Funny thing is, I haven't responded to him yet. I think he makes a good point. Just because a group of old, dead guys said something 200+ years ago doesn't make it golden, evergreen. However, it doesn't necessarily make it irrelevant, either. As an old boss has said to me many, many times, "Arp, it's usually in the middle." C'est vrai!
We are a centrist nation. Not hard left, not hard right. Not strict constitutionalist, not Timothy-Leary zealots. So, as I dig deep and consider my younger brother's parry, I find myself dazed and confused. By the way, I wanted to say Zagnuts instead of zealots back there, but my instinct for prim and proper got the best of me. For those of you that get the Zagnuts reference...right side, middle of the ribs to you!
Where was I? Yes. Centrist America. No, no, I didn't say Central America. Centrist. I sometimes shudder at the prospect of us shimmying on that narrow ridge between right and left. We're too daft to understand that right or left is not the endgame. Yes, I know, the principles of each side is what we know to be the endgame. But let's consider this bit of folly: We all want the the other side to be on our side and vice versa. Despite the pure insanity (and idiocy) of that notion, we would all be pretty damn bored if it actually happened. Imagine? No name calling, no negative advertisements, no Pelosi/Gingrich sound bites, and no perfunctory insults hurled about during Bill Mahr's show.
What's all that mean? The fight between right and left - I like to call it the fight between wrong and wrong, but I digress - has become more about entertainment and human beings viciously cannibalizing one another. For what? That great feeling one gets from being correct and/or from watching modern-day gladiators wage a battle of neatly-packaged gaffes and stutters. It's a pretty sad state of affairs.
By the way, I still think the Founding Fathers are pretty awesome. They weren't perfect, right or left, but they had the courage to put it out there and create a system which has evolved (devolved?) into what it is today, right or wrong. We, the people, have much work to do to keep it headed in the correct direction.
As always, be thankful for what you have, buy only what you need, and work diligently for peace. Oh...write, call, or email your congressperson and tell them to support term limits.
