A DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC?

I have been speculating on our use of the word "democracy." More particularly that reality the USA is not a true democracy. This is a important reality that is lost on the majority of Americans including myself. It's too easy to believe whatever we happen to think falls under the definition of a democracy. I'm not sure what a real democracy would look like in this modern age, but it wouldn't be what we presently have in our country. American History shows we've been what we are for a long time which is a nation of working laws based on a constitution. A monarchy is not our style though some are trying to make us one. Nor is it an Oligarchy, even though it comes close to that with the recent election laws. As we all remember from school, we are a government of the people, by the people and for the people. And might I add a country of "Equal Justice Under The Law" which is rightly engraved on the Supreme Court Building.

Sadly, we have struggled and once fought over these ideals but we never, as of yet, have given them up. But I really do think that it is a possibility if the division in the country can't return to civility, pragmatism and reasonable compromise. Right now, the two strident sides, represented by political parties, have adopted an all or nothing approach to governing and the only truth is their particular political agenda. We presently live in a country where approximately 50% of the people believe that the other 50% are completely wrong, and vice versa, so there is no alternative than to gain 100% of the power. In order to achieve that, no means is unacceptable but lying has become more of a political stable than it ever has been. Some of which has been taken to the extreme. Fact checking does little to curtail the lying, but even more interesting is how spouting falsehoods over and over becomes the truth for many.

It is rather obvious that neither of the two main parties would willingly share power with a strong third party. Together, they have written laws on every level that try to hinder opposition, particularly in the area of how the elections will be held and how voting districts are determined especially with the advantage of gerrymandering. Once elected, politicians represent their party rather than the people they are supposed to represent which is everyone in their district whether they voted for them or not. And further, party loyalty interferes with going across the aisle (as they say) and getting something done. Some end up being crucified (or primaried) for doing so and I don't mean in the good way.

Strangely, if we just lean slightly one way or the other we're labeled as embracing the whole agenda of a party. Likewise if we offer up a little humor, we obviously support a certain position. I think this is so short-sighted as some just like to stir the pot especially when it's so thick with self-righteousness, racial superiority and blind worship. Which brings me to the role of media. In general, most fall under the liberal umbrella or the conservative umbrella to one degree or the other. Both sides seem to have their rabid dogs as well as their intellectuals; although sometimes, there's more rabid dogs on one side than there needs to be. However, the fault is not in our stars but in ourselves.

We've too often joined a particular team or tribe where we believe everything bad that is said about the opposition and everything that is good about our team and its leader(s). To say the least, a great deal of misrepresentation, propaganda and righteous indignation is involved. But with the modern media, it is even harder to determine what is what. It's a lot easier just to go along with those who agree with you and label anything the other side might do or say as evil. This reminds me of how in war we dehumanize the enemy so it's easier to kill them. We don't want to know they are carrying a picture of their wife and kid just like we do. And that's exactly what we do by thinking that others don't have the same rights as ourselves even to the extent that they should leave the country or have no vote. For some, it sucks to live in a country were every citizen is supposed to have an initial equal valve and the right to their own opinion.

Threats of violence are extreme but they seem to become more and more a part of the common vernacular. Actually becoming violent against fellow citizens for political reasons seems unimaginable, yet it still happens. I'm amazed at those who want to settle political differences with guns or threaten civil war. But maybe people just don't have the time to think through what that really means. We are a country that badly needs change, understanding, and renewed commitment to fair and equally enforced laws. We can not afford to go on "as is" nor are we going to be helped by a return to an idealized bygone day. We are addicted to taking advantage of the system, to seeing only a few and being blind to the many. It's me and mine against you and yours. There are not enough laws to make you do the right thing in every situation. You have to chose to be fair, to be trustworthy, to speak honestly, to stand up for the innocent, to care for the weak and so forth.

