Time To Step Back -- Again

I know, I've said I was going to do this step back thing several days ago and I've truly tried to step back and look at things with a wide angle view, but I'm afraid I've failed miserably. All I can see is the mayhem and madness of politics in general and I know that the Republicans look at the Democrats and say the same things. And where does any of it get us. The protestors, the riots -- let's admit though, there are more protesting the Republicans than Democrats. But it all just brings back the nightmare of the 60s, when there was another unpopular war and an enormous upheaval in our society. Looking at both then and now from the perspective of my seventy-five years, I can see the similarities, but I can also see major differences.

Vietnam was an unpopular war, too, being fought for all the wrong reasons, just like this one and there were as many against it as there are against the war in Iraq. Our whole society was moving out and away from the slow moving days of the fifties and everything seemed to be changing. And yet there wasn't the problem with the economy then that there is today and that is what I see as adding a large helping of desperation to the mess we're facing now. The war in Iraq needs to end and our over-taxed military need to come home. But then what are they coming home to? Fewer jobs, lower pay, broken school systems, the economy in tatters, the infrastructure badly in need of repair, the reality of climate change and global warming. None of which the Republicans see as any kind of major problem. For them the only problem is their favorite prop -- terrorism! I'm sorry, but at this point, that is not the major problem in this country and looking for other wars to jump into is not going to make our country more stable or more safe.

I don't have the answers, maybe no one does, but I know for sure the Republicans don't have a workable plan to fix any of our problems and just a bandaid is not going to fix the massive wounds we are suffering right now. And for people to say that they don't care what happens as long as we're all pro-life! Do they want to bring more innocent children into this mess? What possible kind of thinking is that? Somewhere along the line our core values have been badly screwed.

I have no wise person to quote tonight, I'm not sure I believe in a new day tomorrow, but I do know for sure that more of the same is not going to work. All I can do is hope that people with courage and wisdom and the ability to see a broader horizon will win this election. Someone who can see the way to a new day for our country, for our people, for our place in the world as a leader. A leader that sets an example of how hopes and dreams can be realized, both here and around the world. I believe there is such a person and that person is Barack Obama.