America, We’re In the Forge

I’ve recently become a major fan of the History Channel show “Forged by Fire”.  It is a reality/game show where contestants compete to turn raw materials into finished knives thru the process of bladesmithing.  It’s endlessly fascinating watching artists turn raw steel or junk into beautiful weapons or tools.  The show turns the messy process of bladesmithing into four general phases:

1. Heating in the Forge:  Softening the metal so that it can shaped
2. Shaping:  Hammering the hot steel into a new form
3. Quenching:  Cooling red-hot steel to transform it into hardened steel
4. Finishing:  Fine work to turn a blade into a knife suitable for all kinds of useful work

The 2016 election season has been scary for many.  They feel like the country is spinning out of control.  But I suspect this is because we are focussed on this moment, rather than taking a longer view of history.  Our current political world was born out of the fires of World War II and the Cold War.  Republicans and Democrats were forged in opposition to big ideas and big foes.  These shapes have served both parties well for 70 years.  But the Great Recession has shown up the cracks in both parties and it is time to forge a new political reality to last the next 50 to 100 years.

Heating in the Forge:  In this context, the populism of Donald J Trump and Bernie Sanders makes sense.  This is the fire which is softening up American politics.  We’re in the forge now, and the old political alliances are coming apart.  This is necessarily a painful time because the shape we’ve all grown up counting on is changing and we don’t know what the new one will be.

Shaping:  The next four to eight years will be critical and painful, because they will be the time when American politics is reshaped.  Steel is moved by the force of powerful blows of a hammer.  And not just one, but repeated blows over and over again.  We shouldn’t expect the current protests or the conflict we are seeing to go away, because they are the hammer blows.  They are useful and they are necessary to the process, just as the Boston Tea Party was necessary to the forging of the USA in the first place.  

Quenching:   We’ll know the shaping is done when a major event occurs that solidifies the new reality.  After that event, the protests and debates will end as the heat of populism is quenched.  Then we’ll know the final shape of things.  The fear and pain will be over, and the hard work of using our new reality to drive history begins.

Finishing:  Once the new form is set, we’ll have a time where the

new political reality dresses itself up for proper use.  New political legends will replace the facts in our memories (Does anyone really think George Washington would never tell a lie?)  New symbols will be created to reflect the way we have redefined ourselves.  New language will arise to allow us to effectively debate the issues that matter to the new world.  Then we’ll use this finished reality to drive the country forward.

In conclusion, don’t be afraid or lose faith over this moment in history.  If a bar of steel could talk, it would certainly cry out in pain and terror when it is heated and hammered.  But that same bar of steel would one day take great pride in the effective tool it becomes in the hands of an expert bladesmith.  Have faith that America will feel that same pride again on both sides of the aisle. And apply grace liberally to friends and enemies as we suffer through the heat of the forge.

Election Day!

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Moderation is never easy

We're watching you

From here. My feelings exactly.

PA Democrat admits sponsoring Tea Party spoiler

CRChair had previously brought to our attention a scheme by NJ Democrats to split the Connservative vote by getting a fake Tea Party Candidate onto the ballot. Now, a Pennsylvania Democrat has admitted doing the same. It is a sign of the depth of the Democratic Party's panic over their fortunes on November 2, that their only hope is to provide more Conservative alternatives.

Bryan Lentz, the Democratic nominee running for the seat being vacated by Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), said he knew that volunteers from his campaign helped Tea Party candidate Jim Schneller.

"If somebody's already made the decision to run, I didn't think that 'helping' with the process of signature petitions was improper," Lentz told told the Delaware County Daily Times editorial board in an interview.

Lentz said he could not remember when he learned of his volunteers' work on behalf of Schneller, but he said, "I didn't think it was a bad thing for the process or for my candidacy."

Republican vs Democratic Strategies

From Political Grafiti.

If you want to know why Incumbents will be thrown out in November...

