Her campaign worker said this, his advisor said that; she misspoke, he didn't make a strong enough rejection; her supporter spouts an -ism, his pastor spouts an -ism. Pounce, pounce, attack, attack! Every little slip and every out of place detail is the end of the world. Public and political destruction demanded for every mistake and every careless word. All this, and we haven't even gotten to the general election yet!

Does this look like a functioning democracy to anyone? It's far more like a scared and angry mob, complete with mob justice.

This week marks a definite end to a truce that existed in Iraq's civil war, in which America is now actively and militarily taking sides. To add to the endless wars, we have looming environmental disaster, a faltering confidence in government and economy, and now rule by hysteria.

Doesn't anyone recognize or remember what the end of a civilization looks like? Are we too preoccupied with our little power struggles and moral/intellectual one-upmanship to notice anything far more consequential that is happening right now?

Pull it together, people. Look at the big picture. It starts here, with each of us. We bear a responsibility to start to admit - even if just to ourselves - how our own narrowly focused words, thoughts, and actions contribute to a cycle that on the face of it looks very much to me like the spiraling death of a once-great empire.

We must stop pointing fingers at each other. We have to stop being angry at - and afraid of - each other and even our enemies. If we don't snap out of it and start working together to even some small degree... Well, I don't know the answer to that. I only hope that for America's sake, and the sake of the world, that it doesn't take some kind of Shock and Awe for the message to get through, if it ever does.

Peace.

Well that's my 2 cents, anyway. :) Anyone agree? Disagree?

Doom and gloom aside, there at least has never has been a more exciting election in my memory. We indeed live in interesting times, and for now I feel I have a great stake in what happens over the next few months.

Obama '08

Well said, I completely agree.

It reminds me of what Jon Stewart said the other day, "In Philadelphia, Barack Obama decided to talk to us about race like we were adults."

Not verbatim, but close enough.

I saw that, too. It's so true that the narrow way every side has been approaching all this issues is so much like listening to my kids fight. Where are the parents? Who is going to call a time out? :)

Seriously though, we are the ones who are supposed to be acting mature, and we are not by a long shot. Pride comes before a fall, and I see an awful lot of puffed up talk going around.

I think it's because we're constantly placating the lowest common denominator. We try to address things in absolutes and appease everyone. Society and gender/race/social issues are not black and white, but for some reason in the political forum we want them this way and reason loses out. I don't understand it.

It's like the Rev. Wright episode. He's made inflammatory remarks that upset people that I cannot necessarily defend; but are they completely untrue? And, I'm not saying that of all of them, but a lot of people are unwilling to look beyond their own perspective. And that's what children do.

America is not infallible and society is defined by nuance, and I can't see why when discussing hot-button issues in the media we eschew rationale.

I think you definitely have it right. We have lost sight of the fact that the lowest denominators are also our most childish impulses and sensitivities.

My theory is this is a great cycle of history. When times are hard, we find grand visions to share and we just deal with the tough stuff, ignoring pain while working hard until things improve. But with this comes success, and excess. Life gets easy and we look inward more and more, indulging our worst inclinations and hissy fits, putting off what needs to be done, until it all comes crashing down on our heads when we aren't paying attention. Then things are really hard again and we are right back where we started. Civilization, Dark Age, Civilization, Dark Age...

The only difference today is that it is all completely global, with truly global consequences (nuclear weapons, global economics and politics, global climate change). The other difference is that we have a much longer history and even scripture to learn from. We have our Towel of Babel, part of which is this very forum. Eons ago, that quasi-mythical experiment went very wrong, too. The lesson we need to learn is balance, and only then we can break this cycle and evolve. I also have my theory on what that might mean as well, but all of that would take far more time, space, and effort than I can find to articulate it. Regretfully my life works in those very same cycles, and I have yet to discover my own balance.

Peace.

I'm on board.

I have my own political views and I'm pretty serious about them, but I'll listen to yours and try to make a reasoned counter arguments. Try to find common ground if we can.

I do not see how threatening to vote for someone who is as different from what you want to see as possible rather than voting for the person who is 2 degrees out.

I read a great book this fall called Are We Rome? http://www.arewerome.com/ I'm beginning to think that all most people want is bread and circuses. But then I remember all the average people who've become involved in the Democratic party this year and I think about my friend's dad in PA, who got a diagnosis of intestinal *cancer* and went out the next day to change his lifelong party affiliation just so he could have a chance to vote for someone in whom he believes, and I remember that "good news doesn't sell newspapers." Without controversey, the talking heads have nothing to talk about. And then I try to remember to breathe.

