Wow! It's Been a Long Time and Much Has Happened

Too many months have gone by without a post. I have moved from Louisiana to Texas. I must say I highly recommend Texas, so far. Food shopping is a joy here! Moderation in all, of course, but I am a foodie and I love my H-E-B!

What a great surprise it was for me to discover this group. About two months ago I was sitting at the compute while my friend Bob was watching C-Span. The program was some kind of panel, and it caught my attention after awhile. Mark McKinnon was a panelist and his comments caught my attention. I didn't know anything at all about Mark, but I tossed his name into Google and pulled up the Wiki page on him. (Yes, I know, but we all do go to Wiki first anyway, don't we?) One thing let to another and I found myself on the No Labels page. I was so excited! There was a group for people like me! I had been feeling so detached from the country with the extremists taking control and drowning out sane perspectives, and yet, there was hope. I signed up right away and and a few of my friends, who were feeling as alienated as I had been, joined up too. The official launch of the group was held in NYC (I love that place!) last Monday, and the extremists are going wild!! Righties are labeling us Lefties; Lefties are calling us righties. We are just where we belong!! When both extremes try to shoot you down, you know you're doing something right.

An Anti-corruption President

I have to continue with the theme of President Hayes because I discovered a very interesting factoid about him that I think is worth sharing. I do truly respect this man.

During his term of office, he issued an executive order forbidding federal office holders from taking part in party politics and receiving party contributions. Can you imagine how an order like that would change the face of political business as usual in our current climate? Rutherford B. Hayes was man of wisdom. It's unfortunate that his order was later reversed by some other, less principled president.

He Serves His Party Best Who Serves His Country Best

I was searching the web for thoughts regarding moderation. I find, oddly enough, that many people consider moderation to be evidence of weakness rather than a virtuous ideal. I did find, though, a quote that gave me reason to reflect on our current political situation. The quote follows.

We are in a period when old questions are settled and the new are not yet brought forward. Extreme party action, if continued in such a time, would ruin the party. Moderation is its only chance. The party out of power gains by all partisan conduct of those in power. ~Rutherford B. Hayes

Now, I don't know about you, but I didn't know too much about President Hayes, so I decided to learn something about him. As it turns out, controversy surrounded his presidency. He followed President Grant and that would have been a challenge for anyone. Post Civil war, and following Grant, there was still much healing necessary for our country. Hayes seems to have been a good and decent man who was determined to address the civil rights of blacks. Well, he did try, but with far less success than he would have liked. In fact, because of the election controvery surrounding him, he pulled the federal troops out of the South and ended Reconstruction to appease the Southern Democrats, effectively leaving the black population at risk. He vetoed a few bills that attempted to limit the civil rights of black Americans, and held out until he was presented a bill that his conscience could abide. He vetoed a bill that was trying to limit Chinese immigration to this country and he signed into law a bill that allowed women lawyers to argue cases before the Supreme Court. The more I read about him, the more I respect him. His most famous quote, is

He serves his party best who serves his country best. ~RBH

I think this a thoughtful and thought provoking statement. In terms of our present political climate where extremists are distorting out nation by pulling it apart from both extremes, we need to ask, who serves our country best? Certainly not those who are making the most noise and fighting on the seesaw for control. Those individuals and groups care nothing for the country. They care for themselves alone.

Faraway, So Close!

It's hard to imagine, but many of us have become too lazy to think. Wim Wenders made a film years ago, Faraway, So Close!, a sequel to his Wings of Desire. One of the critical themes of the movie was that we have become absorbers of the image rather than participants in it. What does that mean? Well, for Wenders, it is clear that he was trying to challenge us to do more than simply absorb what comes to us via the television and film in general. To become active participants in the images we see on the screen means to reflect on what the language of the moving images speaks. Rather than just being entertained, we might digest the videos and contemplate our societies and our participation within them from the perspective of the film. In other words, rather than inhaling your dinner, chew the flavor out of it and savor each morsel.

It may be challenging to think on a philosophical level, but what happens to a society that can not think philosophically? That is something well worth contemplating in this age.

The Small Lens Paints a Wide Angle

When I was a young woman newly living and working in New York City, I had reason to be walking by the United Nations. There was a small group, maybe ten or twenty strong, holding placards and protesting some now, to me, unremembered injustice. Eyewitness News was there documenting the complaint. Of course, with TV cameras in view, a small crowd of the curious and those who can't resist the opportunity to be filmed had gathered as well.

Later that evening, watching the news, I was surprised to see film of the tiny protest. On the TV, though, it looked as if there had been a large gathering of concerned people. I recognized a few of the onlookers' faces in the back of the group and realized that the way a camera is focused determines how the image is perceived. I learned an important and valuable lesson that day: there is illusion in all that we see on TV.

Question everything. Frequently.

Everything in Moderation

We have arrived at the point where our extremes are controlling and our moderates are few. It is not a question of liberal and conservative anymore, for neither can claim to be better for the country than the other, it is a question of extremists eliminating moderates. The farther apart the two extremes grow, the more moderates we need to hear from. However, the father apart the two extremes grow, fewer moderates remain and the greater is the divide they need to negotiate.

My goal is to speak to and for people who know that wisdom lives in moderation and, perhaps, stimulate those who are newly converted extremists into rethinking the path they find themselves on.