Monday, November 12, 2012

The post election campaign reflections of an independent

“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.” -- Abraham Lincoln

Given the enormous spending by a very few, very wealthy in the hope of buying the election through propaganda, made possible by the Supreme Corporate’s “Citizen’s United” ruling, the 2012 election outcome is like a reassuring ray of light filtering through a dark, ominous and troubled sky.



In many ways, I suspect the 2012 U.S. election results were less an endorsement of the Democrats and more a rejection of the current state of the Republican Party.

While the trends in outcomes from Tuesday’s presidential, senate, and congressional races and the associated ballot referenda speak to themselves, here’s a snippet of what I took from it:

  • Most Americans are concerned with the federal deficit, but don’t agree that more military spending and decreased taxes are the ways to reduce it. Most Americans approve of higher taxes on the very wealthy, because they know the rich will always prosper and thrive.

  • Most Americans disapprove of the worldview and fundamentalism inherent in the Tea Party faction of the Republican Party, and dislike of the intolerance, hatred and vitriol directed toward minority communities, particularly immigrants and gays.

  • Most Americans believe in a woman’s right to equal pay for equal work, and that conservative old white men should have no say in decisions concerning her body and health.

  • Most Americans are hard workers and resent efforts to quell worker rights. They know that the personal responsibility for working hard is no less important than being a ‘job creator.’

  • Most Americans have values that are not defined by self-interest and greed, and they know their worth is much more than what they earn or have.

  • Most American’s don’t believe in austerity.

  • Most American’s believe that capitalism should be regulated versus free and unfettered from all government oversight.

  • Most Americans want no part of a corporate-run plutocracy, and see the GOP’s real constituency as one of Hallibuton and GE, by Comcast and Koch and for WalMart.

  • Finally, most Americans want the man whose finger is on the trigger to be thoughtful and reflective versus hasty, to be one to reconcile versus showing belligerence, to be compassionate versus heartless, and to care and exude warmth. Similar to the oft-asked, ‘Who would you rather have over for dinner and conversation?,’ it’s a question that, for most Americans, Romney lost decisively.

In moving beyond the election results, however, the campaign was illuminating as much for the issues that were not discussed as for those that were.

On the environment, the single sentence devoted to global warming in Obama’s victory speech highlighted the strange absence of the issue on the two-year long campaign trail. “We want our children to live in an America,” Obama stated, “…that isn’t threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet.” 1) Twitter and Facebook users took note. “He finally did it!” said one status message, while others stated, “It’s about time!” On the other hand, Romney strapped on his super-man ‘corporate protector’ cape whenever the issue was broached. “I’m not in this race to slow the rise of the oceans or to heal the planet,” said Romney. It became the phrase that resonated best in summing his position. 2)

Monday, November 5, 2012

Pragmatism versus idealism

Election day thoughts on voting for one whom I cannot endorse.


It’s almost untenable: finding myself in the position of voting for a man – Barack Obama- that I cannot endorse.

If I were listening solely to idealism, I would be casting my vote today for either Jill Stein (Green Party) or Carl ‘Rocky’ Anderson (Justice Party), because I have always felt my vote is really an extension of my values. Actually, that is true of all of us. How we vote reflects what we believe in.

As I’ve aged I have found there are basically two burning fires in my soul: an intense internal hatred of injustice and inequality, and an overwhelming desire to see development of the public trust and support for the common good. If there has been disappointment in what I’ve observed of the human condition over my lifetime, it is that far too few carry these torches.

Instead, far too many believe in the individual versus community, and are consumed with self-interest versus the greater good. Far too many worship at the alters of the market, consumerism, and capitalism versus any real religion, which, regardless of brand (Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or other) invariably upholds shared humanist characteristics and values that may be referred to as the ‘common good.’