A Free Man

Just a wee break in the 90’s flashbacks this week, stay tuned for more…

It rained yesterday - Australian drought my ass. It rained on A Free Man and Boy Party Day, which meant that we were house bound for the bulk of the day. Boy Z has risen to toddlerhood proper and I just want to say that I now have sympathy for all you stay-at-home-parents. The boy is an insubordinate destructicon (he gets it from his Mother). Here’s hoping that this mythological Australian summer kicks in soon or I may go back to working five days a week.

My sanity was preserved by  the arrival of two overseas packages yesterda. First, in the morning mail, was a box of Georgia schwag from Just Jessie containing more paraphenalia to make Boy Z the best dressed Little Dawg in the Southern Hemisphere. Even better, though, was DVDs of the first four games of the year - back when we still thought we were good. Watching the Bulldogs run all over Georgia Southern kept Boy Z quiet for a good two minutes.

With the afternoon post, my sanity was at a breaking point - the terrorist was on the verge of winning.  Then my hardworking postman rang the bell again, this time with a box full of Obama paraphernalia kindly shipped my way by Alice of 10,000 Monkeys and a Camera - her campaign leftovers. It was a veritable treasure trove of all things Obama, including some t-shirts, stickers, buttons, posters (one of which is my favorite campaign image) and even Democratic mints. There was a notable shortage of Obama gear in Oz, so Alice’s package was a great treat for a fervent supporter of the president-elect. Plus, the stickers and pins distracted Boy Z for a fair few minutes. Although, I suspect that I’ll be finding Obama-Biden stickers stuck about the place for a few days.

My most heartfelt thanks to both Jessie and Alice!

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In lieu of an accompanying track, I’d like to point you to the Aquarium Drunkard who has a whole album of a show played by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash in 1969. Two of my favorite artists of all time - magical. Check it out here.

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Three reasons I voted for President Barack Obama:

“This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time — to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth — that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can.”

Here’s his Election night speech as an MP3 file. In case you want to hear it again…

 

 Barack Obama's Election Night Speech - November 4, 2008 [16:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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“IF there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”*

I’ve been pretty hard on the American Dream lately, have made statements about it being a myth or a fantasy or available only beyond America’s shores. But as Barack Obama started his speech last night, as the first black president of the United States took the stage, I realized that I was wrong. The election results last night exorcised the demons of slavery and racial discrimination from the America soul. It gave me hope that my homeland is making a transition after eight years of disastrous foreign and domestic policy and is on its way to being a country to which I could imagine returning one day.

But…

But, I am extremely disheartened about some of the results last night. The Alaska senate race is laughable as it seems a convicted criminal has been elected to represent them in the United States Senate. Is there any way that we could convince Alaska to secede.  This stands in stark contrast to a senate election in Missouri in 2000 in which Missouri repudiated the wing nut John Ashcroft in favor of a dead man.

What I am most unhappy about, however, are four ballot measures. Three of them, in Arizona, California and (predictably) Florida, banned gay marriage in those states. The worst, however, was in Arkansas where the voters opted to ban adoption by gay couples. I had hoped that we were past this kind of hatred as a nation. I had hoped that the election of a black man to the highest office in the land meant that we were rejecting prejudice and discrimination. But it seems that it is still acceptable to discriminate against homosexuality. It is still acceptable to hate gays and refuse them the rights that are available that happened to be born with a certain combination of alleles.

Well, shame on us. When are we going to grow up? When are we going to stop saying, “Ewww, homos! I don’t like them.” What difference does it make to heterosexual marriage if we extend the same opportunity to homosexuals? When are we going to stay out of our neighbors relationships and bedrooms? When are we going to stop legislating hatred?

Call me a negative nelly, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. Every silver lining has a big old gray cloud surrounding it.

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* This got my attention, but my favorite part of Obama’s speech and the part that brought tears to my eyes, was this:

“I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last sixteen years, the rock of our family and the love of my life, our nation’s next First Lady, Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy that’s coming with us to the White House.”

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John Mellencamps’s gritty version of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land” was featured on a compilation called “Song of America” available from eMusic.

 

 John Mellencamp - "This Land Is Your Land" [4:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Michelle Obama took a lot of heat for this statement, but today I agree with her 100%:

“For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback.”

