What can one make of the American political process and how we choose who will be the most powerful person in the world?

::::::::

     The messiah business sweeping across the land understandably irritates many, as do the platitudes and the lack of political integrity and courage not uncommon among our liberal friends, and which the putative "opposition" Democrat Congress folk appear constitutionally devoid of.  

     Prior to the election, in reaction to my voiced uncertainty that we had the caliber of slate sorely needed to repair the damages Bushco would leave in its incompetent and treacherous wake, my friends' frequent final response would be something like  "...we need to take the hand we're dealt."  Of course this was simply a variation of the "lesser-devil" proposition that so-called liberals have been sucking up all their lives.  One wonders what utility idealism can ever serve in the American body politic, and whatever happened to the proposition we must seek "the best and the brightest."  Replaced perhaps by the proposition that anything is better than McCain-Pallin?  Now there's a lofty standard!   

     It is quite clear that decent governance in our country's history and peace in the world after countless millennia was never and will not be delivered by the lesser-devils.   There are actually two possible courses that offer better promise:  (1) Stop jumping up and down in partisan frenzy for lesser-devils and insist upon champions, or (2) deliver our demands for decent governance by direct and massive confrontation of whatever variety of devils are misgoverning our nation at the time.    

     There is of course another (3) choice -- of mixed historical results, but usually for the better -- and that is revolution--and lest we shrink in horror at the suggestion --the very means by which our nation was born in the womb of our Constitution (May its memory be blessed!)    

     Going through the numbers:  will the electorate ever rise above the lesser-devil mentality?  Very, very doubtful indeed; apparently it's just too effortlessly convenient and unintellectually tempting to resist.  Will the citizens participate in direct massive confrontation?  Also quite unlikely considering that the so-called peace-movement has been "protesting" the Iraq disgrace in insufficient mass for six years (!) but has never mustered the integrity and courage to suffer the inherent inconvenience, discomforts and risks to mass at the Capitol in numbers and endurance that cannot be denied.    

     Being less than optimistic that the majority of the electorate can ever ascend to alternative Number 1, and possessing yet some patience prior to the quite possible bloodshed of Number 3, I incline toward alternative Number 2.  The problem here, of course, is the requirement for massive, i.e. a number in excess of a million, and those million(s) would need to stay in confrontation at the seat of power (weeks? months?) until they earned the sympathy and the support of the national and world communities for their decent and rightful cause--which in turn would encourage the incumbent political cowards and lesser-devils finally to do the right thing rather than to face massive unpopularity and the political perils such would suggest.   

     Perhaps "massive" will take more time.  Perhaps things will need to get even worse.  In a way, such a prospect is encouraging, the prospect that the catalyst for change may require just a bit more time, a bit more political abuse of the electorate to enable it to yeast up to gain the necessary active support to deliver America from the grasp of the lesser-devils and their greed and war mongering masters.   

     More Abuse plus more Time equals return of the Bill of Rights--and dare we imagine even Peace?   Although difficult to assess precisely how much of the Abuse and Time factors will be required to activate the equation, we can with some confidence rely upon more of each, and thereby conclude that perhaps indeed there may be some reason to hope.   

     Or perhaps not.

Authors Bio:
Rafe Pilgrim, after "a life largely wasted on hard honest work," found himself a jungle of turkey oak, scrub pine and giant palmettos up a dirt road running east of Crystal River, Florida, which neither school busses nor the U.S. Postal Service dare to assay. Sharing a house of his own design with Spanky the cat, Darla a pit bull, and a foundling of mysterious breed named Alfalfa -- all collectively known as Our Gang -- he spends his time "productively: writing poetry, working for peace, and gazing at the sky."


Details:


Central High School of Philadelphia, University of Maryland, Syracuse University, University of Maine, Ursinus College, Air Force Intelligence (Washington D.C., Germany), Ford Motor Company, Philco-Ford Corporation, Eighth Day Gallery, Phi Kappa Phi, Romey Everdell Award for Journalism,(1988), Hole in one (1998), and struggling to find America ever since 2000.