Granted, to do the right thing all the time is difficult and fairly impossible given our limitations and circumstances, especially in this day of so much news and social media. It's hard to know for sure who is telling the truth or who truly needs to be helped. The best we can do sometimes is get half-way there. But I don't think that's a reason to do otherwise. Nor can we ever justify dividing the country into the "people like us" and the "people like them" because that better fits our beliefs and finances. Even though we have a long ways to go, we must choose a better way of living together before we can ever come close to being "one nation under God (or not - depending), indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." Kind of schmaltzy but I would prefer it to the present direction of our country which is moving farther and farther away from the viability of a Democratic Republic.

REMINDER
As always, this is my opinion. You have right to disagree and have your own opinion. I would like to believe that the playing field for debate and argument is level, each view gets a fair hearing and that somehow, somewhere there can be at least some agreement on the facts. But too often, that doesn't happen.

A VIEW FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE ESCALATOR

Those who voted for Trump represent a large portion of the U.S. and have no more or no less a right to their opinions. Some would, and do, dismiss them all together, similar to how they treated Obama supporters. The easy math would make for a fairly good definition of an evenly divided country. At one end the differences are resolved, usually through compromise. At the other end, they are resolved with civil war. Right now we're probably closer to civil war than we are to compromise. But let me say that it is artificially that way.

By the time that Trump was to the bottom of the escalator on his way to announce his candidacy, the tangent was already starting to develop into what now is the sideshow of a cable TV presidency. Previous presidents have been somewhat tangential, perhaps it comes with the job, but never was it fully developed to the detriment of our country and/or the self-aggrandizement of a narcissistic  personality who lacks any ability to reflect on his beliefs, behaviors, and emotional immaturity. I admit that I wasn't too concerned with his running in the primary until he insulted John McCain and, Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the Gold Star family.

No draft dodger gets to insult a POW or a military family nor any honorably discharged veteran of war. All that came after that is plainly absurd. Most all of the Republicans, some independents and even a few democrats jumped on the bandwagon despite their prior criticism. I get wanting things to be done differently or just completed after many years of stalling and neglect. But it seemed as if the hatred of Obama, the mistrust of Hillary, and the foibles of the Electoral College placed the nations hope for change on someone who needed to become presidential instead of cartoonish.

The other factor was the single-issue support of fundamentalist Evangelicals and Catholics who eyed the prize of overturning Roe v. Wade. I admit that I didn't pay attention for part of my upbringing in fundamentalist churches but when I did, I think,  come to know the what and why of the approved beliefs and behaviors. So, imagine my surprise at the adamancy of the religious Trump supporters (most of who were in my family .....he said satirically) who either held their nose, overlooked, rationalized, made excuses, chose the lesser of two evils or experienced the ecstasy of submission to God's will as they voted for someone who was a doppelgänger of Elmer Gantry.   

I thought that surely the foolishness would stop some place along the way along the way. If only on the belief that America was something that worked well if lead by honorable representatives. I can see how having a majority of women in office might make decisions and agree on resolutions that are the most practical if not restorative. But Democratic women right now are setting themselves up for defeat with how many have already entered the primary. I would love to see an all women ticket that minimized the dirt and the spin of the press and the Republican opposition. Almost two years of electioneering is ridiculous. They could make an opening for a Democratic Elmer Gantry who preaches the promises of progressive politics, the "you get a car" approach to world that doesn't exist.  

There is a cowardliness on the part of many who were elected to serve and especially those in power in Washington who don't care how far a tangential president can further divide the nation. As long as cooperation and compromise are anathema, there won't be any movement on things like immigration, infrastructure, taxes, election reform, military spending or the national debt. Perhaps the two party system is passé and is incapable of dealing with modern times. But will redesign be the answer when people at anytime are willing for greed and addiction to power to swallow it up? 

BONUS MEME

WERE IT BE TRUE BUT NONETHELESS ....RATHER FUNNY IF NOT REALLY IRONICAL (RE-GRACE ADLER).