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Joanna Smith’s sublime version of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”** was featured on a compilation called “Song of America” available from eMusic. Check out more of Smith’s music at her MySpace page.

 

 Joanna Smith - "Battle Hymn of the Republic" [5:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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And I forget
Just what it takes
And yet I guess it makes me smile
I found it hard
Its hard to find
Oh well, whatever, nevermind…

In the summer of 1991, I was 19 and living in Tallahassee in a vermin infested house in the shadow of the Florida state capital. I was working at a local chain bookstore, making a half-assed attempt at an English degree from Florida State University and generally wandering aimlessly in a Gen X stupor. I was a man in search of a plan, in search of some sort of guiding force. I used to lurk around used bookstores, snapping up Beat poetry and novels, books on Buddhism, romantic poets, dense arty novels. But none of these seemed to apply to me in 1991, they were the voices of previous generations, answers for ancestors.

Then one night in September I slid a new CD that I had picked up into my stereo. And I heard the opening chords of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and my life changed. Within months, I dropped out of college (for the second time), quit my job, packed up my pick up and headed out across the country for the Pacific Northwest. I know that kind of makes me a cliché today, but it didn’t feel that way at the time. Nor was it as simple as that, but in the music of Nirvana I heard the voice of my generation for the first time.

Even if you have…
Even if you need…
I don’t mean to stare.
We don’t have to breed.
We can plant a house,
Or we can build a tree
I don’t even care.
We could have all three…

I didn’t find what I was looking for in Seattle. I had hoped that I was joining a youth movement, a la Berkeley in the 1960s. But it didn’t turn out that way, there was a musical scene for a few years but beyond that Seattle in the early 90s was nothing like Berkeley in the late 60s. In a lot of ways it was the anti-Berkeley. It was cold and dark. It was exclusionary. Love was expensive and potentially deadly. The drugs were harsh and lethal. There was no political or social movement, in fact that sort of thing was regarded with suspicion. Above all, it was not like a Cameron Crowe film. I stumbled and bumbled around for a few years and ultimately came back South, poorer and emotionally wrung out.

In anecdotes about this time in my life, I’ve always relayed it as wasted time, my fucking around period if you will. But as I listened to “Nevermind” with my son the other day, I realized that this is an oversimplification. Tallahassee and Seattle in the early 1990s were a critical part of getting me to where I am today – Adelaide in 2008. What I was looking for during that time in my life was what I’ve found today. Like a lot of my generation, I knew that I couldn’t live the life of my parents. Their blue sky dream had been turned into a smoggy myth for us. A house in the suburbs and 2.4 kids and a lifetime job with The Company were neither available nor acceptable. I remember hearing of my Dad’s friends, the fathers of the kids I grew up with, being laid off from the company to whom they’d given the best years of their lives and for whom they’d dragged their families around the world. I remember the day that my Dad joined them. He had been a Company man for most of his life, but downsizing and outsourcing and all those words that have made it into the lexicon of our language over the past decade and a half meant that he found himself without a job and in his early fifties. I knew at that point, that even though I was floundering and failing, that my rejection of the path my parents took was a sound decision.

I think that’s one of the things Cobain was trying to get across. In his music, I hear a firm rejection of the Baby Boomers approach to life. But coupled with that is the angst and confusion and utter powerlessness of a man who doesn’t know have an alternate plan. He knows that the status quo is unacceptable, but can’t see the road less travelled. That is ultimately what killed him.

It is now time to make it unclear
To write off lines that don’t make sense
Love myself better then you
I know it’s wrong so what should I do…

Thankfully, I and most of the rest of my generation have found the road that Cobain couldn’t. I’ve accepted a lot of the status quo that I rejected when I lit out from Tallahassee. I live, regrettably and temporarily in the suburbs. I have bred. I have a family of my own and want, above all, the best for them. I don’t spend a lot of time fighting the man.

But, in many other ways I’ve opted out. I’m proudly not a Company Man. I’m working on my terms and when they cease to be my terms, can walk away and be OK. I’ve tailored my career to be what I want it to be and have taken advantage of the educational and career opportunities afforded me. I can work in my window office, I can work at home, I can work on the bus, I could probably work on the beach if I didn’t have a headbanging boy child trying to thrash my computer. I’ve opted out of that American blue sky dream to the tune of about 10,000 miles and a hemisphere.

