Posted by
NNMS Poster on Friday, September 05, 2008 2:05:33 AM
Every four years, I turn into a complete idiot. I find myself spending every minute of my spare time refreshing every web site from
drudge report to
CNN. I follow all the polls via
Real Clear Politics. I watch news clips on TV and of course
YouTube. I follow blogs and articles from every site including left/right wing-nut echo chambers like
DailyKos and
RedState. I break out Excel and create my own spreadsheets to handicap certain elections with my own determinate weight given to certain polls and probability. I read local news from places I've never heard of in states I've never visited to see how they might affect the races there and the outcome of key areas of the election. This is my favorite season -- political season. While others are preparing for their fantasy football games, I'm putting together a fantasy government.
That said, I always wonder. When the political season is over, was the time and energy worth it? What was gained? My spreadsheet didn't help anyone. My thoughts on how the race was going in Wintersville, OH or Samamish, WA weren't requested by anyone who could do anything with it. It's useless and wasted on me in some ways.
Some would say that my time is really wasted on this effort and I almost agree.
However, there is something to be gained from all of this -- if only personally. I have gained a great deal of insight into what America really thinks. The "heartbeat" of America is often talked about on campaigns, but does anyone really know what the American heartbeat is? I remember when I was a child, they would show diagrams of the human circulator system. It showed red and blue blood vessel known as veins and arteries -- fittingly depicted in red and blue. Would the circulator system work if you took away those blue arteries? Would it work if you took away the red veins? I know this may sound cliché, but America's heartbeat isn't grounded in those issues that divide us. The heart of America is what unifies us. What happens on one side of the heart vs the other may seem amplified in comparison after comparison, but truly, we need each other if our American body is going to function.
Our founding fathers recognized the need to have diverse opinions. This is why they created the two-house system: the house of representatives to demonstrate the sheer will of the people and the senate to act as a "cooling saucer" to buffet the whims of a raucous mob. These simple men who differed greatly understood that major decisions should not be decided for the country as a whole because good men in different geography could agree to disagree on how the population should be governed. That said, they created what was supposed to be a thin layer of government that brought the body together, but allowed for us to show our colors and do what we do best. We could see the successes and mistakes each of us made at the state and local level, and learn from each other. While New York may have decided to implement sweeping social reform programs such as welfare and government-sponsored healthcare, Georgia may decide to implement work-for-the-needy programs and encourage capitalistic-driven healthcare reform. We could see what worked and what didn't from both aspects, and implement them -- as appropriate -- to each other's government templates.
In this election, we have two major players with great ideas, aspirations and hopes for America. To call each other "out of touch" is simply playing to your side of the circulatory system. Instead of attacking each other for our differences, let's celebrate them as much as our worldview can possibly be stretched to allow. Let's concentrate on the true heartbeat of America -- the things that all of us can agree on and are required for both sides of this American body to function.