September 6, 2008
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Serious Talk
I had a serious conversation about politics with Doug this
morning. Since I have a number of new readers, I’ll repeat what others
already know: Doug is my 27 year old son and caregiver. It is rare
for us to have early morning conversations, because he usually goes to
bed a few hours before I get up. This morning, he was washing dishes
as I was blending decaf with high test for a new batch of house blend,
and loading the coffeemaker.On my way into the kitchen, I had
hit the power button on the radio, and the first words we heard on NPR
were, “Sarah Palin.” We groaned in unison. After a few moments of
silent side-by-side work, I said to him I remember all the way back to
Eisenhower’s first term and I couldn’t recall another presidential
campaign quite as frighteningly intense as this one. Even forty years
ago, I said, when my friend Jovano stood back in the trees of that
Chicago park with Robert Anton Wilson, smoking dope and watching
hippies and Yippies being mowed down in the police riot, “we were an
innocent nation.”Our eyes met, and with a flip of my hand I
acknowledged the tilt of his head with which he suggested that,
“ignorant” would have been a better word than, “innocent.” We sighed
in unison. I said to him that although I’m not losing sleep lying
awake as Greyfox (my husband, the Old Fart, in case you don’t already
know) is, worrying about the political situation, I do wake up each
morning with it on my mind.I hadn’t spoken out here on national
issues or candidates, but had reported a few times on Alaska’s ongoing
corruption scandals. Then, when our evangelical beauty queen barracuda
governor got into it, I couldn’t restrain myself. By speaking out
about her lies, evasions and abuses of office, suddenly I’m a political
animal as I haven’t been since I ended up in prison through protesting
the Vietnam war. Since the corrupt and inept politicians I have been
criticizing happen to be Republicans (as they would have to be,
currently, to hold office in Alaska), I have been accused of being a
“loyal Democrat.”Let me set the record straight on that. I
refer to myself facetiously as a “liberal libertarian,” knowing that
those two alliterative words combine to form a political oxymoron, but
sincerely identifying with some of the goals of each camp. Note the
lower case initial letters. I’m not a joiner. I am registered as
independent, and in our split primaries, I vote the “combined” ballot
on which every party except the elite GOP is represented, not because I
reject the Republican party, but because it instituted that split
primary and excluded me.Back when I was a little girl asking
my mother about parties and politics, she told me she didn’t vote for a
party, she voted for the person. Knowing that in many things (at the
time, I would have said, most
things) my mother was an idiot, I flitted from party to party the same
way I was flitting from one religion to another during my adolescence.
I don’t recall which party or religion was the end for me, but
somewhere along the line I realized that I wanted the whole story, the
entire big picture, and none of those exclusive groups had it.As
this campaign developed, I had nothing to say about Obama, McCain, Ron
Paul, and the rest, because I didn’t know any of them. I briefly, and
without fanfare, posted a banner in support of Mike Gravel because I
did know him and felt that he sincerely wanted to fix some of the domestic and foreign problems we have in this country at this
time. I took down the banner when it became apparent that he hadn’t a
chance. Then, when a dangerous, deceitful, delusional Alaskan politician got a spot on the Republican ticket, I spoke out in opposition.Now, I think I need to walk my talk — the longtime talk such as, “Don’t worry. Be happy.” Years ago, decades even, I thought that absurdly corrupt and inept politicians could be good for this country if their blunders and crimes served to enlighten people. I’m not about to shut up about issues and people in the news. I’m just going to stop worrying about it. What is, IS. What people decide to make of it, is what will be. Whatever happens, I’ll either live through it, or I won’t. Either way, I’m okay.
Comments (12)
I’ve allowed this election to stir up so much angst and turmoil in me. Your entry on this today was most helpful, brought it into focus for me.
Thanks, Kathy.
I agree with you….I too am a more liberal libertarian….I am not happy with any of the canidates and really don’t see solutions other then not letting the government get involved as they screw everything up
Not worrying about a good many things is the only thing that keeps me sorta sane.
I normally avoid politics at all costs. Too much blood pressure raising. This will be the first election I’m able to vote in. I’m excited.
I’m with you Kathy. I know that I will “lose” and I’m okay with that. I’ll never stop being me, so that’s that.
So, are you going to vote?
@soul_survivor - Oh, yes. Even though my vote won’t affect how Alaska goes, Alaska’s votes won’t have an impact on the Electoral College, and by the time we’ve voted, due to time zone differences, the election will have already been decided in the Lower 48, my whole family will vote. Otherwise, we would have no justification for complaining about the new administration.
please, don’t shut up about people and issues in the news. i’m young, but what i keep close to my heart is that same value — i will ALWAYS stand up for people and issues, not matter what. even to my own detriment. i don’t care. it’s worth it, and even though i may lose my job for it
at least it means volumes that you are standing beside your values/principles/beliefs, whatever u want to call them.
and i’ll say it again, like i have for years, THANK GOD we have you in this world. you are there as a touchstone for people more than you think. me, included. thank you for giving your opinion and being who you are (and staying healthy goddammit!)
The concluding paragraph here illustrates my own thoughts on Palin, and to some extent everything, I guess.
Do what you will; nothing wrong with getting riled up and passionate once in a while if this is what you feel impelled to do, at least for now if this is where you’re at (so long as you don’t mind being psychologically blown about like a leaf in the wind).
btw, I was going to reply to your message last night, and just as I had finished… the power went out.
O, fragile words, returneth to thy typing box thingy.
Strangely, I am learning from these fundamentalist types. I learnt something from Kenneth Copeland’s son last night, not sure if he could be considered one. Lessons come in the most unexpected of places.
I understand how you wouldn’t want to worry about it. It can create stress, and sleepless nights, which in turn is bad for our health.
I do hope though that you will continue to keep our eyes open re: Palin as most of us had never heard of her prior to her nomination.
I must thank you for that, and also let you know I’ve sent a few other xangan’s your way who also share these views.
Like you, I’m learning to accept the fact that what happens happens, my one little vote isn’t going to stop Palin from becoming VP, but I’ll vote just the same…
Thank you again for your thoughts.
“Tis a puzzlement” –the whole political scene, that is.
It’s frightening to me how stupid this Rep ticket apparently thinks we are and how RIGHT they may be proven to be.