Come as you are, as you were
As I want you to be
As a friend, as a friend, as an old enemy
Take your time, hurry up
Choice is yours, don’t be late…

A lot of people call Nirvana’s music angry, but Cobain wasn’t angry. He was, like a lot of us were at the time, frustrated, confused and frightened. That’s what you hear in “Nevermind”. Kurt Cobain never had a chance to try the alternate path that so many of us have taken. He opted out in a very final and ultimately cowardly way. In a lot of ways it’s a shame, because it is our time now. One of the reasons that I’m such an advocate of Barack Obama is that with his election, a member of my generation (in a broad sense) is poised to take real power for the first time.

This was supposed to be about Boy Z and Nirvana, but it’s not turned out that way at all. Boy Z liked “Nevermind” in the sense that he liked the time we set aside to bang along with that fantastic Novoselic and Grohl growling bass line. He detected the change in mood in his Papa and played along and drummed and thrashed things with his cricket bat. But Z likely didn’t hear the generational insurrection in “Nevermind”, he’s a bit young yet for that yet. One day, Z is going to see Nirvana as the music of his father’s generation – as dated and hackneyed. One day he’s going to reject my values and my path in life. He’s going to make his own choices based on his own experience. And when that’s the case, I hope I can remember this post and the way I feel right now. Find your way, Boy Z. Find your own way.

What album defined your coming of age, your great trip west?

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Nirvana’s “Nevermind” is available from .

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Image Credits:

Seattle in the fog

Further reading:

This post was partially inspired by this photo on Bluestreak’s excellent page.

 

 Nirvana - "In Bloom" [4:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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I’m running out of energy for political posts this election cycle and am on the verge of putting a moratorium on politics on A Free Man. But, I’ve had this one in the queue for some time and wanted to throw it out there before the ban. Today, I want to talk about science and politics. That’s right, boys and girls, a two-fer. Chris from Formerly Fun* sent me a link to the Scientists and Engineers for America’s comparison of the two major presidential candidates statements on issues of science, health care and technology. Inspired, I went through a number of interviews focusing on science and engineering that have been published with both candidates and picked out a few issues on which the candidates differ.

One of the things I found most remarkable was the similarities in the two candidates’ platforms when it comes to science and engineering. When it comes to important issues like embryonic stem cell research, climate change, scientific integrity and even alternative energy, there are little or no differences between the two candidates’ statements. There are little differences in numbers and approaches on things like offshore drilling, reduction of emissions and nuclear power, but these have been well covered by the media.

It’s important to keep in mind that what follows is what the candidates say in interviews to science publications. Now, it should be noted for those of you who were born yesterday that what a politician says and what a politician does are often entirely different things. It’s worth looking back in the past to see how each candidate has actually voted.

But let’s look at a few important differences on issues that aren’t being covered by the media. I’ve found three major science issues in which McCain and Obama have expressed notable disagreements. I’ve tried to be objective, but in the interest of full disclosure,  I am an Obama supporter.

Basic Research

This is the type of science that often gets picked up on by politicians as wasteful of the government’s money. You’ve seen the headlines, millions of dollars spent to study grizzly bear DNA in Montana. The thing is, basic research drives most innovation in science and engineering. In general, drug companies don’t come up with the major breakthroughs in drug discovery, researchers in universities and publically funded institutes looking at things that seem trivial to the public at large make these discoveries. Drug companies fine tune them. The scientists that you’ve heard of - Einstein, Darwin, Mendel, Pasteur, Curie, Watson, and so on - we’re doing research that would have seemed as laughable to the layperson as studying the reproductive habits of blue crabs . Take home message, basic research is absolutely essential to scientific progress.

Obama has stated that federally funded basic research is one of his highest priorities in the science and engineering arena. He has pledged to double the basic research budget for engineering, mathematics and physical and life sciences over the next 10 years. McCain also has promised to fight for increases in funding for some scientific agencies. Crucially, however, he has promised a freeze in discretionary spending (which includes federal money for research) for one year.

Sex Education

OK, it’s becoming clear as I write this that I will not be able to be completely objective. For the last eight years, the Bush Administration has funded only abstinence-only sex education in the public schools. This has not worked. In 2006, the teenage pregnancy rate in the USA (already the highest in the industrialized world) rose for the first time in 14 years. Rates of syphilis and gonorrhea have risen steadily since 2000. McCain supports continuing this failed policy. Obama supports comprehensive sex education. This would include abstinence programs, but also would ensure that all taxpayer-funded federal programs are medically accurate and include information about contraception.

