Politics-Schmolitics

Hi Good People:

Is it just me, or has the 2012 race for the Presidency already begun?
we, the public, have been subjected to a barrage of Political Speech for lo these many months, and I can't see any surcease on the horizon. During the most recent Presidential Election I grew so weary of a steady news diet of Politics I remarked to someone that I didn't care if they elected Alfred E. Newman, just get the mess over with. I realize that a well informed public is a bulwark of any Democracy, but enough is enough. See an earlier post of mine with suggestions on how to clean up at least a part of this mess. I'm sure that there are probably other, and better, solutions, and perhaps we, as a Society, should all put on our thinking caps and try to come up with something.

Now I'll grant you the current subject of media thought is, of course, the ongoing debate about the Health Care Bill, or Bills, about which we have been besieged for hour upon hour of debate and "Preaching" on this subject which is, without doubt, very important, in one way or another to almost all of us.

I fear, however that in the midst of all the speechifying, there has emerged little in the way of concrete and usable facts. There have been rumors and rumors of rumors, adamant statements (e.g. "There will be" and "There won't be" this, that and thus in the finalized program, but to my knowledge a total lack of actual quotations, chapter and verse of the proposed Act.

This Dear Friends, is rampant dishonesty (surely not--from Politicians-Nah-you think?) as no one I have thus far heard speak, or whose comments I have read in the Print Media, has taken the time, or exhibited the good sense, to enumerate, point by point, what the Finished, Signed, Sealed, Delivered, Plated and Polished Bill will contain. This, I feel, is because not one person, from the top to the bottom of the political spectrum, actually knows, beyond speculation and permutation, what the Bill will contain .

It would be refreshing if just one person, be he or she Politician or Wordsmith, were just to come out and state honestly "I just don't know", when queried or opining on the bill to be, and its contents.

I do know, however, that it has been a long time since I have witnessed a more vituperative climate of debate on any issue, and I fear that no reasonable discourse will ever emerge until and if the ranting, raving and screaming die down. I think that it is a reasonable assumption that this fiery debate and resultant expressions of animosity have, as their origin, nothing more than Politics.

The Republicans are angry because they were so roundly defeated in the last election, and the Democrats are smugly self-satisfied that they, at last, have the upper hand.. This climate reminds me of when the Republicans gained a majority with their 'Contract with America". I think the same subset of feeling was extant on that occasion, to a greater or lesser degree.

I think sometimes We as a People are somewhat justified in feeling a little like Diogenes of Sinope, whom, legend has it, wandered the streets with a lighted lantern, in full daylight, no less, looking for an "Honest Man". His search, perhaps was made fruitless by his supposedly living on the street in an upended pottery tub, and subsisting on a diet consisting of just Onions. One might fairly suppose that most people gave the fragrant cynic a wide berth to escape the effluvium, thus making it difficult for Diogenes to get close enough to anyone to make any determination as to their honesty. I confess I don't know. I do feel, however, had Diogenes happened upon a Politician, who would have undoubtedly been accustomed to rank odors, and who when asked why he was employed thusly, replied "I'M in it for the Money', Diogenes could have blown out his lantern and ended his search. Also he (Diogenes) would also have gone down in History as the discoverer of the first (and perhaps last) honest Politician.

Nor do I know much about the continuing Political firestorm, other than the fact that I am heartily sick of it, and am quite as certain as I can be, that the Legions of people of have gotten up and made themselves look like damn fools in "Town Hall Meetings", have been prompted to do so by one or more of the thousands of Insurance Companies and their "Capos" in the U.S.

How sayest thou?

cheers

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