Politcal Opinion

“R” and “D”

by Alex Hutchins

Absolutes:

Both political parties have their beliefs and platforms as to how America should be managed and led.

Both political parties have constituents to which they (theoretically) report as they pass laws and enact legislation that meets their customer’s wants and needs.

Both political parties have Super PACS and in so doing have also acquired “plausible deniability” regarding their actions and/or how they spend their monies on political campaigns.

Both political parties have wealthy candidates who “claim” to be empathic with average Americans.

And, in the midst of all this political confusion (conservative & liberal) we have the:

·         Moral majority

·         Tea party

·         Intellectual liberals

·         Hypocritical faithful

·         Geeks and techies

·         Hung-over potheads

·         Microwave generation

·         “Me first” generation

·         Middle class

·         Employed and unemployed

and a hoard of undisclosed others who cannot think for themselves.

All of this sounds a little incredulous I know, but bear these following truths in mind:

1.      America’s war on drugs and porn was never meant to be won (economic reasons).

2.      Full employment is not really desired because of the inflation factor associated with it.

3.      As long as there is polarization among Americans, we will fight each other instead of our true internal enemies.

4.      With all the fringe benefits paid out to our workers, American companies who hire Americans face the reality of not being competitive.

5.      Retirement benefits paid out to retirees are forcing American companies to sell assets to foreign companies to pay those expenses.

6.      Foreign workers want what Americans “take-for-granted” and are willing to work harder than Americans to get it.

7.      America’s educated “elite” as not as educated as we perceive them to be because our educational system is graduating students who rank 17^th in the world in: Math, Science, and Language Skills.

Until we put aside our differences and come together to acknowledge these “truths,” America will continue its polarization allowing the rest of the world to enter our “Keep.” AND, because most of us live our lives with “arrogant indifference” for the world outside of our little protected domain (or sphere of influence), we have effectively neutered ourselves (with the skills of a brain surgeon) and cannot see it because we are too busy telling the other side that they are wrong.

BTW,

A keep (from the Middle English kype) is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the castle fall to an adversary. The first keeps were made of timber and formed a key part of the motte and bailey castles that emerged in Normandy and Anjou during the 10th century; the design spread to England as a result of the Norman invasion of 1066, and in turn spread into Wales during the second half of the 11th century and into Ireland in the 1170s. The Anglo-Normans and French rulers began to build stone keeps during the 10th and 11th centuries; these included Norman keeps, with a square or rectangular design, and circular shell keeps. Stone keeps carried considerable political as well as military importance and could take up to a decade to build.