Evolution vs Creationism

Now, this is one of my biggest science and education issues. Both candidates are committed Christians and both candidates believe firmly in evolution. When asked if intelligent design (creationism) should be taught in the schools, McCain said in an interview with the Arizona Star that “all points of view” should be presented and “to say that we can only choose one line of thinking or one belief on how people and the world was created…there is nothing wrong with teaching different schools of thought.” Obama said in an interview with Nature, “I do not believe that it is helpful to our students to cloud discussions of science with non-scientific theories like intelligent design that are not subject to experimental scrutiny.” Read between the lines and I think you’ll discover the differences between the two candidates.  McCain is OK with teaching creationism, Obama is not.

There are also some differences of opinion on things like NASA (Obama may cut funding), net neutrality (McCain proposes letting the market handle it, we know how well that works) and nuclear energy and offshore drilling. I’m trying to keep this post short and to the point. I report, you decide.**

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Ryan Adams’ wonderful “Love Is Hell” is available from .

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Image Credits:

Parties in a flask

Robot wars

A reassuring lie

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* If you aren’t reading Chris’ blog then stop what you’re doing right now and go and read it. Ignore the scary pink theme and see what she’s got to say. Simply one of the best around, particularly when she writes about politics and society. And I’m not just saying that because we’ve arranged a marriage between her daughter and my son.

** Please don’t sue me Rupert.

 

 Ryan Adams - "Political Scientist": Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Wow. I haven’t seen Obama deliver a full speech since the 2004 Convention and am glad that I took the time in the middle of the working day to watch MSNBC’s coverage of this one. How anyone could have watched this speech and not want this man to be our president is beyond me.

Here are some of my highlights:

“It’s a promise that says each of us has the freedom to make of our own lives what we will, but that we also have the obligation to treat each other with dignity and respect.”

“Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy. Michelle and I are only here tonight because we were given a chance at an education. And I will not settle for an America where some kids don’t have that chance.”

“Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility – that’s the essence of America’s promise.”

“We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don’t tell me that Democrats won’t defend this country. Don’t tell me that Democrats won’t keep us safe. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans — Democrats and Republicans – have built, and we are here to restore that legacy.”

“But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What the nay-sayers don’t understand is that this election has never been about me. It’s been about you.”

“That promise is our greatest inheritance. It’s a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night, and a promise that you make to yours – a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west; a promise that led workers to picket lines, and women to reach for the ballot.”

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Trying out some more Aussie slang today. Maybe one of my Antipodean readers can tell me if I’ve got it right.

I’ve always been a fairly cliched Gen X-er - sarcastic, cynical and suspicious of excessive earnestness. But nearly a year ago, with the arrival of Baby Z, the bulk of that sardonic skepticism got left on the delivery room floor. These days if you want to see me go all soft, see my eyes well up, see me get all gooey like baked brie, all you need to do is tell me a good evocative Dad story.

Like the one that I heard on a Radio 4 podcast this morning. A Ryanair flight (useless busses with wings) from Bristol to Barcelona lost cabin pressure at its cruising altitude. The oxygen masks deployed but did not dispense oxygen and neither the pilot nor crew made any announcement as to what was happening until they got down to a ’safe’ altitude of 8,000 feet. So the passengers on the plane were subjected to a few very frightening minutes during which they had no idea whether they were going to live or die.

One of the passengers was Pen Hadow - explorer, inspiration, environmental and motivational speaker and A Free Man’s new hero - was asked later by Radio 4 if he was frightened:

“Honestly, I don’t wish to sound sort of typically stiff upper lip about it, but for the first second or so I was sort of confused, it all happened so quickly. And then when I looked at my son’s face I knew what I had to do.”

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This got to me as well, for the same softie Dad reason. If I was still uncertain about what to do on the upcoming election day, this might be enough to sway me.

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Well, I just got my e-mail from Barack*, we’re apparently on a first name basis, four hours after the story broke in the media. I’m thrilled to see Joe Biden join the ticket, absolutely thrilled. I know that he brings a bit of baggage with him and that, with 3o some odd years in the Senate, he dampens the Change® message. But Biden’s a terrier and right now Obama needs a terrier.

