Folks, you will have to bear with me as the election heats up toward the end. I must blog about politics, inspite of the fact that my creative partner Doc withdrew from the race. I am afraid he means from the race of life. The photo of him reminds me of one you might put on a memorial service program. This photo is going to make me cry when he is gone.
But enough of that. Here is my political blog I posted in my other blog on the Arizona Republic blog site.
AZ Republic appears to second guess support of McCain-Palin ticket
The editorial page columnists this morning bemoaned the campaign of McCain and Palin as sunk to a new low in a display of conservative power. Such a pessimistic view of McCain's political strategy seems premature. Wait until the election is over I say. I think the main thrust of people who go to the polls toward the end will tell us what this election has been all about more than anything. The early voters are generally going to be eager for change. Those who vote last are going to be pondering the complexities right up until they mark that ballot.
Let us rememember in 1973 the country was forced to take a giant swing to the left by the actions of the Supreme Court, and conservatives have been trying to figure out how to swing it back ever since. In this swing to the left the relatively new working and voting women were shanghaiid by leftist thinkers. I have just been reading a book about Emma Goldman, a Jewish woman, who came from Russia to become the first famous woman anarchist. Reading her history of abuse by male figures, including her father and husband as well as authority figures in power, I can understand why she was tempted by this philosophy. I remember being bossed around by so many male figures of authority that anarchist was a sweet word to me, too, at one time. Until the anarchists showed they meant business with violence, as Emma did with a bomb, and then I backed off. I thought, no, I can't be an anarchist, and in 1973 the violence of the legalized abortion solution turned me off then, too. I thought no, I can't be pro choice.
McCain is contending with a liberal press that is finding extreme violence in everything he or his running mate say or do about war while they are overlooking the violence in their own philosophies, namely pro choice. I am against war as too violent in most cases. I concede that the attack on the twin towers was so savage that retaliation was human, but there was still too much of a warrior in our President and quite possibly in McCain to contain our war actions to what we could afford without breaking the country.
So over zealous warriors have contributed to the day of financial reckoning we are experiencing, but wait a minute. I have been uneasy for years with many presidents who exhorted the public to get out there and spend so our economy would be 'healthy.' Now suddenly we are faced with the realization that we have embraced the philosophy of spending until it got us into serious trouble. I have certainly done my part in trying to buy enough stuff to stave off a crash. My closet is full of clothes. I purchased at least 20 pairs of shoes, where I used to get by with 2 or 3 pairs. Every senior I know has filled up their apartments with geegaws from the dollar stores, stuff from the thrift stores, and even new stuff from the retail stores they could ill afford. I have tried to keep Mervyns from growing broke even though it is still is. Family members borrowed money on their equity in their houses until they could no longer work hard enough to pay the mortgage. They were getting old and lost their jobs and now they might lose the house. They are only a mortgage payment away from foreclosure. They claim they were told to do this as well to keep the economy 'heatlhy.'
So now hundreds are broke or severely hurting and they tend to blame whoever is in office. We are fretting about Palin's new wardrobe costing $150,000 and an old lady at the bus stop told me the other day that Cindy McCain paid $350,000 dollars for one dress! I saw this infamous dress in the paper. We did not care if she was a multi-millionairess she was surely not helping her husband convince people he is frugal minded enough to win this election. Conservative talk show hosts like Limbaugh were ranting and raving about Michelle Obama buying lobster and Iranian caviar when the country is hurting so badly, and that story turned out to be false. I am wondering what she did order from room service, if anything, and just how much it cost. We surely don't expect her to quit eating, do we? Or go to a bread and water diet.
So we have been told by past presidents to do a lot of foolish things that now look as though they were a sure recipe for disaster. In fact, I hear this is a tsunami of a financial crash. I still say we must be patient until the votes are all in and counted, and then we can more accurately analyze just what happened. Let us not paint such a dark picture before we have reason. McCain and Palin might have a respectable showing of support after all, one we can build on.