We're going to be okay. Hillary Clinton and James Carville are not going to take down the Democratic party. Obama's going to keep on being himself and doing what's been working. Bill Richardson will get over being called bad names and the other Superdelegates won't be cowed by being called bad names, either. The rules will not be suspended for the Prom Queen. Votes will be counted and democracy will prevail. The ghost of Lee Atwater will go back to sleep.

Oh I'm not worried about the Democratic Party. What concerns me right this moment is what's happening while we aren't paying attention. And we really aren't.

American politics at its worst. I think we need to repeal the 17th Amendment and go back to electing members of the electoral college directly. Let's restore our republic.

However, I also know that the above reforms will never happen. Unfortunately, most people easily vote for people based on irrational factors and this results in horrible politics. It would be nice if voters could look at candidates' records, but most vote based on how much a candidate plays to their hopes and fears.

So now, my thoughts on this race as such:

I was quite impressed at how civil the Republican primary was. I think that this is one of the reasons a lot of people think McCain looks reasonably good compared to the democratic candidate they don't like (however, the right wing has invested so much in attacking McCain that a lot of Republicans want to vote Democrat in this election too).

At the same time, the Democratic race is quite dirty. Obama, for example, has portrayed himself as an advocate of the people but has gone out of his way to ensure that Florida and Michigan don't have representation in the DNC. Furthermore, this echos of his first race, where he challenged enough signatures on the state ballot to run unopposed. What Obama says and what he does are not entirely the same.

However, if Obama has issues in how he runs his campaign, look at Clinton. On one hand, she supports unionization and on the other was notoriously silent about Walmart's anti-Union tactics. Her civil liberties record is atrocious, and her most important supporters include figures like Ann Coulter and Rupert Murdoch from the far-right of American politics. Not only does Clinton appear to be fundamentally dishonest about her political platform, but her record and alliances suggest that she is further right of McCain.

If those were the only issues, I would vote for McCain long before I would vote for Hillary. However, McCain appears to be *clueless* about foreign and domestic issues alike. I don't know why he seems so clueless. In the past he has seemed to be more with it. At that point you have to wonder who would *really* be pulling the strings if he were in the white house.

All I can say is that I hope I don't have to choose.

I agree with you on McCain and possibly Clinton, but disagree with several of your other assessments. First of all, constitutional changes are possible, but only with extraordinary leadership that has each state's voters looking at the big picture rather than a divided, narrower interest. Out of the three candidates left, who could pull that off? Getting people to vote their hopes rather than their fears is the key. Fear is divides, hope unites.

The reasoning behind your position on the race isn't clear. Obama has not "gone out of his way" to have Michigan and Florida out of the race. They achieved that all on their own. The state Democratic leaders knew the rules and the consequences long before the primary season started. If voters are to be mad at anyone, it is should be at them, not at Obama, and not at the DNC. The results that exist now are hopelessly compromised, and even a revote's results could not include all those voters who actually honoured the rules and voted in the Republican primaries instead of the voided Democratic ones. It's simply too late, and the DNC leadership understands that.

The fighting isn't really dirty, but it is certainly ugly. The fact is however Hillary Clinton is playing lawyer here, not Barack Obama. She gave her word and agreed to the same rules everyone else did. Of course it is to her narrow advantage now that Florida and Michigan should count, but that position essentially breaks her word and divides the party. The tragic reality is that her's is an argument that is many months too late for her to make. Just like during the debate for the Iraq War Resolution, she had her chance to try and make a difference and work something out, but instead went with the crowd. Now her position, as taken up by those states, her supporters, and several big party donors, can only be self-serving for those involved, and not guided by principles of fair democratic process.

Furthermore, Obama is perfectly willing to allow those states a to be included. He said he would agree to a fair 50/50 division of delegates that would give those two states a voice at the convention. This position favours neither candidate and also does not reward those two states for breaking the rules as a revote would. That is the best result for all that can be salvaged from this. They cant just throw out rules because two states consciously thumbed their noses and regret it now, even if one of the candidates changed her mind too!

First, I don't think any candidate has any interest in going back to a Republic-style government.

Secondly, you have a strong point about Hillary and Obama regarding Florida and Michigan. However, I do wonder how much power parties should have in such decisions. Here in Washington state, the parties sued the state to prevent a popular initiative regarding primaries for state offices from taking effect. Finally, a couple weeks ago, the parties finally lost their 4-year legal battle against the people of our state. So perhaps I am slightly biased against parties dictating these sorts of things.

Yes, political parties do have too much in the current system. If there is a candidate out there interested in democratic change, maybe we should vote for him. :)

Obama '08

I have been toying with the idea of getting into politics. I have a feeling that I would be facing uphill battles everywhere I would turn however. I have a feeling that neither political party would like me much.