How America Was Lost
Once upon a time, the death of a Supreme Court justice wouldn’t have brought America to the edge of constitutional crisis. But that was a different country, with a very different Republican Party. In today’s America, with today’s G.O.P., the passing of Antonin Scalia has opened the doors to chaos.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/15/opinion/how-america-was-lost.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=span-abc-region®ion=span-abc-region&WT;.nav=span-abc-region… And it’s up to you to decide which version you prefer. So why do I say that only one party has gone off the deep end? One answer is, compare last week’s Democratic debate with Saturday’s Republican debate. Need I say more? Beyond that, there are huge differences in tactics and attitudes. Democrats never tried to extort concessions by threatening to cut off U.S. borrowing and create a financial crisis; Republicans did. Democrats don’t routinely deny the legitimacy of presidents from the other party; Republicans did it to both Bill Clinton and Mr. Obama. The G.O.P.’s new Supreme Court blockade is, fundamentally, in a direct line of descent from the days when Republicans used to call Mr. Clinton “your president." So how does this get resolved? One answer could be a Republican sweep — although you have to ask, did the men on that stage Saturday convey the impression of a party that’s ready to govern? Or maybe you believe — based on no evidence I’m aware of — that a populist rising from the left is ready to happen any day now. But if divided government persists, it’s really hard to see how we avoid growing chaos. Maybe we should all start wearing baseball caps that say, “Make America governable again." He danced around it, but never got up the nerve to mention that many within the Republican Party, quite literally, want to help our government collapse. And of course the silent major is as apathetic as ever: let 'em have their way, just move over and let me get back to watching my TV.
It occurs to me, this may be the first time in human history old folks (like I’m starting to feel) can be glad they are old and nearing the end of our journey/adventure,
as opposed to dreaming of getting out there for another go around.
I’m suddenly reminded, back during my years in Germany, I attended some schooling here and there. I had one old instructor who a couple times (must have been '77.) went off on tangents, telling wonderful stories, some recent history, but his favorite topic, almost a mission was to make us aware of the microprocessor revolution that was going on. Me being from CA BayArea, I was already somewhat up to speed on that stuff - so I perk up, but so did the rest of the class most of whom were late teens and first hearing about it)
Listening to this old teacher going on about the accomplishment and how much information was being crammed into microscopic spaces.
Then the countless potential applications, stuff that no had dreamed of yet, but he was sure amazing thing were going to pop up.
This guy wasn’t kooky, he was a sharp first rate teacher and he held the class spell bound,
he made sense and he drove his points home.
A favorite: Pay attention to what’s happening out there! Learn about it, understand it, and you will do wonderful things.
It was great. But for me the moving aspect was how this man turned into an embodiment of the little kid staring through a baker’s window at the magnificent wedding cake, so wanting to touch, taste, experience it, but always stuck on the other side of the window. After one of his excursions into ‘me-cro-prot-cess-oor’ (the way he said the words is ringing in my ears again) the promises and dangers they held - but the unstoppable revolution upon us “then and there”.
“Oh what I would give to be young and able to witness the wonders that you my students will be living.”
(I haven’t thought of that old guy in forever, interesting. It’s people like that helped form me into what I am. That’s determinism in a way, but every moment demands the execution of an attitude/action. Will you make yourself open to the moments that present themselves, or will you be so self absorbed you never notice the wonders parading before your eyes all the time.)
That old instructor was right to spread excitement about the promises and dangers of the mecroprotcessoor revolution. We now have the knowledge of the world potentially available at our finger tips. Although it is mostly used to spread untruths, crazy conspiracy theories and porn.