Politics of Change and Focus

Politics is a very dirty word and not just figuratively any more. We have all seen the polls out there that show that Republicans and conservatives are the favorite darlings in Americana and in the state of Ohio where I live. Just a little over a year ago the landscape looked vastly different and liberals, progressives and Democrats (myself included in this "mix") were celebrating the gains in the U.s. Senate and House and President’s historic election as this country’s first non white President. In Ohio seats were gained that shifted control of the house to a more progressive view. There was talk of HB 176 in Ohio which provides protections to those in the LGBT community against discrimination at work, in loans, in housing and public accommodations. At the national level excitement grew that we could realistically see serious reform to a health care system which is designed not to take care of people but to see that insurance companies makes billions of dollars. The largest turnout ever for NCTE’s lobby days occurred last spring on the belief that ENDA legislation was a real possibility. DADT could become history and we even thought we might see a few wins on the issue of same gender unions in some states although it was not going to be Ohio due to George W. Bush’s campaign team putting a constitutional issue on the ballot in 2004 so he could win re-election. All in all, it looked like some real progress for social justice and reform might actually be accomplished- something that has not happened since the 1960’s.

However, when President Obama entered office last January the winds of force began to change and change quickly. There are several factors for this phenomenon-not the least of which is the fact he is black and the boys with the white privilege began to feel threatened by the fact the President was not among “their crowd”. Secondly, the economy- thanks largely to the ineptitude and design of his predecessor, President Obama entered office with the fragile economy at its lowest point in a very long time and a bank crises and faltering stock market to boot. The Republicans, who under “W’ took the surplus that Clinton had left and spent it and then some to the tune of 6 million dollars then tried to blame it all on the “liberal Democrats” as they always sing that tune. When Obama added one million more through the stimulus bill all of a sudden he is the coming of the Antichrist! Tea baggers and religious right wing extremists bolstered by their win on Prop 8 and other states began chomping at the bit to take him apart. Since then the polls for Obama and Democrats at the national level as well as state level began spiraling into the abyss and with their downfall came any hope of passing progressive legislation or correcting a healthcare mess that leaves forty million people uninsured. Healthcare, my friends, is not a luxury – it is a necessity of life to sustain one’s self. The economy is sluggishly improving but no one expected it to turn around over night- not with the biggest downfall since nearly the great depression. Bottom line is that many people have no jobs, no healthcare and no rights. This is particularly important to those of us in the LGBT community who are swimming at the bottom of the cesspool. It is downright depressing and I am not very hopeful.

Can Obama and the Dems salvage the situation? Possibly but it would take a near miracle. I mean let’s face it, a beefcake boy from the Republicans wins the seat that six months ago was held in Massachusetts by one of the most progressive and liberal U.S. Senators in history for the past forty years! A year ago that would have been laughed at if anyone even suggested it. Obama must change his direction if he has any chance of minimizing the damage this fall across the country. Here is what I would do to try and salvage the mess.

First of all, embrace the progressives and liberals who helped get you elected in the first place Mr. President. Unless you energize this base the Dems stand no real chance of averting disaster.
Second, pack up all the troops in the Middle East and come home. We have wasted billions of dollars of taxpayer money engaged in two wars we cannot win in countries with culture we cannot understand. Divert the troops to two main purposes such as helping the nation and countries such as Haiti rebuild from disasters. The balance of the forces should be used to protect our borders from threats to our country by people who misuse Islam as a front to afflict hatred and terror on the people of this country. The money we have spent fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past nine years could have financed the finest healthcare imaginable for every citizen of this nation.

Third – fire your advisers and some of your staff Mr. President. These people have aided in the financial mess this country is in and they are also giving you so much bad advice
Fourth- stand up fiercely to the opposition and show leadership.
Fifth- the economy is on everyone’s mind and is the only way you can get back in the public’s good graces so come after it and put in an aggressive policy that includes not just stimulus money but tax breaks and incentives. Reward business which expand, those that start and those that hire Americans and punish the cheaters and those that shift jobs overseas. Create opportunities and incentives for starting businesses in deeply economic depressed areas. Think outside the box and hammer the opposition if they fail to step up to the plate and contribute.

Next- get the healthcare reform bill through Congress by simplifying it. Reform things like pre-existing exclusions and insist on public option for the forty million Americans without any healthcare. Healthcare is not a luxury but a necessity. The public option would bring the carriers more in line and provide option for those unable to procure insurance through private means. Keep the plan simple and focused on prevention as well.

Finally, pass ENDA. Civil rights are just that- ensuring that all people are judged by their work and character and not who they once were anatomically or who they sleep with or wish to be with as a partner. The same was true for gender and color and race and age and disability and everything which has come before. Basic rights cost the government little out of the treasury. Every citizen is entitled to them – period – end of issue! If people want to discriminate in who they let come into their church or synagogue or masque so be it but every citizen is to be free of discrimination in necessities like a place to sleep and eat and a job to pay for the basic necessities of life. Get out there and explain it in terms of civil rights.

There you have it Mr. President- keep it focused and simple -push and explain and don’t wait to do something until it is too late. Show the fight and spirit you showed in running for office and promising change. Demonstrate leadership and vision and reassure Americans. It’s what politics is really all about and not the system of stalemate and posturing that only gets us further in the whole in this country!