IT ALL BEGINS WITH A VOLVO

I'm not sure if my journey in politics is parallel to the cars I have owned over what now covers quite a few years or if it's just a matter of circumstance where any parallel is purely coincidental. Cars and politics have stereotypes whether they are factual or not. What do you think when you see someone driving a Volvo wagon, a Prius or VW bus with flowers painted all over it? And you might have a particular political thought about someone driving any new American pick-up of any kind, a Cadillac Escalade or a Hummer with the special order machine gun mounts. Then of course, anyone riding a motorcycle in the winter snow of Colorado has to be an independent. 

   

Studies show that Republicans do prefer domestic pick-ups and democrats prefer small foreign sedans or tiny SUV's. It used to be that car ownership paralleled social status and income, or personality type. Those were the good old days. But if there is some direct political association in my journey, I must say that it wasn't all that clear to me at the time. Pre-politically, I had a '53 Chevy (blew the motor), a 57 Chevy (wrecked), a '58 Chevy (just died), a '61 Pontiac (can't remember) and a '65 Chevy wagon, dark blue with black interior (too many miles). Politically I've driven a Chevelle, a Toyota camper, a Camaro, a Volvo wagon, a Dodge van, an old Buick, and a Hyundai to name most of them in no particular order. Currently, I drive a Ford Explorer (Bronco Orange) or as some call it - an upgrade from a coffin on wheels. 

Then I first became political many years ago when I put a George McGovern for president bumper sticker on my Volvo 1800. I was a student at a fundamentalist Bible school, had a family, worked in a hospital and had served in Vietnam. I slowly found out that others had political concerns and like every war, the first casualty was the truth. I at first talked about my experience but soon realized no one was listening. They mostly wanted me to affirm or validate what they already believed. I was considered as unpatriotic - but ignorantly so. I could live with that. So it wasn't until near the end of my senior year at the Bible school that another student, whom I considered a friend, said that it was God's will for Nixon to be re-elected.

That was my first encounter with the God and country politics of the religious right with emphasis on RELIGIOUS and RIGHT. Of course most of that blew over my head. All I knew was that peace in Vietnam was nothing more than a slow surrender. It took a while to fill in the Left-Right political playbook and come to be in opposition to both. But it was the militant fundamentalists who stood out the most with their "my way or the highway" tactics. They loved pointing out what was of God and what wasn't. But even more dogmatically, they loved to say what being Born Again meant. It was forever the main belief and experience in Evangelicalism, Billy Graham Crusades, and Chick Tracts. And perhaps first heard of by many from an interview with Jimmy Carter in Playboy magazine which both irked and amused many of the faithful. 

Yet, somewhere along the ever expanding line of Evangelical development (I say somewhere because I don't believe patient zero has been identified yet) and in the midst of it all the posturing for position, many of the fundamentalists who came out of the fight against modernism in the mainline churches added the political component and it worked quite well for them. Yes, this is simple understanding, but it really never gets too complex. They wanted what others had - imposition of values, morals and cultural beliefs through law.

So when repealing abortion was used as a political hook, many believers saw it as their God-given duty to support it until later when it became their only duty. Even if it was to the extent of supporting the ridiculous. Even if it was against Biblical teaching. To which I say, "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?" ...It's as if Ayn Rand had been born again. Some Evangelicals have always been against having to wear political blinders and some are now casting them aside. But I'm still wondering what the dynamic is where God elects politicians. My brother used to say that when a Republican won it was God's will based on a lifting up and taking down principle. But when a Democrat won, he said the people got what they deserved. I wasn't as sure as he was that the Bible was written with a focus on the United States.

All of this made me think if I'll have a Post-political time period. If so, what car should I drive? If I wanted to get a step ahead, I should drive around in a black Cadillac hearse carrying my ready-to-go pre-chosen casket. That would send the right post-political message but for obvious reasons, it better speaks of our politics today. Therefore, my choice would be a Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, fully equipped, black and white, with the number 54. I think it would be the perfect vehicle to go four miles to my little town to get a gallon of milk and a 5 loaf bag of Rhodes Bake-N-Serve Frozen White Bread. And then, after making numerous false arrests and after finishing my last trip to nowhere in particular, I would clearly understand the parallel. ...And maybe finally admit that I've gone through way too many cars.