Lessons Learned from Election “08”
September 4th 2011 10:41
It’s been said that the mark of a great society has very little to do with advancements in technology, comfort of its citizens or its influence in the global marketplace and has everything to do with a societies ability to learn from its past.
When the time came for the American people to decide the future direction of the United States of America four years ago; an opportunity to change the dark path the country was headed in stood as one of the most important factors for most people in the voting electorate.
For some, this dark path had everything to do with the culture of war that began with the invasion of Afghanistan, creation of the war on terror and later evolved into a rush to war in Iraq.
For others, this dark path had everything to do with the deteriorating financial outlook of a nation that once believed they were too big to fail and the failures of Congress and the Oval Office to reign in the brushfire before it consumed the forest.
In what may have been the most important election in American history; the issues that hit closest to home fell to the wayside in favor of a national dialogue on race, religion and failed promises to change the way business is done on Capitol Hill.
While the election year theme for the “Big Two” parties may have been independence and change; what the American people received was a referendum that had very little to do with what either candidate was going to do to fix America once elected to serve the All the PEOPLE.
A fix that requires sacrifices the American people are being told they can put off in favor of finger pointing towards the other side of the aisle and fuzzy data that complicates the simplicity of common sense.
The kind of common sense that should be telling the American people that it’s not going to “work itself out” this time around…
Undoing the damage done by men and women left unchecked by the American people will require a change in the way the voting electorate chooses to approach conversations about the future direction of the United States of America.
A change that should be more about the things we should be expecting from our elected representatives as opposed to distractions that come with focusing all of our attention on religion, race, gender and political party politics.
It’s the bright flares of distraction that shield the American people away from the dangerous actions of the men and women elected to serve the citizens of the United States of America and not the selected few that funded their campaigns.
Dangerous actions that are stripping away the most basic rights granted to the people of the United States of America in the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights.
For all the talk about lifting the United States of America up from the failures of the George W. Bush Administration very little has been done to change the direction of foreign and domestic policy.
The United States of America is still a nation that selectively uses the terms “Freedom” and “Liberation” to justify destabilization of nations through regime change with no long term strategy of the havoc that will be unleashed on the globe for future generations.
The Wars on Terror, Drugs and Alcohol are still a part of the foreign and domestic policy agenda of the United States of America as new initiatives are created behind closed doors to further strip away the rights of citizens to win wars that have no end game.
In the wake of the worst financial collapse in American history and the initiation of numerous strategies to pump money into the machine as a solution to fix a broken system; the jobless rate still sits at a record level, hundreds of thousands are still part of the new population of homeless American citizens and the mess created on American soil is still wreaking havoc at home and around the globe.
While millions of American citizens suffer, the people who created the mess are reaping the benefits of the system they broke with cabinet positions in the oval office and positions of influence in national financial matters.
“Change” is what we were promised but what we received is an even deeper mess that is still being blamed on the previous administration when the real problem exists within the voting electorate.
When we allow the media and political powers that be to dictate the reasons why we decide to vote or not vote for a candidate we lose the power of choice.
The choice to decide between a candidate that will work for the interests of the people he or she will swear an oath to serve or a candidate that has the same religion, looks like me or has “Rock Star” status.
If the mark of a great society is to learn from its past we must start demanding more of the system that selects our leaders.
Demands that begin on an individual level when we progress past race, religion, party and all of the other extracurricular issues that are overshadowing the dangers affecting the daily lives of each and every American citizen.
The religion, race or gender of a candidate will fail to lose its meaning when the water is no longer safe to drink, the cancer, diabetes and flu pandemics grows into an even greater societal concern, obesity becomes the norm and one day we yhave the courage to admit to ourselves that the opportunities of previous generations are no longer possible.
When the time came for the American people to decide the future direction of the United States of America four years ago; an opportunity to change the dark path the country was headed in stood as one of the most important factors for most people in the voting electorate.
For some, this dark path had everything to do with the culture of war that began with the invasion of Afghanistan, creation of the war on terror and later evolved into a rush to war in Iraq.
