On the Eve of the State of the Union...

… which I won’t watch, again. As little point as I see in using my time listening to political punching and counter-punching, from a lame duck president this reality-TV drama seems an even bigger waste of my time. Then tonight and tomorrow we’ll be treated to being forced choose which narrow slice of right or left wing real estate we’re going to inhabit.

I never liked forced choice questions, A or B, True or False, Good or Evil. I don’t live in a black and white world; mine is a (fuzzy) shades-of-grey world-view. Thus, I find there are no easy answers and am increasingly suspect of those who claim to have a monopoly on the truth, be they Islamic radicals or Fundamentalist Christians, right-wing Republicans or left-wing Democrats, Clint Eastwood or Michael Moore …..

Life is no longer simple (if it ever was), probably (at least in part) because people are complicated. Seldom, if ever, do we really have an either/or situation, at least when it comes to how we feel about something. While our personal choices may often appear to be a forced choice, if we’re honest with ourselves we’ve had a variety of paths to take before arriving at H-Hour.

Why do I have to go “all in” on an issue? Are you really telling me I can’t support both the 2^nd Amendment and background checks? That I must pick between the 1^st Amendment freedom of (pick one of the 5) and reasonable limits that protect society? Can I not support the police and those who are concerned about whether “black lives matter”? Can I not appreciate the service and sacrifice of our military men and women and have concerns about where and why they are deployed?

On these big issues we seem to be at the mercy of the absolutists and extremists who take no prisoners, admit no middle ground; they manipulate issues and events trying to force the majority of us into their particular small corners. We are also at the mercy of those political consultants who energize voters and contributions by polarizing every issue. And we wonder why Congress can’t find any middle ground?

I almost envy those who live in their narrow black and white worlds. It cuts down on listening, thinking, analyzing, concluding. I’ll finish by sharing a meme that has been posted by both conservatives AND liberals and the cartoon (above) that seems to sum it all up.* Have we finally found something we can all agree on? Nah….

* You might also try to check the cartoon on the mast-head.

The Legacy of Dr. King

When did conservatives start falling in love with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? I used to joke that I was so old that I could teach history from memory, but this I truly do remember. When Dr. King was alive, he certainly was never recognized as a courageous hero by the right. Instead, conservatives vilified him regularly. To mention just a few, they labeled Dr. King a radical, a communist, a subversive, a criminal, a trouble-maker, etc., etc.

Today conservative memes are showing up all over the place jumping on the Hero Bandwagon. Their real purpose, however, is to not to praise King but to denigrate and label as dangerous radicals President Obama, AG Holder, the reverends Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson, and others. I’m not nominating any of these men for sainthood (history will judge them as it has Dr. King); the leadership of the latter two, especially, frequently strikes me as more self-serving and reactive than productive, but my guess is these converts wouldn’t like what the “radical” Dr. King would be saying today, were we blessed to still have him with us.

At some point, in order to make skeptics listen more closely, conservatives are going to have to recognize that their track record on civil rights for ALL groups (minorities, women, gays, etc.) has always been oppositional, and trying to bring their stale chips and dip to the party 35 years later is less than impressive.