Because something is not going according to plan in the Obama campaign.  In the most recent generic polls, in which respondents are asked whether they would vote for a Republican or Democrat for President, the Democrat leads by 10. In the most recent daily tracking polls, Obama leads McCain by no more than three points. This is a discrepancy that’s been troubling me since Obama secured the nomination. The Democratic nominee has led McCain by as much as 7 points, but tends to hover around 45%. McCain is creeping up and in some recent daily tracking polls has surpassed Obama.

I know that polls in the summertime are about as reliable as British weather forecasting, but something doesn’t add up. Admittedly, up until the end of last week, McCain had been bashing Obama around quite a lot without much response. Obama spent a week on vacation, completely yielding the stage to McCain. Maybe that’s why McCain is catching up a bit, but what I find more disturbing is that if the election were held today, a generic Democrat wins by ten and the specific Democrat ties at best. I’m not the only one to wonder that, the pundits have been mashing numbers and waving hands and have come up with all sorts of ‘gaps’:

• The gender gap - stubborn Clintonistas that haven’t come into the party fold. In other words, they would vote for a generic Democrat if that Democrat was specifically Hillary Clinton.**
• The experience gap - McCain’s decades of public service, makes him stronger than the generic Republican. Similarly, Obama’s less than a decade in national office makes him weaker.
• The foreign policy gap - with uncertainty in the Caucuses and Middle East, voters are flocking to military man McCain. Because, you know, foreign policy equals war.
• The attack gap - McCain’s campaign is charging forward, arrows flying like a mob of Hun horsemen. They’ve tried every possible avenue of attack and have found a few that hurt.

All of these probably have something to do with the differences in these polls. But, increasingly, I’m beginning to fear that the real gap is a darker and unsurmountable one. I’m beginning to think that the gap that is hurting Obama is the skin color gap.  Consistently, in polls, a huge majority of Americans (76% in the most recent) say that the country is ready for a black president (or a woman for that matter). That’s both predictable and suspicious. For one thing, the phrasing of the question is tricky. Pollsters are not asking the respondents if they are ready for a black president. Only the most blatant of racists would admit, to a stranger, over the phone that they were unwilling to put a black man in the White House. But, occasionally in this election cycle, hard numbers have belied these whitewashed polls. The discrepancy between the polls in the New Hampshire primary and the results, for example, has been attributed to the so called “Bradley Effect” by a number of pundits. More disturbing and less contentious, however, are the results in West Virginia exit polls, in which 22% of respondents said race was important in their decision between Clinton and Obama. Of those 22%, 82% voted for Clinton. If 22% admitted to being driven by race, how many felt the same way but didn’t admit it?

And the answer to that question is what I’m worried about. Has Obama reached a glass ceiling of his own? When I first heard Obama, at the 2004 Democratic conveniention, I was blown away by his oratory. At that time, I thought that Obama was a rising star in the party but that his race, and more particularly, his name would keep him out of the oval office. I’ve been surprised and thrilled to see him get to the spot he is today - just days away from accepting the Democratic Party’s nomination. It’s been an amazing year in American politics and one that makes me proud of my country. But what if I was right in 2004, what if Obama can’t get past that 45% number. What if there is a enough of a minority of Americans to turn an election who are still so riddled with bigotry that they can’t fathom the idea of a black man in the White House.

I realize that there are scores of reasons that a person wouldn’t vote for Obama that have nothing to do with race. If you’re a Republican and have reasoned policy differences with the Illinois senator, then I have no problem with you. If Obama is a bit too conservative for your taste, I respect that and Nader is running again this year. If you really believe that Obama doesn’t have ample experience for the job, despite the fact that many that have come before him had even less, then fair enough.

If you’re not voting for Obama because his middle name is Hussein, or because he lived in Indonesia then I have a big problem with you. If you won’t vote for Obama because “you can’t relate with him culturally” or because of the church that he went to, then I have a big problem with you. When it becomes, at any level, about the color of Barack Obama’s skin, then you are not making an intelligent, well informed decision. You’re making a decision based on hatred. If you’re one of those 22% of West Virginians, you made a bigoted decision. More importantly, if you, even deep down, agree with them, you are a racist.

