"The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice."

[kpete]

Late Night Thoughts
"The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice."
by BooMan
Fri Dec 4th, 2009 at 11:22:36 PM EST

..............

Once you learn to give up on almost all your heroes and all the people you think might change things for the better, you'll overcome your cynicism. You'll realize that you were wrong to think so highly of most of these people but that your instincts were right about who you should be pulling for. Total immersion in American politics will ween you of your idealism, but if you've watched what happens to politicians once they've been in Washington DC for a while this should come as no surprise to you. Yet, once you've lost that youthful and innocent burst of enthusiasm and you've digested your disappointment, you'll get to another level where you begin to understand how progress actually occurs within this system (and how it can be thwarted).

And heroes will begin to emerge again. Heroes like Henry Waxman who fought valiantly for decades against Big Tobacco, or John Dingell who has introduced a universal health care bill every year for over half a century. If you look at them too closely you'll see some unsightly warts. Waxman voted to authorize the war in Iraq and Dingell has been an opponent of environmental regulations. But the real heroes in Washington are the ones that keep up the fight, year after year, until they finally begin to deliver. They learn to be patient and take their progress piecemeal. They cut deals that infuriate their biggest supporters. But they keep moving the ball down the field.

If you think about it, this is how all the great reformers have accomplished their goals. It was true of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., and it's true of the people that have won rights for women and gays. If you live in the moment, you'll find good reason to hate these people. But if you take the long view, things are much less hopeless than they seem.

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2009/12/4/232236/020

(kpete-heres hoping booman is right)

[treestar]

1. We don't need to make heroes out of anybody

It is ourselves, ultimately. We pick these representatives. They are not often corrupt. The system doesn't promote sudden extreme changes. It was set up to promote stability and everything about it makes it hard to change things.

The main change we have now is attitude. We no longer have that Republicans attitude that is against diplomacy and wants to use the military to push others around and stretch the laws to give the executive as much power as possible. Cheney is gone and it is to our credit we kicked the bastards out before it got worse.

[ashling]

2. things are much less hopeless than they seem.

that pretty well says it ... in other words, though it looks pretty bad out there, there is less there than meets the eye

[JohnnyLib2]

3. I like the thoughts. Many applied them to Sen. Kennedy.

Rec.

[AspenRose]

4. Very good response on the site

Whoever wrote it, I tip my hat.


Random rules for observing politics:

1. Warts have a tendency to appear on issues closest to home; e.g. Connecticut politicians are too close to the insurance industry, Michigan politicians to the auto industry, New York politicians to the finance industry etc. This is not a lovable trait, but it is understandable.

2. There are two permanent sets of standards in the corporate media, a very high one for liberals, Democrats and do-gooders, and a very low one for right-wingers, Republicans and money-grubbing slugs. Stop being surprised and outraged by it, accept it and stop responding to it so frequently.

3. Congress is middle school with consequences, complete with cliques, kewl kids, Goths who hate everything, smooth operators, out-of-control sexual urges, huge but easily deflated egos, and adolescents who think they have power.

4. American political coalitions come and go, but the Union vs. the Confederacy exists and persists as the model on which all coalitions are built or must work around.

5. Charisma in a politician is much more important than ideology. Reagan and Obama are both good examples of this. I never personally experienced the charisma either one was said to possess, but I observed their effects, and they are real and important.

6. Media stories, polling, decorum, legislation, and inside baseball are given much too much importance by politicians, especially Democrats. Republican operators know this. Combined with item 2., it is why David Vitter is in the Senate and Elliot Spitzer is in Siberia. The vast preponderance of voters begin to pay attention to politics after Labor Day of election years.

7. To paraphrase George Carlin: the average person is not smart, and half of them are dumber than that. Politicians are people. Draw your own conclusions.

8. Evil exists, but you should never ascribe to evil that which can be reasonably explained by ignorance, stupidity and random chance.

[Marr]

5. A happy thought, but it just isn't true.

It may seem that way from our particular vantage point, looking at European monarchies giving way to more egalitarian governments, and civil rights for certain previously disenfranchised groups-- but I don't think it's actually true. It's a "glass is half full" view of the present moment; a classic piece of optimist's selective vision. That's all.

Society's moral state is a constant tug of war between have's and have-not's. The winner is the side who's willing to go further than the other, and that's it. The fact is that these peaceful icons like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ghandi never would've seen an ounce of their agendas met if not for others with the same agenda, urging less agreeable means of achieving them.

This sentiment-- 'be patient, the world will improve in time'-- is eerily similar to the old Catholic Churches' assurances that you need only remain passive, and eternity would be yours in the afterlife.

[Odin2005]

6. One of my favorite MLK quotes!

Recommended!

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. It has taken more than 4 decades, with the NAZIS, Justice

even continues after they bury the victims of a moral injustices.

This nation has a lot to answer for
the planet is Waiting...........