as to the best way to move forward in a very complicated world. Much of what we hear is personal attack – Hillary is a liar and a corrupt person. Trump is dumber than the Three Stooges and will immediately start World War III. When I discuss the election with my liberal friends most of them imply that if I vote for Trump I will have willingly sided with the devil. My conservative friends explain that voting for Hillary makes me no longer worthy of salvation. Either way I won't be invited to many parties. 

To me all this seems sad and worrisome. It is sad because it further divides us. We are not debating policy – rather we are making our differences more vivid and rigid. It is worrisome because it promises to continue to prevent us from seeing the world as it really is and trying to fashion remedies for our most challenging problems.

Before you start reminding me of all the evils that the other guys stand for and roasting me over a gumbaya-less campfire, let me explain a little more from where I come. While it is true that the people on the other side of the political aisle see the world differently and say some scary things, let’s try to image what we have in common.

·       We all, except for Charlie the Tuna, are part of the human race.
·       If we have families we want them to be happy and safe.We want our children to enjoy youthful experiences but also to learn responsibility
·       We want access to high quality healthcare that is affordable.
             If we have children we want them to grow up learning and to be prepared for life.
     We don’t want to wear gas masks to work and we want good jobs.  
·       We want to be a positive force in the global economy while recognizing that there always seem to be some countries or parts of countries that want to hurt us.
·       We believe that governments have proper roles in society but the positive outcomes of government are not automatic.
·       We know that governments, business firms, labor unions, and football teams are composed of mostly good people but to some extent they are populated by some really evil and corrupt individuals.  

Some of you are gagging so I will stop. I could go on. And on. And on. But its true. We have many common goals. I know – there is a conspiracy of progressives who want us all to become Communists. I know – there are many conservatives who want to preserve only the fittest and the rest be damned. I don’t disagree. There are some people like that. But what I also know is that most of us just want to get up in the morning, eat our Post Toasties, send our kids to school, go to work, and start planning weekend parties! 

We definitely disagree on the particulars of how to attain the above outcomes. We even disagree about the nature of the human spirit. But come on -- in a country of almost 330 million people, not everyone is going to see things the same way. My way or the highway is not going to work. 

But we can’t make any real headway because more and more of us get processed by the dividers who, by the way, get money and power by continuing to divide us.

We don’t have time to waste. As we hurl insults at each other, Rome burns. How do we deal effectively with ISIS? With other national enemies? National debt? Two-way racism? Economic growth? Crime? Security? and so on?  

Each of the parties will try to convince us that their way is the only way as they use every trick in the book to turn us against their evil competitors. But the evil competitors are mostly just like us. They want to see problems solved and get on with their lives. And worse, as each side slowly creates enemies lists we make it increasingly impossible to see our problems objectively and to find solutions that make any sense. We are on a path to Hell. 

Ozzie and Harriet would be very disappointed in us.



6 comments:

  1. Why make decisions when there is always and excuse to not. I see no leadership in our would be candidates to lead. Good leaders and leadership skills have disappeared. Maybe they do not want to go through the stress of false vetting. Every group and maybe the definition of a group is two or more people have differing opinions. That is the core of leadership....to define the goal and lead the group toward achieving it....they also have to be responsible for the outcome and not blame the various Gods in charge of fate, wind, rain etc.

    I feel sad. Trump could have pointed out 40 things that Hillary either did wrong or claimed wrong. Like debt free collage? Who pays for it....the Chinese. There is no such thing as a free lunch...everything cost something and the higher the perceived value the higher the cost. Instead he lost his cool and let her get to him. Both are setting the wrong example for other leaders.

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    1. Thanks Hoot! I think a lot of people think the way you do. Alfred E. Neumann for President!

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  2. Dear LSD. As a non-human I am mortified by terra firma politics. I wish you guys would get your act together and elect someone with the guts to tell it like it is, get in your face, not pussy foot around, and stop dumping all your Styrofoam crap in my watering hole. Time’s a-running out . . . . can’t take status quo much longer . . . need someone to not only clean up my wirld but that cesspool of D.C. too.

    Don’t need any more of this deep-blue mamby pamby free-candy-for-all sentiment . . . want to see red in the water.

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    1. You type well for a Tuna! If you want more red you should come to an IU football game. I have some JD for you too.

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  3. I've had much to say about your postings this summer but too busy to sit down and write a reasoned response. But I agree, the political division, and those who profit from it, are not doing any good for the country as a whole. Part of it is the win or lose sports mentality of our election process. But we can demand better, hold officials accountable, stop watching TV news, and get to know someone from "the other side" on a personal level. Conservatives are not the spawn of Hitler (maybe one or two but not all) and liberals don't (all) want you to put a Caitlyn Jenner doll next to your smudge stick during the Winder Solstice. Come on people, we live in a pluralistic society by design. Let's not forget that.

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    1. Smudge stick? Anyway, thanks for your comment. I fear that others who are less thoughtful than you and I will call us both dreamers. How do we as a whole hold politicians accountable and how do we stop watching TV news? I fear we have fallen off the cliff. I feel like the guy in the joke who fell off the roof of a tall building and upon passing the second floor someone yelled and asked "How is it going?" and I replied fine so far.

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