Similarly, I don’t think that voting for Obama solely because of his race is legitimate. Again the problem, the fear, the anxiety that is with me is the difference between the number of people who would like to see a Democrat in the White House and the number of people that would like to see this Democrat in the White House.

America is at such a thrilling place historically. We’re primed to finally resolve over two hundred years of slavery, segregation, lynchings, Jim Crow, and racial hatred. We’re at the doorstep of a colorblind society. And I hope that I’m wrong about this. I hope that the fickle summertime polls bear no relation to reality and that the number of people that refuse to vote for Obama because of his skin color are restricted to a few stubborn Klaverns and 22% of West Virginia. Because the election of Barack Obama could be a turning point in American history - like the rise of JFK in 1960 and the Reagan revolution in 1980, but moreso.

The last two presidential elections have not gone the way I had hoped. In 2000, I was confused after the presidential election results finally came in. In 2004 I was angry. 2008 can still go either way. If Obama becomes that generic Democrat, I’ll be able to walk around my adopted foreign home with pride in my country again - a pride that’s been hard to drum up in the last eight years. If Obama has indeed hit that glass ceiling, if he does come in around 45% and loses to McCain, I’ll just feel very, very sad and a little bit ashamed.

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*Started writing this on Sunday morning, but free time is at a premium these days. Daily tracking polls remain about the same as then.

** For those of you saying to yourself, “See, I told you Obama couldn’t get elected”, I firmly believe that Clinton would be having the same problem with a subset of voters that couldn’t handle a woman in the Oval Office.

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“The Best of U2 1980 - 1990″ is available from .

 

 U2 - "Pride (In the Name of Love)" [3:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Despite being nearly a presidential term removed from the U.S., I’m still an election junkie. This one has been a real cracker so far and I keep abreast of the news and commentary from the U.S. through podcasts from my favorite pundits. I’m a little embarassed to admit this, but on a weekly basis I listen to the following podcasts for my U.S. politics fix: Meet The Press, This Week with George Snuffalupagus, MSNBC Countdown, The Slate Political Gabfest, KCRW’s Left, Right and Center, The Radio Factor, Washington Week, NPR’s It’s All Politics, Common Sense with Dan Carlin, The New Yorker’s Campaign Trail and Drop Your IQ with Sean Hannity. Sometimes I think I may be overdoing it a little.

Maybe overexposure is the source of my festering frustration with the 2008 U.S. presidential election. It’s not the media’s obsession with trivia (like cartoons, potential first spouses recipes and flag pins), I’m used to that. While listening to an interview with Barack Obama on PBS this morning, I was reminded that the press just doesn’t have the attention span for anything that requires more than about seven words to explain. Gwen Ifill, a journalist who I respect, was actually doing a pretty good job with the Democratic nominee - asking intelligent questions and not getting bogged down in the peripheral nonsense. But then she got to the flip-flop question.

I’m so tired of “flip-flops” as an electoral issue. The 2004 election was full of this non-issue and I had hoped that we had outgrown it, but then I had hoped we had outgrown fear-mongering, name calling, wrapping politicians in the American flag, etc. The only thing that’s different this time around is that both candidates are accused of being flip-floppers.

My question is, when did changing your mind become such a bad thing? Isn’t that one of the problems with the current U.S. administration - a bull headed determination to do what they think is right, regardless of facts or common sense?

Who hasn’t changed their mind, even in terms of major life philosophies? If I hadn’t changed my mind since high school, well I quake to think where I would be, but it certainly wouldn’t be where I am today. If I hadn’t changed my mind about some of my lifestyle choices along the way, I may not be here to rant today. I doubt that there’s a single person reading this who hasn’t re-evaluated a choice that they’ve made and come out better for it?

Why, then, do we expect more from our politicians? Why do we have the expectation that after once uttering an opinion they should stick with it for life. Why is it not OK that you believed something, evaluated the situation and changed your mind based on new information. Frankly, I find it reassuring that both candidates appear to be open minded enough to consider an alternate position. Perhaps if that had been the case for the last 8 years then my homeland wouldn’t be where it is today - bogged down in two wars, trillions of dollars in debt and in an economic tailspin.

The long list of things that I find less than reassuring about both candidates will have to wait for another post.

 

 Sugar - "If I Can't Change Your Mind": Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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