Politics is the Master Science (NEW)

Well over the past several months I have commented on topics in my blog such as my transition, religion or better yet religious intolerance and even sex or the lack thereof. This week I would love to talk about politics! I want to do so primarily because of the uniqueness of the political scene in 2008 with a Democratic Party caught up in a battle for its standard bearer it has not seen in decades and the Republicans soon to nominate someone no one thought it would nominate when all this process began last year and one who does not fit the mold of the party’s standard cookie cutter mold of the past twenty years. This is the most interesting election I can remember since the one I cannot remember between Kennedy and Nixon but studied in school many times. See- first of all I was a political science major in college and studied government, politics, political systems and law because of its fascination to me. Secondly, I remember even as a child in 1968 sitting in front of TV with my map coloring in who won what state between Nixon and Humphrey and watching the disgust on my father’s face as he saw that old Tricky Dick was going to win the Presidency.

I remember back in college watching some of my friends and even my wife studying these gigantic texts filled with all the science any biology or chemistry major could handle including such fun courses as PE Chem, microbiology and organic Chemistry while I whizzed through my courses filling my blue books with all sort of rhetoric and just to get more of I even took up a minor in Philosophy. They would always talk about how much prestige and work was involved in their scientific majors but I always responded with a quote from one of my favorite political philosophers- Aristotle who said “Politics is the Master Science” And by God, he was right. For politics, government and law controls so much of our lives and in reality determines what we can study at all if you think about it. Hell sometimes they even decide what can be taught in a science course or what must be taught in a science course.

This election in 2008 is stunning. Hilary Clinton and Barak Oboma are battling to the floors of the convention back room. Truly this may be the first Convention in many decades where the nominee will not be know until all the back door, smoke- filled room politics and schemes go on at the Convention and whoever wins this costly and bloody battle will have some cleaning up to do before the General Election comes around. I like Obama in that I think he is a very intelligent man who speaks well and is trying to bring about change to a system he sees as needing desperately to be fixed. He reminds me in some ways of a young Jack Kennedy who spoke with passion and youthfulness and who by doing so, and by having his Daddy buy off the Chicago political machine won an election over our boy Richard “I am not a crook” Nixon. I think it is clear from my posts to other’s blogs on the subject I despise Hilary Clinton and I think she would make a horrible President and it’s a shame because I think highly of woman and feel I am one myself but she is the wrong person to break the gender barrier for the U.S. Presidency. Unfortunately, I think she has enough political connections from days past to make sure she squeezes the nomination from Obama.

Assuming she does, it will make my choice very easy and the old party of the elephant will garner my vote once again. Why? Because here’s a little know secret about me. I am a registered Republican. Now before you go and tar and feather me for such disclosure hear me out. I joined the Grand Old Party at a time when I had seen the Democrats lead us through a decade of an ugly war not unlike the one we have now in Iraq thanks to a President who should be thrown out of the GOP for reasons of utter stupidity. I saw the Republicans come in and get us out of Vietnam and then open relations with China, started the peace process in the Middle East and Détente with the Russians. In the 40’s and 50’s and 60 and even the early 70’s the party of the GOP was not the ideologues they became since 1980. It was the party of Eisenhower, Ford, Rockefeller, John Anderson and Howard Baker. I am more of a libertarian in that I am more conservative on government spending and taxes and the development of economic growth and business while being what most would call a liberal on social issues such as abortion, gay rights, and of course without saying, the rights of transgendered people. I watched my party turn into an ugly monster since 1980 of hate filled extremists who are nothing more than cowardly obeying the demands of the religious right. I screamed for years for these idiots to get the hell out before they ruined the GOP. Now for the first time in 40 years the GOP is going to nominate someone the right wing does not like and those extreme right wing fanatics are upset and threatening to bolt the Party and take their votes elsewhere. See it was OK when they came to moderates in the party like me for years and told me to hold my breath and vote for the Party’s candidate despite the fact he would cast me into hell if he actually knew who I really was. I did so several times but there were times I voted Democratic or Independent as well. Now when the party finally nominates a maverick free thinking moderate and the moderates come to the Conservatives for the first time since 1980 and ask that they support the Party’s candidate despite their objections they go scurrying off like a bunch of pouting children! I hope McCain not ignores them but adds to insult to injury and nominates someone like Giuliani as his running mate just to piss off the right wing extremists even more. There are some, including me who actually suspect he is transgendered. How cool would that be if we can get him to come out!

I only can hope that Barak can pull it off and win the Democratic nomination so that I am faced with a very tough and difficult choice in the fall and one in which I am truly not sure how I will vote at all. However, at least it would be one election in which, for the first time, I will not feel so bad either way as I have done so in these so many past elections. To be honest, after I have voted these many long years, I always felt I needed to go home and bathe to wash off the ugliness and stench of many of the choices I was given. Obama and McCain would avoid that stench removing bath for me for sure. I hope 2008 is vastly different for me but either way this has been a fascinating election year for me and one I am grateful for as well. For politics is the master science my good friends!