Full circle

       In the election year part of the political cycle I am reminded of the way history moves in circles.  There is a vicious cycle where one party is elected, halfway through they start to lose support, the other party takes over the Senate, House, or both.  Then that party loses the presidency.  Wash, rinse, repeat.  This may be a four year cycle, it may be 8, or longer, but it always repeats, just with the opposite party in control next time.
       Things always come full circle.  That is the heart of the problem isn't it.  Combine simple geometry with basic root cause analysis, and even a brain-damaged chimp will shortly realize that moving in circles is not progress.  As long as we continue the vicious cycle, as long as things come full circle, we cannot progress.  Progress, you see, is a line.  Not an arc, not a sine wave, not a line segment and not a tangent.  It is a line that stretches from before history, to beyond it.
       "So", I hear yo asking, "what can we do to fix this?"  Well it is simple.  Most things are, we just  complicate them as an excuse as to why we refuse to do them.  First: admit the parties currently in power do not represent Joe six-pack.  They also don't represent Joe dime-bag, or Joe Magnum-of-Champagne.  This is more than a failure of the media, the public, and the two party system.
       Also, I hate use of the term two-party system.  It comes from the two major parties, of course.  But more so; in global politics the western world is the first world.  The soviet bloc was the second world.  The two had modernity.  The "Third world" nations were those that refused to ally with either, and thus were more denied modernity.
       The implication of referring to another group as a "third party" is that they are inferior.  Funny, since normally they have the better ideas, and more honest candidates.  Also, as long as we have brought math into the picture, count the number of people running for president on your ballot when you are voting.  WAAAAYYYYYY more than three, right?
       Back to the fixing it part.  We need more people to get involved.  Theodore Roosevelt put it best.  "A vote is like a rifle.  It's usefulness depends upon the character of the user"  You can't fix it by shouting slogans, picketing, or backing someone who represents a single issue you believe in.  Nothing is solved by relying on talking points.  The world of sound-byte debating is killing real political discussion.  This is more than just bringing civility back to political debate, it is approaching things from the perspective of listening.
       Civility is not interrupting.  Civility is not yelling.  These are things that your parents should have pounded through your thick skull.  These are things that are the basics of society.
       Listening however, is accepting that the other side may have a point, and giving another point of view a chance before condemning it.  It involves thinking.  Listening and thinking are what are missing from the American political scene.  Two tenets of leadership.  All we are left with is action.  Action without thought or knowledge is at best wasteful, at worst harmful, and always leads you back where you started.  A point we arrive at every election year.  (back to top).