...consider the political cowardice demonstrated by a Congress unwilling to pass a budget when the current one runs out tomorrow! Could anything be more emblematic of our problems than a legislature unwilling to even vote on keeping itself running? Clearly, incumbents realize any action will be criticized by their opponents. But don't they see that no action is at least equally contemptible?

Goodbye Congress 2010. We look forward to your replacement, and hope it looks nothing like the body that just left the dinner table without finishing the vegetables, or even offering to do the dishes.

Michael Steel becomes RNC Head

After a long fight amongst would-be Republican leaders, former Maryland Lt. Gov Michael Steele has been elected as the first black head of the Republican National Committee. The selection has obviously come as a response to the election of Barack Obama, but it is also a sign that the GOP is ready to try and shake the image of being a party of "white guys."

The question of the size of the GOP's tent were brought into focus back in December, when former Tennessee GOP leader Chip Saltsman, who had hoped to become RNC chair, distributed a CD to Republican National Committee members featuring a song called "Barack the Magic Negro." Saltsman dropped out of the race last night.

"Steele's election won't help the party attract black voters immediately, but if Steele sets the right tone, he could help the party compete for them in the (way) future," said CBS News chief political consultant Marc Ambinder. "As GOP strategists have always known, and noted, somewhat dyspeptically, it's white suburban voters, particularly women, who are responsive to a diversity message. The RNC isn't diverse yet; only five black delegates were chosen to attend the national convention. Steele was disgusted by that. It prompted him to run."

The Process of Choosing a Candidate

I suppose this article is about 6 months late in coming. But watching the outgoing George W. Bush and the incoming Barack Obama, it has become more and more clear to me that it is nearly impossible to get the measure of a man while he is campaigning. George W. Bush was one man before 9/11, and a completely different man after 9/11. Pre-9/11 GWB would have been horrified to see some of the abridgments of personal liberty and extreme extension of government power that Post-9/11 GWB embraced and now defends as the finest accomplishments of his presidency. Pre-9/11 GWB saw tax cuts and government reductions as job 1. Post-9/11 GWB saw tax cuts as an engine to drive the economy, to allow government expansions which was really job 1. Pre-9/11 GWB was focused on social themes - education, faith-based initiatives - while Post-9/11 GWB saw social themes as an afterthought.

But how was it possible to see a Post-9/11 GWB while Pre-9/11 GWB was running?

We see the same thing now. I am not a supporter of Barack Obama's policies (though I do see him as a man riding the wave of history, whose time has come) but during the campaign he ran on getting us out of Iraq ASAP. Now, he is talking about doing the draw-down in line with GWB policies - 16 months or more. Obama ran on "changing government" but is now hiring the only people qualified to fill his posts - Clinton and Bush officials who are anything BUT "change". Pre-election BO and post-election BO are turning out to be two different men.

So the question is, HOW DO WE REALLY CHOOSE A CANDIDATE? We have known since before Mark Twain that you can never trust what a politician says. Since the advent of television and special effects, we can't even trust what we see a politician looking like. Make-up, double-talk, and special effects can lie convincingly in our day and age as never before. So, how do we really get down to the core of a candidate and understand who he/she is and how s/he will govern?

I am open to your thoughts on the subject. I am struggling with my own now.

Vote for Lando Calrissian?

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Welcome, first-time voters!

From here.

Where Do I Vote?

If you are like me, your local election officials are constantly moving around the polling places. It can be confusing, trying to figure out which of the hundred places you have voted in the past is the one for 2008. Well, this little app tries to bring together all of that information in one place. Enter your state and address, and it'll tell you where to go to cast your all-important ballot.

If you are not sure where to vote, please run this app today. Nothing worse than getting to election day and realizing for one reason or another, you have no idea where/how to vote!

