blindness?

Hi Folks,

    I remember the days after the attack on the World Trade Center Towers in New York with clarity.  There were American flags clutched in a great majority of peoples hands, and the nation was as united and as unitedly aghast as I have ever seen in my life...at the destruction that evil minds had perpetrated upon our nation.  The United States of America, like few other times in it's short existence in history, was united in an emotional moment.  There were no fence-sitters in the weeks following the destruction of buildings, ...and monuments, ...and lives. 

     We swore as a nation, in the aftermath...that we would NEVER forget.  Yet today, our nation is more divided than ever before.

     There are pretty arguments that say forgetting is a good thing, and necessary for the healing of our nation.  I disagree, respectfully, with that opinion.  I think we can heal from the ghastly wounds inflicted upon our national psyche through triumph, and victory, not through forgetting.  I thank God that we had a president that COULD NOT forget the senseless loss of lives and property on that evil day.  There are a great many people in America that will have a knee-jerk reaction to the audacity of me writing a kind word about President George Bush.  I could write paragraphs of kind words about that man, if I chose to do so...he is truly a remarkable person.  But that's not what this little note is about...

     This little note is about the blindness that has overtaken our nation.  We have devolved into a conglomeration of ignorant "rights" and "lefts".  Some will blame the "right wing media", and others may blame the "left-leaning liberal press"...but I feel that the blame is upon each of us that has allowed ourselves to be led down the primrose path...by the nose.  The press, and the media, are simple reflections of our national need for clarity.  Our nation has left its adolescent opinions and actions of the past and now stands upon the brink of adulthood on a global scale.  It is a scary time in the life of a person, or a nation, when one steps forth as a thinking entity...an adult (so to speak).  Adulthood is a time when important issues take on hues of meaning and can no longer be resolved by a quick action, or a thoughtless word.  Issues which we once thought were simple have acquired shades of grey, and brown, and depths of complication we had never thought possible when we were children, scuffling on the playyards of America.  When this complexity of global issues assails our senses it is no wonder that many of us regress back to simplistic notions and fall for those 30 second sound bytes that keep being pushed at us, over our air waves.

     We need help to comprehend what our best choices are, as a nation...in the world.  It is no wonder that a great many of our citizens have taken the easy path of following the simplistic logic of 30 second sound bytes, spewed forth by two great political machines. 

      Make no mistake, there ARE two great political machines at work in OUR nation.  I believe that they are our nations greatest enemy, at this moment in time.  Where are the thoughtful men and women in America, who make up their own minds about complex issues and band together for the greater good of our nation, and our world?  They are here, in our neighborhoods.  They live next door to us, and work side by side with us.  They are us...given the chance.

    I believe that the time has come in America for a third party to lead the way into the bright future which is our national birth-right.  I like a lot about the Democratic party, and I like a lot about the Republican party.  However, I dislike the way that both of these parties wink and nod at what suckers the American people are.  I could find myself aligning with a philosophy of political intent.  I am very tired, oh so very tired of having the "issue of the moment" thrust at me as though it were THE deciding factor in an election year.  Where are the men and women of vision in the American political system?  Is Sarah Palin the best we can offer up, and if so...then vote for her!  Ms. Palin is quite charming, and not nearly as naive as she is being portrayed. 

     I think it is time to form a viable third party in America...maybe we should call it the pragmatist party, (our symbol could be duct tape).  The Tea Party lost its way amongst the political forces arrayed against it...where is the resolve of thoughtful, intelligent, ethical men and women in America?

Richard