I’ve About Had It, Part 2

Berthold Gambrel commented on my post from last night and as I thought about my response to him, I came up with a way to describe my frustration. It goes like this …

In November 2008, Barack Obama was elected President. I would have gladly voted for every four years for the rest of my life, but that’s not how our system works and I’m glad for that.

The thing is that the reaction from the Republican Party, and more importantly, from the extreme fringe of the Republican Party was to react with emotionally-charged outrage that began to disengage from reality. The extreme fringe of the Republican Party made so much noise and changed the nature of the debate within that party to such an extent that Republican leaders stood powerless as the extreme fringe took over the Republican Party.

Eight years later, Donald Trump was elected President and the Democratic Party has reacted exactly the same as the Republican Party did after Obama’s election. The extreme fringe of our party has reacted with emotionally-charged outrage that is leading to a disengagement from reality. Leaders in the Democratic Party have responded, not with responsibility and maturity and leadership, but by allowing the extreme fringe to make so much noise and change the debate within the party and ceding the direction of the party to the fringe.

I have absolutely no interest in being a member of a political party whose leaders ignore the definition of “leader” and give their party over to the emotional response of its fringe.  Leaders who fail to respond with maturity and ideas and instead let the outrage lead them. Our leaders have become followers. That’s not how it is supposed to work.

Something needs to change. With both political parties controlled and led by their extreme fringes, we are doomed to failure.

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I’ve About Had It

I’ve got these questions for my liberal/progressive friends:

1. Does any person living outside of the United States who is the victim of oppression, enslavement, violence, or any other in the parade of horribles, have a right to enter this country?
2. Does the United States have an obligation to allow entry to any person living outside of the United States who is the victim of oppression, enslavement, violence or any other in the parade of horribles?
3. If not an obligation, should the United States still lend whatever aid it can to any person living outside of the United States who is the victim of oppression, enslavement, violence, or any other in the parade of horribles?

If you believe the answer to any of these questions is “yes,” you are part of the problem. If you believe the answer to any of these questions is “no,” and you are screaming about children being separated from their parents, without supporting a real solution to the problem, you are part of the problem.

No country and no society can survive if you believe the answer to any of these questions is “yes” or if you are unwilling to support a solution to the problem.

The separation of children from their parents is horrendous and an outrage. Particularly if it is true that families that present themselves at ports of entry and request asylum are put in family detention centers, but those that don’t and enter the country illegally are separated. If we have the ability to provide family detention centers, we should provide them.

But, at the same time, there have to be limits on who and how many can enter this country and there absolutely have to be consequences for those who do so illegally. There have to be … if you don’t get that, then you are a part of the problem.

I am just about done with the endless outrage that exists as political “debate” in this country. Twitter is filled with people liking and retweeting messages that never stop screaming, but nobody offers a solution.  It is all the other side’s fault, but don’t, do not, absolutely never, ask me for a solution to the problem.  The right wing are Nazis and the left wing favors illegal immigration.  Neither one of those are true, but it is impossible to conclude otherwise if you read Twitter, and most other forms of social media.

I don’t expect better from the extremists on the right wing.  I do expect better from my side of the debate.  I expect more honesty, more reality, more willingness to understand and accept the nuances and propose real solutions. And I ain’t seeing it. Instead, far too many of my friends on the left are sinking to the level of the right-wing extremists. We are becoming them. We should not be.

Please, people … think with your head, not your heart.

 

Why I Miss Andrew Sullivan’s Blog

Just read it. Yes, it’s about Trump, so don’t read it if you don’t want to read about him. What’s really sad is that about 35-40% of America and Republican politicians across the country do not see a problem with this.

A Song For Today

OK, I’ll admit it. I’m enthralled with This Is Us. We finished season one last weekend and will start season two this evening.

A couple of weeks ago I looked on Spotify to see if the music from the show was available there. Bingo! It is. I started listening to some of it and came across this song. If my memory is correct, it is played during the sixteenth episode, which is titled Memphis. It is the episode that compelled me to write about the show a few weeks back. I just love the episode and could probably watch it again and again and again.  This song is part of the magic of that episode. It’s another one of those songs that strikes every chord for me — the feel, the mood, the sound, the story it tells. It just is so incredible. (By the way, my memory may be completely wrong about this being in the sixteenth episode. If I’m wrong … well, guess what? I’m old.)

Before I sat down to write this post, I decided to look into the music of the artist behind the song. Jackson Frank. I checked him out on Spotify and, for the first time ever, looked at the About tab to learn more about Mr. Frank. It tells a fascinating story and was not what I expected. I had no thought that this song was from the 1960’s. But it is.

I don’t know how to link to the Spotify info on Mr. Frank, but here’s his wikipedia entry. What a fascinating, tragic story.

A Song For The Day