Random things

With finally a minute or two on my hands to reflect back on this week, the heated dialogue, and the political firestorms that have raged across the Internet, a few thoughts are bubbling up worth thinking about more…

• Faux populi – The strange persistent meme that permeates our media lately goes like this: Populism is the province of the right. The left has somehow become the snobby elite. How, exactly is that true? Granted, Democrats run across a wide gamut, but they are hardly representative of the rich and moneyed in this country. The same is true for Republicans, though I would tend to say there’s a far higher percentage of them living above the poverty level than there are Democrats. Orwell would be so proud.
• No populi – Another theme I’ve heard a lot this week surrounds my choice to personalize my fight for health care. It’s been argued that by bringing my own situation into the debate, I argue for only me and not others. In order for that argument to have any weight at all, one has to assume that my situation is unusual. Yet, it isn’t. One of the themes that seems to be missing from our current debate about whether to pass the Senate bill or let it die a strangulated death are the people who die along with it. We can’t cheer for Alan Grayson’s “die, and die quickly” speech on the House floor and then turn around and argue that really, people’s desperation doesn’t matter. Of course it does, but it seems like those narratives have been lost in the maelstrom.
• Negativity equals attention – this is where you all get to utter a collective “duh”. And yes, I know it too. But we have a President who campaigned on a different message — one where the tone was changed. By his own admission, he hasn’t changed the tone, and by my own admission, I very much want him to. I want him to show me the fight that finished the primary race with Hillary and took him across the finish line with John McCain. I want him to tell Congress to buck up and do what’s right whether or not it scores points for them in November. And more than that, I want him to take Bart Stupak aside and bitchslap him for making abortion an issue in a health care reform debate.
• I like surprises – It would be quite nice for a change if the President chose to keep his State of the Union address embargoed until he gave it. No previews, no leaks, no suggestions about what he will say. I get so tired of having the pundits pick apart everything he says ahead of time. What’s the point of giving a speech if everyone already knows what he has to say? Keep it under the hat, let the pundits shoot from the hip (as if they don’t already).
• Community is everything – No matter what our differences are, I have seen remarkable demonstrations of community spirit over these past weeks. From the OFA efforts in Massachusetts to the outpouring of kindnesses on Twitter in response to my extended sigh last night, people want to band together, stand for each other, step up and do good things, not bad. Whatever differences we may have (and yes, this goes for my conservative friends, too), it’s an enormous comfort to know there are other people willing to listen, to reach out and to help however they can. Nowhere is this more evident than the outpouring I’ve seen from Americans to Haiti. We all pray for life under the buildings, celebrate when it’s found, mourn when it’s not. Throughout the week, that message has been made abundantly clear to me in so many ways. I have deep respect and gratitude for the many communities I’m fortunate to be a part of, on and offline.

Any random thoughts of your own? Leave a comment. Doesn’t have to be political; it can be about the cat or the rain. Perhaps this next week will be less cloudy, eh?

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Tagged as: Community, health care reform, Politics, state of the union, thoughts