Washington | The End of the Page

A Glimpse Behind the Fog of Hope and Hate

I promise to do whatever my political party says, in right and in wrong, till death do us part

I can hear it now rumbling in the back closet, rocking back and forth with one broken foot, that same one I’ve been meaning to fix for two hundred years:

The Political Spin Machine

…and it’s going full steam.

With the election of Republican wunderkid, Scott Brown, the troops on the right are doing everything they can to convince Democrats across the nation that every progressive and liberal policy currently being proposed now has as much chance of succeeding as Conan O’Brien ever doing a show on NBC again. Yet, let’s take a good close look at what really happened yesterday and see if we can’t find a way to help each party find its way back to some type of ethical center.

By electing Scott Brown, Massachusetts brought the Democratic majority in the Senate down by exactly one. They dropped from 60 to 59 and while many will bemoan the loss of the filibuster proof majority, what they neglect to mention is the filibuster proof majority never really existed because of those Democrats in the Senate referred to as “Blue Dogs”, or more conservative-leaning voters. The squelching of the filibuster happened only once, which was to finally push the Health Care bill out of the Senate, and the reparations the liberal Democrats had to make in order to secure those Blue Dog votes over the filibuster helped to shape a bill that virtually no one is pleased with. So the idea that Scott Brown’s inclusion in the Senate will suddenly destroy the happy-go-lucky hand-holding going on in the left leaning side of the chamber just shows how little the right side actually pays attention to what is going on.

This is nothing more than a scare tactic to frighten the left and encourage the right, but I honestly believe the right has more to fear from Scott Brown than the left. Republicans think his election is a repudiation of Democratic policies and of Obama himself, but in fairness I believe he was chosen more out of frustration of continued record unemployment ratings and a growing disappointment from independents who let themselves believe the Obama hype machine during his campaign. I’m not knocking Obama, I voted for him as well, but people seemed to forget he is just one guy inside a government machine built by money, power and massive special interests. He has made many changes already, in demonstrably record time, but people on Main Street won’t feel the effects of those until much later. The change some people was hoping for was much more than he could ever achieve in such a short amount of time. Remember, his one-year anniversary as President was yesterday!

Scott Brown also comes in claiming he is ushering in a “new type of Republican”, which in other terms means “time for the old guys to move on out.” Let’s see how well that plays out in the polls come mid-term time. Anyone coming in preaching change to the “old way of politics” is a danger to anyone currently sitting, Republican or Democrat.

Now, while watching Mr. Brown gloat over his seemingly amazing win, I can’t say I’m incredibly impressed with him or how he handles himself (check this little moment of pimping out his daughters at his acceptance speech), but I wasn’t all that enchanted by his opponent, Martha Coakley, either. This is where people need to help usher in a real and tangible sense of change. We need to start looking beyond the party name and look at the actual person. As unattainable as it might sound, filled with pretty rhetoric and uplifting oratory, I agree with Obama when he stumps for the goal of bi-partisanship, but I want to take it one step farther. “Bi-partisanship” alludes to the idea of two parties getting along, but what about “tri-partisanship”? Actually, we do have one Independent senator (wave to the nice Internet folks, Mr. Barney Frank of VT). What about “quad-partisanship”? The Tea-Partier’s are about to host their own conference, so who will deny they have a chance to get their own candidate on a ticket and not be forced to list them as Republican? I’m a good distance off from supporting anything currently coming out of the tea-party caucus, but I fully encourage their right to not affiliate with either dominating party. My belief is if we breakdown the powerhouse parties the American populace would be forced to learn more about who they are voting for instead of just checking whether their was an “R” or a “D” next to their name.

An informed populace is an absolute necessity of any great democracy and it’s time that we as members of that populace bore some responsibility for that.

Posted 2 years ago at 2:26 pm.
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The Imperfections of Role Models

michael-phelps There are parts of our cultural heritage which inspire and motivate countless generations to push beyond their boundaries and raise the limits of the human potential. Yet, just as there is light, there is also dark. Other parts of our history serve to tear down those heroes, knock cracks into the pedestals they have been raised up on and bring them crashing down to earth only to gain the opportunity to crush them underfoot. Whether it is from jealousy, spite, envy or greed, these despicable actions by a flawed few can damage the whole in ways I find particularly vile.

Here are just a few of the recent examples:

- Michael Phelps: record holder for most gold medals won during a single Olympic games (8 during the Beijing Games) has a photo posted of him taking a hit from a bong. The controversy ignites like a firestorm, sending shockwaves through not only his fan base of athletes all over the world, but also to his numerous corporate sponsors. Already his Kellogg’s contract is not getting renewed and Subway is looking for a way to cancel their current deal with him, along with requesting their previous sponsorship money back. Phelps was suspended for three months from the U.S. Olympic swimming team and is now on the fence as to whether he will even compete in the 2012 Olympics in London. (Recent Update: Subway, while not being supportive of his actions, has decided to stick with Phelps and not pursue exiting their contract.)

