Contemplating this Contentious Election

Posted: September 9th, 2008 | Filed under: Community, Culture, Politics, Ruminations | 3 Comments »

Contemplating the contentious nature of the upcoming presidential election, a friend, with only the faintest hint of irony, suggested that those who care for the infirm, faint of heart and underage in their families, will ship them off to, say, Toronto, for the duration.

It’s already a blood bath, and is only going to get more grisly. This is Bloods vs. Crips on the mean streets of Oakland. This is a gang turf war in an abandoned public housing project in New Orleans. This is Christians vs. Lions (or, maybe, Lambs). This is Cats vs. Cards.

This is Hannity vs. Colmes. O’Reilly vs. Stewart. Olbermann vs. Buchanan. Olbermann vs. Mathews. Olbermann & Mathews vs. Brokaw & Williams. NBC vs. MSNBC. Fox vs. CNN. Wall Street Journal vs. Washington Post. Drudge vs. Huffington. And that’s just the media.

This is Choice vs. Life. Rove vs. Reason. Hockey Moms vs. Hillary. Left vs. Right. Swift Boaters vs. South Siders. Friends of Bill vs. Friends of Bush.

And that’s just the undercard. We haven’t even gotten to the Main Event: Donkey vs. Elephant. If we ever will really.

What is so sad is that the schism that has increasingly plagued society in this blogospheric age is now seismic at a crucial time in the republic’s history.

The nation’s economy is precarious. The mortgage crisis has started to erode the underpinnings of our commercial viability. We are involved in a questionable war of uncertain duration that is sapping our resources, physical and emotional. United States as international behemoth is now but a jingoist’s myth.

Our infrastructure is beginning to crack. Literally and figuratively. Religious intolerance is reaching a level far beyond the contemplation of the Founding Fathers. Our long denied racial divide is out of the closet.

The nationwide malaise is palpable on a daily, nay hourly, basis.

At this critical juncture of our country’s short-lived history, serious, reasoned, mature contemplation of that which plagues us and how to start mending it is necessary. McCain/ Palin vs. Obama/ Biden presents a legitimate choice as to which direction we as a nation wish to turn.

But, when rigorous scrutiny and study are necessary, we have devolved into a populace of knee-jerk apologists for our strident choices of political affiliation. We have been spun like a toy top.

Whither dialog?

Where is real debate on the important issues before us now that we need it more than ever?

That Sarah Palin has instantly become the flashpoint of our electoral process says more about our state of affairs than any political perspective she might offer. In a cybergalactic nanosecond, she has made the world of gossip safe for Britney, Lindsay, Paris, Bradgelina and Madonna.

We have focused on her hair, glasses, children, beauty pageant career, marriage, public speaking ability and political viability as a running mate. At the expense of considering her political beliefs, experience, expertise, acumen and knowledge of issues. Not to mention that she’s totally stolen the spotlight from the two men who are actually vying for the seat in the Oval Office, as well as her veep opponent. Thus we have stopped considering those important traits that trio offer to solve the country’s woes. And never have considered her legitimacy, or lack thereof.

A quip or clever turn of a phrase will shift the polling numbers quicker than a sensible proposal on health care reform or immigration.

Iconography rules. The GOP displays hand written signs at its convention — one even purposely misspelling “mavrick” — so less astute voters in the heartland and hinterland will think them the party of the people. This is not a student council election.

Democrats and Republicans fight over the “women’s vote” as if it’s some chattel.

Lost in all this are issues of substance.

The budget deficit is $407 billion dollars. Does that matter to you as a voter? Do you understand its consequences? Do you think the Republican administration is responsible? If so, or if not, do you then think the Democrats are to be given credit for the surplus that greeted the current administration?

Does the health insurance situation satisfy you? If not, what sort of solution do you desire? Do you want specifics from the candidates?

Do we dare reexamine our relationship with Saudi Arabia? With Israel? With Russia?

Are you willing to set aside any prejudices you might have because of the color of a candidate’s skin, or his/her religious beliefs, if their policy positions and leadership qualities satisfy you?

How concerned are you about the immigration situation? Infrastructure problems? The psyche of the citizenry? Foreign investment in America? The United States’ stature around the world?

Are these not the questions we should be asking? Aren’t the answers to these what we really want to hear from the candidates?

Our country is too fraught with peril these days for us to whirlpool in spin. The time for ambient partisan bloviation is long past.

I was at a party recently with lots of intelligent, politically aware, generally inquisitive people. Yet so polarized have all facets of our society become, that any coherent political conversation was impossible. The desire to listen to other’s beliefs is long gone.

Those among us who haven’t drunk either the red or blue Kool Aid are few and far between. The great, vast in-between has disappeared. A college poli sci professor of mine, a wise man indeed, always preached that the singular most important concept in the realm of governmental relations is compromise. Sigh.

We don’t care to open our minds anymore. They have been stolen by those who bray relentlessly about matters of inconsequence. We have all fallen prey to bellyfeel, George Orwell’s newspeak word for “blind, enthusiastic acceptance of a concept.”

I would request that we pray for a couple of months of gravitas.

My heart tells me it is way too much to ask.

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