a nice long thank-you for the doctor that deserved it, and a near perfect speech by the man I was too embarassed to say hello to when he came by the office.
Month: July 2004
need to read this, and i mean everyone including me (im halfway, i think)
“The election is a necessity,” Lincoln said. “We cannot have a free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forgo, or postpone, a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered us.”
arlington heights parade today, and i got to thinkin on the drive back to laura’s. what are the core values of the parties? how should we live? what should be the guiding principal for setting up the society’s laws?
humanity is more than a beast. therefore, we should live by a structure that supports more than survival of the fittest. some say we should live by a code set forth by god. but can you govern all the people by the words of one god, when all the people do not wish to follow him?
i propose that our social structure should be one that accomodates both the basest and highest parts of our selves. we are selfish but also empathic. we need to address our completeness, be more holistic in our politics and governing. that is the great american community. we must reach that recognition.
moderate republicans and democrats mostly get it, but are simply still working out the equation. libertarians and communists forget one or the other. it is hard to blame the more religious fundamentalist cause they think they are right and just might be. id ask that they please give us some time.
when you hear the argument that we cannot overtax the rich, we must remember that they made their money in a system built on a theory that does not accomodate our complete human condition, but only the selfish part of it. but we should also not create a system that fails to accomodate and utilize that part either.
this human empathy that we all possess lies deep within almost every religion that i have ever heard of. i think it is the reason so many of us feel drawn to religion, because it help us to satisfy that part of ourselves. perhaps it is the other way though, that there is a divine and it is that connection in ourselves that gives us the empathy for others. i cannot claim to know. all i can say is that there is more than one religion, and perhaps as many views of the truth as there are people. we can thus never satisfy the exact word of all of them, but we may be able to satisfy much of their spirit. as we ever try to do so, we may be able to win support for unity over division. and in the end, make the life of each of us in our communities throughout the world more enjoyable and complete.
whats wrong with gephardt? besides that he might have made an agreement with kerry in iowa. it goes like this:
democrats wanted a candidate to solidify behind so badly because of bush. the conventional wisdom was that the winner of the first primary/caucus would gather up all of the thirsty dems pretty quickly. the establishment candidate was kerry, and he was the very early favorite. dean was a troublesome and much more independent upstart, and he was gaining massive momentum. he took the polling lead, before the first actual vote. he looked to be leading in iowa, with gephardt in second. dean got the attention, understandably. but in iowa, it was also understood that you should not go negative just before the caucus. gephardt had experience, and was from the nearby state of missouri. still, he attacked dean like every pundit said was suicide. dean foolishly responded inkind. gep took 4th, dean 3rd, and kerry took 1st. and now gep is getting VP consideration, while few people can give you any good reason why. sorry, but to me and most deaniacs out there, it sure looks like a deal was made between two longtime washington insiders. adding fuel to the fire, it was later released, because the law demanded it, that some of the negative ads ran against dean were funded by both gephardt and kerry supporters. kerry/gep might just make me ralph.