- Christian Bale: accomplished and critically acclaimed actor who began his career at an incredibly young age with a dramatic performance in Empire of the Sun and recently helped reshape the legendary caped crusader, Batman, and bring about on the biggest and widely loved comic films in history, The Dark Knight. His most recent effort was to reshape and relaunch another franchise, The Terminator, as he took on the role of the adult John Connor. While filming the first installment of the new batch of films, Terminator: Salvation, Bale went on a verbal tirade against the Director of Photography, Shane Hurlbut, for stepping into his line of sight during a rather intense rehearsal. An audio recording of that barrage was leaked online in an apparent effort to show people Bale was not the knight in shining armor audiences were making him out to be. This incident, coupled with an arrest last year in London for an argument with his own mother and sister, Bale is being draped now with a persona of a violent, temper-tantrum throwing prima donna. While the fallout from this last attack on his character is not known as of yet, Bale already issued an apology and plea for people not to write off his upcoming film based solely on his on-set reactions.

- President Barack Obama: Yes, I am including him, not in a subliminal effort to say Bale or Phelps are in the same league, but because Obama is suffering already from the same type of political and social character attacks. Barely three weeks into his inaugural term, members of the old guard in Washington are openly and continually putting their feet down in the way of progress and change. They have already caused the withdrawal of three different cabinet choices based solely on tax issues that they found and they have caused a dangerous and dangerous delay in the stimulus package by holding it up in the Senate. It is crystal clear that if this plan whether the plan goes through or not, we are in for tough economic times and I have no doubt the old shadows of Washington are going to blame Obama for continued damages, especially those which they are currently refusing to help fix.

These are only three examples and they are have widely differing effects on our cultural landscape, but they all stem from the same negative phenomenon. When someone rises above the masses, through hard work or sheer happenstance, someone will always be there to try and tear them down. Justifications will be wrapped around them like warrior cloaks, but inside can’t escape the truth, it’s all ego. “I need money, so I’ll sell this incriminating photo.” or “This guy’s famous, but I’m not, so I’m gonna embarrass him.” or lastly “If he can actually fix our mistakes it’ll actually prove we made them to begin with. We must stop him.” The people behind the attacks are always thinking of themselves above all others and that’s where we fail as a society. I’m not trying to move people to another dogma or impose Communism, thinking of the group above all, but there has to be a balance where the individual can appreciate the success and acclaim of another without seeking to shift the spotlight onto themselves. Envy is described as a sin and can truly be a detriment when left uncontrolled, but wanting what someone else has worked so hard to achieve can also be used as a motivator. The achievement of the mantle ‘role model’ once served as a positive thing, but now acts as double-edged sword due to the intense pressure of perfection draped over their shoulders. A person, be it movie star, athlete or politician, can still exist as a role model even after flaws have been uncovered. No one is perfect and trying to force that on someone is only a guarantee of disappointment. When cracks are found in the chiseled veneer they work so hard to craft, instead of raging and calling for their utter downfall, we should relax and remember that they are only ordinary people with extraordinary skills. When we let ourselves devolve into actions like these attacks we not only damage them, but we damage ourselves and our society. Just in the examples above it ranges from millions of dollars lost to a single person to billions of dollars in aid denied to the entire country and for what? We need heroes, we need people to look up to, we need people to point to and tell our friends and family we want to be like them, because if we don’t see anything over the horizon, we will have nowhere to go.

I am not suggesting that these people, or any others like them in the realm of cultural spotlight, are deserving of extra leniency or a new set of rules. They should adhere to the same laws and be punished by the same consequences we all deal with by the sheer fact of living in this country (and more specifically in our individual states). Yet in the cases above, these people are not being judged and punished by the legal system, it is by the court of public opinion, which is wildly hypocritical. This doesn’t necessarily come into play in Obama’s case, and as far as I know it is not a crime to be a raving lunatic on a film set (lucky you, Bale) , but being caught with weed is still illegal everywhere, depending on the amount on your person, so Phelps is indeed treading in murky waters. But once again, he should be treated like everyone else at that party. Are there pictures and possible criminal trials being hunted for anyone else there? Do we really believe he was the only one smoking at that party? On top of that, unless Phelps gives a complete and detailed confession to smoking weed that night and even the amount that he was holding, that photograph is not nearly enough to convict him of anything other than being stupid enough to be caught on camera doing it in the first place. The punishment should always fit the crime, no matter the person involved and Phelps is being socially persecuted for something in some states only equates to a fine and a warning. Equality works both ways, people. Take a look here to listen to a more comedic and acerbic take on the Phelps fiasco.

So please keep this in mind next time you have the opportunity to snap a photo of a celeb walking slightly off the beaten path, or catch and athlete relaxing from his training a bit “too much”, or next time you’re at the voting booth and you have the opportunity to elect people who are shaking hands with our new President instead of slapping it away.

When we raise one, we raise us all.

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