Comment

Comment by Karriem Holman on June 15, 2011 at 4:50pm

At this point, we need all the optimism we can muster.  When I see that people like Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) are assembling serious teams with veteran GOP consultants to run her campaign, that is frightening, because she will no longer be viewed as just another "Tea Party" nutbag, which in fact is exactly what she is. 

And, while the problems facing this country aren't insurmountable, how we as Americans work together to address them is the key challenge here.  Democrats at least are willing to work with the GOP and anyone else to address the serious structural issues facing our country.  Everything Republicans say and do suggests otherwise.  Until we can begin to restore some equilibrium to our society, from social, political and economic standpoints, it will be that much more difficult to address those issues with the vigor and commitment they require.  Oh, and let us not forget that the founding fathers never thought the society would become as heterogeneous as it has become, which is part of the rationale for all the acrimony, while setting up a two-party sytem in which the adversarial relationship between groups was both nurtured and encouraged.

Comment by Urban Universe Productions on June 15, 2011 at 12:25pm

Excellent Points Gentlemen!! I agree with you both...

Comment by Joe Sexton on June 14, 2011 at 5:07pm

I sometimes wonder what would have happened had the Internet and the iPhone existed when our nation was being born.  Jefferson and Franklin were known to do a bit of "fooling around", and Washington slept in more places than the worst narcoleptic (though my wife insists he didn't get much sleeping in: hence his title as "father" of our country).  I am well aware that there are groups and individuals who are trying to address the real needs of the nation with real solutions.  Even they get hung up sometimes on ideology and end up roadblocking other groups and individuals who are trying to do the same things for the same people.  For too many, it seems to be "my way or the highway" instead of working together for compromises that might at least move things in the right direction.  But Democrats and Republicans continue to play the political games that keep Washington and the pundits spinning their wheels and getting nowhere.  Planned Parenthood and the Catholic Church spend more of their time and money and energy lambasting each other than they do offering constructive assistance to those they profess to serve. 

Our problems are not insurmountable.  They are just likely to perdure a lot longer than would be necessary if we realized that, as Harry Stack Sullivan said, "at base we are more alike than otherwise."  It seems more important to too many to play up the differences, while insisting that I am number one!

Comment by Karriem Holman on June 14, 2011 at 4:43pm

While I share your concern that "all is falling apart around us", there are some people who have answers to the problems we are facing, and there are organizations, more importantly, that are focused 100% on addressing some of these problems going forward.

Of course it does not help that a prominent Democratic congressman, with some great ideas for solving the health care crisis in our country, by the way, is in need of some serious mental health assistance and counseling himself.  It's a needless distraction from the very serious debate about where this country in going in terms of long term domestic spending on items like job creation, health care, infrastructure, defense and education.  Hopwever, I wouldn't lose sleep over a married man sexting 17 year olds and random college coeds.

The Republican Caucus in the House, lead by Crying John Boehner and Paul Ryan, would like to cut spending and install fundamental budget restraints that would do further harm to our already fragile economy by stifling job creation hindering critical external investments that really bring about job creation.  The President and Democrats would like to take a more measured approach to deficit reduction, by allowing an increase on the debt ceiling to allow some of the economic actions taken to actually work in terms of job creation, and maintaining critical programs like Medicare.

The notion that this inevitable debate is nonsensical is way off the mark.  Indeed, if it doesn't occur prior to the 2012 Presidential Election and the wrong people win it, you are looking at the end of the American middle class as we know it, and that includes a decimation of Medicare and the stimulus package that is finally beginning to pay off.  So Tea Party reactionism and isolationism, or progressive, active proposals and policies from a Democratic president who is actually working on delivering what he promised. 

Which side are you on?

Comment by Urban Universe Productions on June 13, 2011 at 9:09pm

Very True...the difference was the public did not hear about every minor  lapse in judgement... as little as 30 or so years ago there were three differences in the media and reporting of the news; 1) the news media would think twice about exposing a politicians affairs to be "patriotic" (not that this is bad, I'm all for freedom of the press and exposing corruption where ever it is as long as it's "fair and balanced") and 2) We did not have networks who's agenda's were run by political parties, and 3) We did not have paid "news" releases from companies that masquerade as real news... these days people think TMZ and Fox are real news...

 

We need more media literacy...

Comment by Joe Sexton on June 12, 2011 at 8:51pm

I think I have the answer to one of your quandaries, UUP: sleazy politicians have been around a lot longer than bad TV.  Jefferson, for one, wouldn't have known what TV was if it hit him in the face.  But he did like those slave girls!

Comment by Urban Universe Productions on June 12, 2011 at 8:18pm

Well Joe, I think you have a point...pop culture is eating itself to death. You hit so many points I could rant on I'm not sure where to start. So I'll start with the industry I know best...The Television industry. Although can't understand America's obsession with reality shows, I can understand where it began. Reality shows gained a foothold in popularity after the writers strike in 2007-2008 when the studios needed ways to fill the void left when they no longer had anyone to write their series-based programming. Reality show "writers" were not members of the Writer's Guild of America in any significant numbers at that time. After the strike most networks retaliated by flooding the airwaves with cheap non unionized programming they can control... But the key word was it was CHEAP. We ate it up hook line and sinker... Now garbage TV rules and we love it...and the news about our politicians has started to resemble the reality TV shows we love... go figure...its a chicken and egg conundrum... I'm not quite sure which came first, bad TV or sleezy politicians... but we eat it up either way so I'm not sure what the answer is...or if there is a answer.