Okay…I do a lot of writing. I’m a columnist and author. I love a larger view, and have a newsletter and newsletter BLOG on all things philosophical/spiritual/motivational.
BUT, I also have opinions. And so, this BLOG is a place for me to express those ideas without infringing on the love and light, positive themes I mostly posit on my newsletter, which is Seasons of the Soul…www.kathleenjacoby.blogs.com
Now…the reason for this post. In this time of complex issues that are pretty monumental, it amazes me that any candidate would think so little of his country as to trot out a novice political aspirant as a choice for the second most important job in the government. No…perhaps not second most important job as long as nothing goes wrong…but a defacto shoe in SHOULD the President become disabled, die, or be removed from office for any reason. That secondary individual is going to be in a position of holding ultimate power in the world, and at the very least needs to be someone who has an understanding and familiarity with the international community, financial world, and everything else that qualifies someone to take on a job with tentacles into multiple complex political streams.
The criticism of Obama for having only been a senator for a few years at the national level doesn’t hold water given that he learned his way around politics in Illinois, a savy state for political training. He also had the wisdom to choose an individual he could count on for understanding and handling himself in the realm of Washington and on the international front. Not so McCain…and that is where I feel insulted at this man’s lack of respect for the nation he professes to love and seeks to govern as president. Why, other than to pander to voters who felt cheated by not having Hilary as the democratic candidate, would anyone choose a VP who is untried and untested at this very dangerous moment in our nation’s history? Especially someone who is advancing in years and needs to look realistically at the possibility that the VP may indeed have to replace him???
We have adapted dangerous attitudes about our presidency. George Bush so lowered the standard that just about anyone would look good as a candidate. The political marketers have shown their prowess at “selling” a president, and it has absolutely nothing to do with qualifications, larger vision, or any of the other qualities that are essential to a democracy that holds a major position of leadership in the world.
We, as a people, have been disenfranchised from a process that was meant to call us to think – to choose the best of ourselves to lead our nation – and to take the responsibility to acquaint ourselves with issues and take part in the process of making our democracy work. Instead, we have been dumbed down, pandered to, treated to soap opera political theatrics, and react time and again predictably according to the pundits expectations.
Americans…we live in momentus times. This election is not trivial. None of them are. We have seen what can happen when someone less than qualified to hold the office of presidency does, and we are in danger of seeing even worse because we have stopped speaking out and stopped believing that we can and must make a difference.
Please acquaint yourselves with the issues at hand. Remember that any politician can promise the moon. Just like the CEO’s of major companies – there is no penalty for pillow talk. They all have their golden parachutes while we mere citizens hold the bag and pay the tab for oversights, undersights, and downright fraud against the people.
The candidates we are given may not be the best of ourselves, but we have to make sure that we at least choose those who will govern with larger vision and a sense of fairness for us and for the world at large. We do not need any more John Wayne wannabees galloping into the White House, plundering our surplusses and gorging our assets.
Read. Think. Get involved. Do something to make a difference, because if we don’t, we will find that our so-called democracy has slipped away while we were sleeping – and that would be a great tragedy over which we would have no recourse.
KJ
Thank you for your call to responsibility. Our ‘marketplace mentality’ is the insidious other side of our land of wonderful opportunity and standard of living, yes?
Driven by advertising image makers, we live in a world where everything is bought and sold. The tactics of advertising–playing on our base desires and fears–depends utterly on reaction, not rationality.
Madison Avenue knows us better than we know ourselves. They know that we buy more when we feel helpless. The pervasive passivity…that goes by the excuse that one person can’t possibly make a difference on the larger scale of the world…is a by-product of advertising. The average person sees more than 3000 ads of one sort or another, per day! Telling us that we need to buy this or that to be happy or healthy or loved or respected. To our passive culture, the truth is that which is repeated most.
So, it is understandable that McCain’s handlers would employ tactics to trigger our knee-jerk reactions. However, I think they “misunderestimated” us; we are waking up…and as tied as we are to our egoic needs, we can still think! Hopefully, we will proceed with strong hearts and minds through the coming days, and not let our fears and frustrations dictate our choices.
Yes…we are hopefully waking up, and this economic insult is one of the elements that may shake us out of the stupor we’ve been operating under – that we can just blithely go along without considering consequences of our actions, and how our complacency can be our own undoing.
It brings to mind the story about a frog:
If a frog is dropped into a boiling pot of water, he will immediately jump out and free himself.
But a frog put into a tepid pot of water will sit and enjoy himself as the heat is gradually increased unbeknownst to him, until his strength is sapped and he no longer has the energy or wherewithall to free himself from his own imprisonment and death.