Ah, relationships
I am willing to go out on a limb here and boldly say that if you have ever been in a relationship, you have said the statements in the title of this blog. I was driving to work the other morning listening to Quinn and Rose (104.7 in Pittsburgh and XM Satellite Radio Channel 166) and the litany of Administration miss-steps was more than they could fit in the twenty five minute drive from the Casa de Mac to my place of work.
Some mornings I listen to country music, occasionally I will turn on NPR to hear what the other side is spouting but most mornings I get my daily charge from the conservative point of view that Mr. Quinn and Rose are well known for. Monday morning was one of those mornings and the leftovers from the weekend talk shows were almost too much to bear. Blithering and blathering on both sides of the political spectrum has increased to an almost volcanic roar these days.
Don’t get me wrong. I think its important for the country to have a good healthy discussion about the excesses of the IRS. Frankly, I think the IRS was allowing itself to be used to move a certain political agenda forward. It doesn’t help their cause that while the country has been suffering through the longest period of hyper unemployment they have been out partying like a bunch of drunken sailors. (Professional disclaimer: I know exactly what that is so it is in no way an exaggeration).
I think its perfectly okay for us to have robust discussions about other governmental agencies that have failed to do their best to provide good “customer service” as well (whatever the hell that means). It would be hard to point a finger in any one direction these days without pointing at poor decision making, malfeasance, perfidy, boondoggling, abuse and just plain bad behavior in any of the branches of government and its various agencies.
But it occurred to me on that beautiful Monday morning that the main people responsible for much of the mess are the voters themselves. We have a wonderful system in this country when it is allowed to work. Even with the amount of vote tampering and shady dealings in the last few elections, it still is the responsibility of the population at large to use the power of the electorate to straighten things out. So if its so easy, why have things gotten so far out of control?
This is where the “I’m Sorry” part comes into play
. After a large dust up where many harsh words are said, it is important that someone starts with the important words of conciliation. The words can be hard and the implications are many. Fault, guilt, blame, responsibility whether implied or real are all connected strongly to those two little words. Insincerity in using the phrase can add more burning coals to the fire and make the argument both prolonged and protracted. So be careful about how they are used.
In this case, adding value to the words is important so as to not allow the other party to think they are merely being manipulated with a common platitude. If we were to take the this position in this modern day of political division, the danger would be that the people on the other side of that division might try and take advantage of it at worst but might actually have too hard a time believing in our sincerity.
The answer of course is to be sincere and have something that you can honestly be sorry for. For instance, I am truly truly sorry that I did not do everything in my power to find a candidate that could articulate the arguments for a free America well enough without all of the distractions that the other side was able to use to muddle the message. I am very sorry that our arguments for a free America were drowned out by self interests that made even sane people question their motivations.
How else could you explain Steelworkers who by and large voted for a party that wants to put coal back in the ground and seal up the holes with lockboxes and fees? As their communities continue to dry up and blow away for lack of business and raw materials, how else could it make any sense to support a candidate and his party that are robbing the very food from their children’s mouths?
I am sorry that we did not strongly enough bring the people who are now virtual economic slaves to an uncaring bureaucracy back to a saner place where personal responsibility trumped government handouts. I am sorry we were unable to show you that people who are willing to trade a little freedom for a little bit of someone else’s money soon have neither. I am sorry I was unable to make people who are hurting understand that robbing from the rich will never replace their ability to feed themselves when all the rich people have fled.
There. I feel better now.
Let’s move on to the “I forgive you part”.
I want all of my fellow American’s on the left that I am willing to forgive you for not seeing this train wreck coming. Let’s be honest, the “O” team had all the celebrities (including Oprah in the first go around), the press (with the notable exception of Fox), the prettiest market tested words and phrases and one of the best election efforts that money could buy (big shout out to George Soros and the Tides foundation). Hope and change are sure big multipliers compared to “Holy crap we are running out of other people’s money and may have to make tough choices”.
So I get it. Your big date to the prom was like this knight in shining armor. “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy" Sorry if I plagiarized that, it seemed appropriate.
But he’s letting you down. If the press is no longer free, how long before it hits your own issues? Imagine how different things would be if MLK did not have a way to get his message out. (Hey wait a minute, weren’t those old white dudes mostly Democrats???). If the IRS picks and chooses who will be allowed to organizes, what happens when you do or say something that pisses him off? I’ve heard it that there are still some churches in America for instance that think the only way to grace is through Jesus Christ. Kind of bigoted don’t you think?
What about guns? I know they seem to get a bad rap but what if we take it to the extreme and don’t even allow the police to have guns like they do in Great Britain. Wait, what??? Those guys are carrying guns again? I wonder what brought that on?
Immigration? What a wonderful idea to bless off the twelve to twenty million illegals uninvited guests and allow them to join us for a large Cinco De Mayo welcoming party. Fantastico, no? Except that part about Blacks having the highest chronic unemployment of any demographic group in America and the legalization of so many invaders will glut what’s left of the job market. Oh well, at least your guys will get their votes as the cities finish burning to the ground.
Yep, I am willing to forgive you. Nobodies perfect. But here is the deal: we have to pull together and start getting the government back to a place of a little bit more balance. We have to rethink how we want America to look like as we face the challenges ahead with serious answers. We are going to run out of other people’s money really soon and I am pretty sure that the people who could have already bought their weapons to protect what’s left of their stuff. (In August of 2009 alone, more than one million legal guns were sold in the US. That number has gone up significantly since the most recent presidential election).
Like in any relationship, there is a time limit. We can’t keep growing further and further apart and expect a good outcome. At some point, things will just get too poisoned and we will have a large messy break up. Think about the children… That would be a shame. All of the other people in relationships around the world would lose faith in what was once the last best place on the planet. We would have to surrender all of the freedoms we have had while losing all of the trust we once had.
It’s okay for you to recognize you made a really bad choice
. It doesn’t have to mean the end of it all. I’m willing to fight for you if you are still willing to try. What do you cay? Are you ready to pull back together yet?
Signed
Your faithful friend and lifelong loyal companion.
PS… I still love you and think we can have a great future together.
theleansubmariner 