Monday, November 17, 2008

Meet the New Era of Bipartisanship and Unity, Same As the Old Era of Bipartisanship and Unity

Longest blog title ever. I know. Cool. We'll have to see if the whole thing comes out in the URL.

2008 will long be remembered as the year in which we set aside partisan bickering and attacks and came together in a spirit of unity and consensus. Kumbaya. Yeah right. (Warning: the following blog post contains graphic partisan bickering and brief depictions of snarkiness. Viewer discretion is advised.)

As you may or may not be aware, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut that caucuses with the Democrats (and indeed, was the Democrat's nominee for VP back in 2000) endorsed John McCain for president in 2008. He is also the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee and of the Governmental Affairs Committee in the Senate. Now that the election is over, some are calling for him to be removed from his chairmanship. They don't even pretend it's about qualifications or past job performance. It's about his endorsement. "To reward Senator Lieberman with a major committee chairmanship would be a slap in the face of millions of Americans who worked tirelessly for Barack Obama and who want to see real change in our country. " Uh-huh. This, dear reader, is the danger of campaigning on "change" without really saying what it is you're going to change: people will use the buzzword as an excuse to justify their own agenda.

So let me get this straight. "Bipartisanship" is a good thing, as long as it means someone from the other party is going along with your idea. If it goes in the other direction, it goes by a different name: "betrayal." "Undermining the party." The above article approves a suggestion that Lieberman be "allowed" to continue caucusing with the Democrats, but to be stripped of his chairmanships. Isn't that gracious? We'll let him continue eating lunch with us along with the rest of the little people. I know. That's what makes us so nice. (What's that? You say alienating Lieberman might make us lose our filibuster-proof majority? Huh. Who knew.) Remind me, why didn't we bring this up when he first made the endorsement, rather than now when the elections are over? And why did we get so angry with Alberto Gonzales for firing those prosecutors?

Unity: what happens when everyone agrees to let me do what I want.

Politics as usual, and rather petty at that.

Ben Franklin's character in the movie 1776 had it right when he stated: "Treason is a charge used by winners as an excuse for hanging the losers." (Adams: "I have better things to do than stand here listening to you quote yourself." Franklin: "Oh, that was a new one!")

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

You've voted, now take a step back.

I've been thinking about an old Disney movie. Somewhat obscure, although Disney Channel aficionados should recognize it: "The One and Only Genuine Original Family Band." It's a gripping tale set in the turbulent election year of 1888, a pivotal election in our nations history where voters chose between Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison. Which as we all know led to the climactic political event of... umm... granting statehood to North and South Dakota.

Yes I'm being facetious. At the time, though, it was pretty momentous for everyone involved. It was the first time that the popular vote went to one candidate but the Electoral College vote went to the other. (Excluding the 1876 election which was decided in Congress, rather than the Electoral College.) To quote Homer Simpson: "They're both losers! Losers!"

Maybe you're thinking "Why did they make a movie about that?" Hold your horses, at the end of the movie, we get the real message. Buddy Ebsen's character, Calvin Bower, is the level-headed father who doesn't make a big deal about politics. He's even planning on performing at the Democratic National Convention with his family, even though he himself is a registered Republican. A full-on riotous fist-fight occurs when the Electoral College announcement is made, and he calms everyone down by playing "My Country 'Tis of Thee." Then he makes a short speech. 10 bonus points to anyone who can find this speech, I haven't been able to find it anywhere. The gist of it was: losing an election is a disappointment, but ultimately it's not about our team versus their team. We're all Americans, and whoever wins will be president over everyone. Including a lot of people who didn't vote for him. At the end of a similar election in 2000, Al Gore said "George Bush is my president."

Did our nation take a completely different direction under Harrison than it would have under Cleveland? Well, who knows, but ultimately we never hear much about them any more. Whoever wins, it's not going to be the end of the world. We'll still get up in the morning and go to work just as we have before.

(To whomever wins: don't prove me wrong now...)

Edit (Jan 28, 2011):   Yay!  Sarah and I checked the movie out of the library.  His speech is as follows:

“Apparently, the next President of the United States has been chosen, and the future of Dakota has been settled.  And nothing we can do here now is going to change things one iota.  I know some of you have been bitterly disappointed.  I want to pass along to you something that was told me many years ago by a man whom I have respected and admired more than any man I have ever met, a man who never wavered in his conviction that we here together can build the greatest united country in the whole bloomin’ world if you’ll just remember one thing.  ‘There’s a time to stand up and fight for what you believe in... and there is a time to join hands and work together, or all the fighting doesn’t mean a thing.’  I know that this man swallowed more disappointment than any of you did tonight.  This was back in [18]65 when he had just returned home from Appomattox... my father, Rensselaer Bower.  And so I suggest that this is a time for joining hands, a time for making up.