esrosedotblog

DOWNER

I have not written much about the political scene lately. It is so depressing.

But, there have been worse times than these. One nice thing about growing old is that one grows some perspective along with growing the wrinkles.

I grew up in WWII. How is that for a comparison with these times?

It didn't take long before we had the Korean War. I remember the horrible suspense as the Chinese entered the war and snatched victory out of 'our' hands at Inchon.

Viet Nam. Countless other 'police actions'. All war.

Even though we are in one, there is less war in the world now than there has ever been.

I remember the political battles of the Democrats as they lost the South. The Dixiecrats.

The Democrats have always suffered from the third party blues.

There were the red-baiting times; Macarthy, HUAC.

There was Watergate.

There was always always always the cold war and the threat of atomic war.

And so on.

So what is so much more depressing about this time?

I suppose the whole moral vacuum and incompetence of the bushies and the apparent impotence of the establishment Democrats to have a unified push back.

Stalemate.

What passes as debate is not and the hostility of the battles is the most vitriolic that I have ever seen.

I don't worry about the corruption stuff. It has always been thus.

I don't much worry about the Supreme Court. It will be balanced in time with the sense of the members' own importance. Besides, they are not as powerful as we would like to think.

I am worried about global warming and the environment. I am worried about the power of the executive. I am worried about the loss of privacy. I am worried about the economy which is so stretched.

I am not worried about terrorism for one minute. We are in it. We have been in it. It will continue. We will win.

I will be out of my funk soon. It never lasts long. I am an optimist.

Look at all that has happened and we are still OK. More or less.

I need an issue I guess. There are so many.

I will think about it.