WV Vote-Flipping Explained

Finally, we have an expert who can explain the charges of vote flipping (you vote for Obama, it shows as assigned to McCain) in West Virginia and elsewhere. The good news: it appears there is no conspiracy, but rather a technical glitch related to calibrating the touchscreen. The bad news: It looks like this is a very easy problem to have occur, which probably means we'll be hearing about a lot of reports of vote flipping in the days to come.

Today's Woot Shirt is brilliant.

Click here to view their site. I am buying one and think it does a great job of parodying the silliness of this election cycle. The shirt will only be available today... although there are some third parties who will reprint them.



Updated 4:13 PM: Fixed link to shirt.woot.com.

McCain wins big, Clinton/Obama essentially tied

In a reversal of the expectations of a few weeks back, John McCain appears to be headed towaed a clear nomination, but Clinton and Obama are tied and may be heading to a brokered convention after Super Tuesday failed to crown a Democratic front-runner. And California now becomes the big state for Conspiracy Theorists to focus on, after widespread reports of problems with ballots and/or the ability to find a place to even vote.

Another Candidate Matchmaker Application

As we get closer to the caucuses and primaries, here is another candidate matchmaking application that will tell you who answered the questions the closest to you. Thanks to WNYW Fox 5 in New York for this link.




My top 3 were:
Thompson 68%, Romney 63%, Hunter 60%

Vote Swapping Sites Are Legal

In the 2000 election, a new breed of website popped up which was both weird and fascinating. Vote swapping sites would allow a voter in a state with a close vote in the Presidential election (say Bush 45%, Gore 46%, Nader 9%) to swap their vote with a voter in a state where the election was clearly lopsided (say Bush 60%, Gore 35%, Nader 5%). A voter in the close state might "swap" a Nader vote in his state with a Gore vote in the lopsided state. This way, a Nader voter in the close-vote state could still ensure Nader's numerical number of votes stayed the same, without risking "throwing away his vote" when s/he would rather see Gore elected than Bush. At the time, most politicians were scandalized, and several sites were shut down by furious election officials. And the practical amongst us noted that it was a silly venture to use, since with a secret ballot there was no way to ensure the transaction actually took place on the other person's end.

Well, after years of legal wrangling, the courts have ruled vote swapping legal and efforts to shut down such websites as violating Free Speech! What does this mean? Probably not much in the short term, other than the return of vote swapping sites and much excitement amongst Ron Paul voters. But in the long term, in an age of close elections, it could be significant. Especially once political consultants figure out how to manipulate it for their own gain.

What Is a Pro-Life Candidate?

I've been mulling over in my head the question, "What is a pro-life candidate?" On the one hand, this may seem like an easy question, but given the current choice of candidates and what they claim versus what they've done, the issue has been made much muddier. Take, for example, Mitt Romney. Romney has been on both sides of the issue and appears to be flip-flopping, much like John Kerry did on issues last election. Can someone who has flip-flopped be a pro-life candidate? Remember, Ronald Reagan at one point was pro-choice. What about Fred Thompson? His Senate vote makes him look pro-life, but his stance is that abortion is a state issue. Therefore, it makes sense that he would vote "pro-life" in Washington. Can a candidate that votes "pro-life", but leaves the decision up to the states be a pro-life candidate? What if that same candidate is pro-choice at the state level? (To be fair, I haven't found conclusive evidence of whether Fred Thompson is pro-life or pro-choice at the state level.)

On another matter (and perhaps this is a different post), why has no candidate come out as a strong pro-life candidate? It appears that all of the candidates are either vocally pro-choice or are pro-choice and paying lip service to the pro-life movement. (i.e. "I am personally pro-life, but we have to let a woman choose.")

France Chooses Conservative for New President

French voters chose a conservative to be their president by a 53% to 47% margin Saturday. Nicolas Sarkozy is the new president. He had friendly words for America in his victory speech. He called Americans his "Friends" and said that France will stand with America when we need them. He did add the caveat that friends can disagree. It will be interesting to see if a new conservative leader in Europe can change attitudes and do some good.