Why you should ALWAYS Vote Liberal (and, was I wrong about Al Gore?)

One of the more interesting discussions I have had recently was with some young people, about 18-24 years old, and eight of them. We talked a lot about societal influences on people, and ultimately what the "right way to live your life, the right way to think about things" was.

What we came up with was fairly simple, really even mundane. Our "answer" was that we should live our lives and think with "balance". Clearly this is not a new concept, its the "Ying and Yang" of many thought systems, ideologies and established religions. We took the conversation to politics and came to the conclusion that the very best way to take this philosophy of life was to always make sure to vote for the liberal.

How so? Well if you accept the premise, that "the best way to live life and to think is with middle of the road 'balance', and not to live life on the outliers of a bell curve of thought (i.e. progressive, reactionary, or more extreme: communist, fascist) then you have to determine what influences your adult thought, and on what part of the scale, left or right, these major 'influencers' are on.

So we discussed influences. We came up with the following 5 as the dominant ones: media, government, religion, economics-business and the military.

We questioned whether these influences were forces of change or forces of status quo, i.e. liberal or conservative. Clearly the military, and religious institutions (i.e. the Catholic Church et al) were ultra-conservative. Religion especially claims absolute unchanging "truth".

Business and the economic environment were also easily, and unanimously agreed on as a conservative influence. Pin-striped suits, white button-down starched shirts, wing tipped shoes, the "glass ceiling", and a myriad of other symbols show this, but anyone spending five minutes looking over the protections of corporation (legally considered a living entity) the financial campaign contribution histories towards conservative pro-business candidates are well known and accepted. Business=conservative.

We disagreed a little on media. The canard of "liberal media bias" was discussed and the main accepted contention that media was biased towards liberals was the point that most reporters and journalists vote liberal based upon one famous study. We accepted that point without much debate but agreed it was the editors and their bosses, the board, that really set editorial bias, and not the reporters. Only newsppaper columnists (the Maureen Dowds, Tom Friedmans etc.) really have much leeway to push their own personal agendas. We fully agreed that talk radio (the domain of Clear Channel) and cable tv news were largely conservative...certainly Fox, and even CNN with shows with Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck et al. MSNBC has Keith Olbermann but counters with neo-cons like Scarborough, classic conservatives like Mathews and the absymal Dan Abrams. (How long will that show last?) However in the end, the corporate ownership of TV networks, newspaper conglomerates, talk radio and cable news swung us over. We agreed that modern-day media is mostly conservative, even if a few classic "liberal" sources (like the Boston Globe, NY Times) are hanging on, they are losing 20% readership each of the last 3 years. Only the blogosphere seems to have equal representation between libs and cons.

On the economic marketing side, we agreed that all advertising pushed consuming, i.e. capitalism, and thus as a government approved and business-designed economic system, is by nature a supporter of the status quo, and thus conservative. (Or have you recently heard of any corporation that wants to remove the stock market, the Fed, or even the idea of corporations themselves?)

So that leaves government. Elections, parties, candidates. Since we found that religion, the military, the American business climate, ie. the 'economy' and mass media are all conservative, and since we all agreed that as individuals we were powerless to change the inherent nature of these institutions and system (can you change the Church, the Army, the Stock Market?) ... that leaves only elections and government as a vehicle to provide balance. Remember we did agree that balance is the key to 'good' thought, the 'right or best' way to live or think.

Thus the only way to balance out all the other powerful forces that shape out adult thought is to always, only vote for liberals. Otherwise over time we become more and more conservative and an outlier on the curve of thought.

==============

My recent blog, "A Dark Day", assumed the possible scenario where Al Gore emerges from a brokered convention as the Democratic Party presidential nominee was dead due to Clinton's setbacks in North Carolina and even Indiana. I assumed that once she saw the intent of the people she would graciously step aside for the good of the party.

Talk about naive. She apparently is still pursuing the win at all costs policy. She should win the next two primaries in West Virgina and Kentucky, again hurting Obama and his reputation and continuing this charade...maybe I wrote Gore off too soon? I will keep the faith a little bit more then, thanks Hillary...thanks for considering yourself first.

A Dark Day

I think that for most Americans, today is a regular day like the one that preceded it and the one that will follow it. But for me it is a dark day, for today is the day I realize the truth that Al Gore will not be the next President of the United States.

I had wanted Al as POTUS since Bill Clinton looked me in the eye, waved his finger at me, and said "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky". Well, to be accurate, I fully believed him that day. It was only on later days that I knew he looked me in the eye, and lied to me. That lie cost my support to all Clintons forever. The lie was so unnecessary. He could have been a man about it. He could have told the truth but he sacrificed it in the name of political expediency. You have to wonder if it was sacrified for his political future, or for hers.

All along I wanted Gore of course, and as the candidates faltered and dropped out it seemed we were left with just "the new guy that some whites would never support", and "the manipulative shrew who would step over the bodies of her family in her thirst to be president". I couldn't believe that once again we were left with inferior choices.

Two things happened though. Obama grew as a candidate, while "Billary" did their damnedest to destroy him. While Obama's narrative as a serene visionary became cemented in our consciousness, the Wright elitist vapid lightweight counter grew as we worried not about two wars, a recession, the price of gas, of foods and the loss of value in our homes...but about lapel pins and imaginary 3 am phone calls.

The give and take and the media's obsession with personality led us to the impression that Hillary could not "close the deal" and that Obama also couldn't close the deal. To a Gore fan there was hope that she was too polarizing to win, he was now too damaged. Well, if Clinton had won Indiana strongly (instead of 51-49%) and Obama had narrowly won North Carolina, (instead of 14%) then I'd say Gore still had a shot.

But, it didn't happen. Obama won the most delegates yesterday, and the race is now winding down. Obama has withstood the test, and has prevailed. Today and during the next two weeks the superdelegates will stream to his side. Hillary will run out of money and the race will be over.

I am truly sad. The country deserves a good President like the one I think Gore could be, but for now I am going to get behind Obama. I am going to take my advice, the advice I would give Clinton supporters now: look at the numbers of delegates, and tell how Obama won't get 2,025 ...and won't get our nomination now. Unless Obama has a major meltdown right now, the race is over and Hillary should get out.

I am alive again

Well I have been about as sick as I have ever been. This flu or whatever it really was, just knocked me out...bedridden for a week, dizzy, coughing, sneezing, backache...whine whine whine.

Anyway it is good to be back after such a very short start. I'll be posting regularly again (was this ever regular) starting tomorrow.