The Politics of Dancing: '08 Election

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“The past is our definition.

we may strive, with good reason,

to escape it, or to escape what is bad in it,

but we will escape it only by

adding something better to it.”

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Wendell Berry

Have you wondered why the quality of TV programming has declined so noticeably? The answer recently has become clear. All the outstanding writers appear to be working on the soap opera edition of Election Day 2008.

Presently before us stands the most defining event of this nation’s history & its future. The formal dance of choosing leadership, Americans have so apathetically mastered, has been reduced to monolithic elements.

Water cooler participation, not seen since the OJ trial, has the nation gravitating toward debate and exchange of ideas. The Katrina skeleton in the Republicans closet is akin to a debt long past due. The Dems have been tagged with the labeled of the Bumfuzzle party.

Look for the GOP to block every bill, even fillibuster, while the Jackass party does their best impression of a deer caught in the headlights. The risk for both parties is the unlikely result the People will evoke their authority to throw all the incumbants out.

In response to Barack Obama’s historic achievement of becoming the first African-American Presidential nominee, John McCain countered by nominating the Governor from Alaska Sarah Palin for V.P. The Republican strategy of announcing the morning after Obama’s charismatic performance diverted the focus from the 1963 King “Dream” to 1920’s women’s suffrage.

At the water cooler, this plays out with McCain celebrating his 73rd birthday with questionable health, potentially producing the first woman president of the United States. This can be viewed as an attempt to elicit votes from the disenfranchised Hillary supporters. Prior to this strategy, it appeared the Republican Party’s hope was pinned to a pay per view execution of Osama Bin Laden on the eve of the election.

All things being equal, the good news is the election should actually come down to the issues regarding the nation’s future. One need not search any further than the economy. As a nation, we learned gasoline at $4 per gallon was the tipping point creating demand destruction. That combined with the fact people tend to stay home when they’re out of work.

This election is not about glass ceilings or Congressional debate on whether to officially recognize and apologize for the America’s slavery debacle. It’s about putting Americans first, it’s about the next Katrina, it’s about the economy. Foremost it’s about

The principle of no one being above the law thereby eliminating the need for future debate regarding heinous manifestation of controlling behavior.

I firmly believe numerous elected officials should have broken in a pair of orange jumpsuits by now. The moniker on the back of that one piece overall should read Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary.

It wasn’t too long ago when the bar was set at the level of making it just a little easier for the middle class.

The image remains seared in our memory: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED; fully aware it was, is, and always will be the politics of dancing. gjf...9/08