Toxic poisons of
sixties-like wanton anger
and visceral hatred

my heavy heart bears
witness to people who call
for vandalism—

    murder—

          Shiiiiit!

Some of them have claimed
these acts are protected under
civil disobedience.

So

Not only do they
not know how to behave in
political settings,

they apparently
can subvert words, disguising
their actions and intent.

Oddly, they and some
followers are the only
people buying it.

© 2010 Shari Lynne Smothers

I wrote this in February, before the unfortunate folly that was Bobby Jindal’s response to the President’s address, before the R-leader bowed to the radio personality, before a man got air time and said the words “…The people want bipartisan leadership; they may not know what that means…” and on. Let’s just say that since I wrote this, the hits just keep on coming.

Let’s Play a Game

What if I told you that I wanted to be friends? You agree, and after chatting we find that we like board games. A group of my friends play once a month and next get-together is to play Monopoly.

You agreed to come to play. However, between the time you agreed and the play date, your friends tell you that its’ really stupid. They tell you to insist on shooting games. Whether you agree or not, you decide to do what your friends say because…

You like Monopoly, that’s not the problem. You’ve just thought better of your agreement after distilling it through the filter that is your other friends.

So, when you bring this gun play idea to us, the Monopoly group, we refuse to play. We don’t want to play with guns and never did. Because we stand our ground you put forth the idea that we’re not playing fair. You leave the group, never playing Monopoly as you initially agreed, and thinking very poorly of us.

Let’s Get Real

This is similar to the subtle sleight of hand that is pervading the political scene. It’s very juvenile and sub-literate.

The argument put forth by the Republicans presupposes that they are addressing an intellectually stunted audience. And that’s a bad place to act from, one chosen by politicians who are limited. These people are not selfless in their service to the public; in fact, they’re more self-serving it seems to me.

After all, if you work for the public, and they tell you what they want you to do, and you in turn decide to do things your way—against the wishes of the people, then it stands to reason that you no longer work for me. For, I am the people.

There are those who say I hate politics. Really, it’s not the game but the players that are the larger problem. Some of them aren’t the brightest crayons in the box, but seemingly no one ever told them. Instead, they succeed because they have a drive borne of ignorance of their own limitations, of their shortcomings.

Did you ever wonder why you can have more respect for the intelligent commentary of observant, contemplative reporters? Did you ever wonder how anyone voted for certain politicians. Some elected officials can spew meandering, drivel they think passes for explanation and good rhetoric. I sometimes wonder if these politicians understand and want to confuse; or if they really don’t get it, and are just saying what they think the words sound like.

We the people stood up, across party lines, across the country, outside of traditional politics and said, NO MORE!! to the Republican way of conducting our political business.

We the people heard the fresh hope behind the words of the man who ran a stellar campaign. He wanted us to hear what he had to say, to offer us a better way. To do that he first listened to what we said we wanted, and what we demonstrated we needed.

And we the people stood together, across party lines, across the country, outside of traditional politics, and shouted, and voted, and cried for the chance to heal our country. We the people said, Yes please, and thank you!!

And They Still Don’t Get It

President Barack Obama doesn’t think that the Republicans fully get the implications of what footing they lost on November 4th, 2008. They lost the confidence of their public.

I don’t think the Rs fully get that they are the problem. On this first major piece of legislation, they stood together in R-dom, against the President, against the public, against the momentous flow of promise and change.

And they didn’t stem the tides of progress. In fact, the Rs demonstrated, acted out, illustrated to us all that they have no sense of fair play and are truly unwilling to work with the new man in charge. Unwilling to give the people what they call for. Unwilling to speak the truth of what really is at issue, they’re still smarting from the outcome of the elections. They’re willing to fall back on the same rhetorical party lines of It’s not my fault and Well, look what he did.

In any dogmatic ideology, there is the inherent danger of skipping over truths. Because, by the very nature of being qualified as a dogma, a rationale must dismiss all other possibility as invalid, and usually without evidence.

An example of a dogma is the current Republican party. They’ve long divested their responsibility to know who their constituency is. They’ve acted on their own without the public for so long until they’ve forgotten how to place their fingers to get the pulse of we the people. They made no effort to get to we the people which is why they were broadsided.

The ship that is the Obama group fitted their bow with social media technology and savvy individuals to work. They got to us where we live in the 21st century. They reached out to us, asked our thoughts, and heard our words. If the R party didn’t get it then, they did when the Obama campaign asked for our support. They received contributions large and small. I was thrilled to hit the donate button even once to send my small $10, more a show of support than anything.

You know, I take it back; Rs didn’t get it even then. R people are so entrenched in the belief that they can know for us, without our input, until it’s no wonder they react wholly inappropriately and applaud themselves.

They acted out against the stimulus bill. They had conferences to tell us why we didn’t want what we wanted. They threw the bill on the floor (a truly discourteous and offensive act). They pissed and whined about not having enough time.

It didn’t matter that the majority of the public wanted the President to come through on this bill. It didn’t matter that in truth a strong country is a well-rounded country. The arts are important to any people.

I think that’s something that only truly intelligent people get. Rs don’t strike me as well-rounded but dogmatic in their tenacity to do things their way. Case in point: Bush went out never understanding that he was wrong, never showing that he got it.

Dogmatic treatment of anything is unsafe. Certainly in the workings of something as fluid and dynamic as politics. The problem is that in dogmas, like cults, it’s rarely easy to broaden the thinking of practitioners beyond what they think they know. No room for education means no room for growth and change.

What query I have now is how far into this presidency will the Rs go with their blinders of solidarity on. When will they step outside of their traditional views and see what else is surrounding them? When will they return to we the people to hear what we have to say? When will they begin to listen? Will they stop talking long enough to do so? Do they realize that Rs voted for President Barack Hussein Obama too? There must be something to this new way of seeing. Will the Rs ever fully get it that we the people can see them? That we can see they’re the ones not playing fair? We the people can only hope.

Yes We Can

Obama 2008

Isn’t hope the foundation from which we all move forward no matter what we’re undertaking?

It never occurred to me that anyone could find it effective to take a hardline stance against HOPE. What makes a person run for office if not hope? What makes a citizen vote if not hope? Explain to me again what is the matter with fostering, encouraging, pronouncing the good in hope. . . I must be slow. . . or, it must just be Hillary!