Two weeks, two thoughts
1. Duels-r-us.com
This week, I planned to channel Howard Beale from the movie Network and do two straight-forward “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore” rants - one for each party’s candidate and leadership. But like Howard Beale, “I really don't know any other way to say it other than I just ran out of bullshit.”
The Democratic and Republican leadership lost respect for each other long ago. Each is so caught up their petty zero-sum games that they’ve lost sight of the fact we elect them to work together and solve problems. But without that respect, neither side will listen to each other, nor even try to communicate their message to their opponents. In short, it has become an affair of honor instead of an affair of state.
That being the case, I propose a law to legalize dueling among Congresscritters and Senators. After all, Congress has a long history of excluding itself from regulatory legislation, so what’s one more measly exception? The threat of a duel might, just might, make them think about what they write, say or tweet. And should duels actually take place, well, not only could the U.S. sell broadcast rights, but we’d have a real chance of eliminating some of the more pigheaded incumbents.
Okay, I guess I wasn’t quite out of bullshit after all.
2. The undercards
If you are reading this, it’s about 99% certain that either you’ve decided your Presidential vote, or you live in a state that isn’t “in play” and your vote isn’t really going to matter. So I recommend you spend the next two weeks looking to the other races and issues you’ll be voting on.
I wish the chances were good that you’ll be voting in a competitive Congressional race. I will be; thanks in part to his wife’s felony conviction the incumbent Democrat is facing a real challenge from a pro-choice, openly-gay Republican. The Massachusetts Senate race is also quite competitive, since Elizabeth Warren isn’t running nearly as horrible a campaign against Scott Brown as Martha Coakley did in 2010. But with all of the focus on the presidential race, nationwide it looks like it’s going to be yet another very good year for congressional incumbents to get re-elected. So before voting, remember that we do have the power to fire our senators and representatives for doing a lousy job, and to keep firing them until we find people who are willing to listen and compromise for the general good.
But don't stop at that level. In reality, the governmental decisions which impact most people’s day-to-day lives are made by state legislators, city officials, school boards and similar local governmental bodies. It’s often a lot harder to find good information about such candidates. Take the effort, please.