For others, this dark path had everything to do with the deteriorating financial outlook of a nation that once believed they were too big to fail and the failures of Congress and the Oval Office to reign in the brushfire before it consumed the forest.
In what may have been the most important election in American history; the issues that hit closest to home fell to the wayside in favor of a national dialogue on race, religion and failed promises to change the way business is done on Capitol Hill.
While the election year theme for the “Big Two” parties may have been independence and change; what the American people received was a referendum that had very little to do with what either candidate was going to do to fix America once elected to serve the All the PEOPLE.
A fix that requires sacrifices the American people are being told they can put off in favor of finger pointing towards the other side of the aisle and fuzzy data that complicates the simplicity of common sense.
The kind of common sense that should be telling the American people that it’s not going to “work itself out” this time around…
Undoing the damage done by men and women left unchecked by the American people will require a change in the way the voting electorate chooses to approach conversations about the future direction of the United States of America.
A change that should be more about the things we should be expecting from our elected representatives as opposed to distractions that come with focusing all of our attention on religion, race, gender and political party politics.
It’s the bright flares of distraction that shield the American people away from the dangerous actions of the men and women elected to serve the citizens of the United States of America and not the selected few that funded their campaigns.
Dangerous actions that are stripping away the most basic rights granted to the people of the United States of America in the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights.
For all the talk about lifting the United States of America up from the failures of the George W. Bush Administration very little has been done to change the direction of foreign and domestic policy.
The United States of America is still a nation that selectively uses the terms “Freedom” and “Liberation” to justify destabilization of nations through regime change with no long term strategy of the havoc that will be unleashed on the globe for future generations.
The Wars on Terror, Drugs and Alcohol are still a part of the foreign and domestic policy agenda of the United States of America as new initiatives are created behind closed doors to further strip away the rights of citizens to win wars that have no end game.
In the wake of the worst financial collapse in American history and the initiation of numerous strategies to pump money into the machine as a solution to fix a broken system; the jobless rate still sits at a record level, hundreds of thousands are still part of the new population of homeless American citizens and the mess created on American soil is still wreaking havoc at home and around the globe.
While millions of American citizens suffer, the people who created the mess are reaping the benefits of the system they broke with cabinet positions in the oval office and positions of influence in national financial matters.
“Change” is what we were promised but what we received is an even deeper mess that is still being blamed on the previous administration when the real problem exists within the voting electorate.
When we allow the media and political powers that be to dictate the reasons why we decide to vote or not vote for a candidate we lose the power of choice.
The choice to decide between a candidate that will work for the interests of the people he or she will swear an oath to serve or a candidate that has the same religion, looks like me or has “Rock Star” status.
If the mark of a great society is to learn from its past we must start demanding more of the system that selects our leaders.
Demands that begin on an individual level when we progress past race, religion, party and all of the other extracurricular issues that are overshadowing the dangers affecting the daily lives of each and every American citizen.
The religion, race or gender of a candidate will fail to lose its meaning when the water is no longer safe to drink, the cancer, diabetes and flu pandemics grows into an even greater societal concern, obesity becomes the norm and one day we yhave the courage to admit to ourselves that the opportunities of previous generations are no longer possible.
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Comment by Nicasio
Truth - Respect - Decency
The picture tells it all. Also I see, few take time to comment, for whatever reasons, real or imagined. The picture tells the true and real story; "The greatness of any society, government, or organization-- is how they advocate for, and actively care for the most needy.
I will not blog in a serious manner directly to the political scene. I will tell how 73 years of my life has unfolded, living within, or surviving within our political system. I wonder what took the 99% so long to wake up, see, and listen to what is really an old, old story. The nations forefathers warned us..../nm
Comment by Khalfani King
Politics and Culture
Khalfani King
Oldies but Goodies From Campaign 08
Everything you posted is 100% correct.
In a world where everybody is content with being reactionary it is becoming harder and harder to find intelligent conversation that helps move our desperate situation forward.
Politicians will always have an agenda and the modern culture of laziness, pessimism and group mentality allows us to live in the false belief that someone will save us instead of understanding the need for us to save ourselves.
Thank you for reading and I am hoping that we can have more intelligent conversations like this in the future.