A warning in advance: I have conservative friends who are going to read this and think, "Ben's turned into a liberal." Some of them think it already, despite my best efforts of distancing myself from the label.
To those friends, I want you to read what I have to say and fully digest it before going down the road of simple minds ("Ben is this." "Ben is that."), though, because I'm only offering an observation with this one, not a statement of whether or not I believe Mr. Brown's the man qualified. All that stuff, in my opinion, is to be determined at a later date; further, despite the fact that I know much about the guy (and despite the stuff you're about to read that may lead others to think otherwise), I'm glad he got in. I prefer, above all else (despite the fact that it seems to have broken things somewhat lately due to mishandling of the rule), checks and balances in our government.
For a guy who literally followed political happenings feverishly as a five year old -- and I remember following Reagan/Mondale in 1984 and being the only kid in my class to vote for Michael Dukakis (it was the name that did it, for the record, as I really liked the name "Dukakis") -- in 1988, Benjamin Sheffield is more cynical than ever.
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Regardless of what those in the media and in Washington wish to tell you, Scott Brown's victory last night wasn't a monumental win for Conservative America so much as it was a continuing of the script that's been played out in front of us for generations. I write that with full knowledge of the Kennedy history in the seat, not to mention the understanding that an R hasn't held the post since my grandmother was in high school. While so many people are "energized" by this -- even in my own circles, as some of my closest friends have dedicated their status messages to it, and I've heard it in conversation on several occasions today -- I am more shaking my head in amusement than anything at this point.
In truth, this election wasn't about Scott Brown, not even by the slightest bit. One could push a trained monkey into either the Democrat or Republican role, and I guarantee you that, without knowing much about the other party, there'd be signs marching up and down Main Street in Boston last night stating "Vote the Chimp." Chances are, media outlets from both sides would be at the chimp's headquarters, too, alternately singing its praises and condemning it for a comment it made through sign language in 2005. That's pretty much the state this country is in right now; both sides claim their anger, both sides are arguably justified, and neither side seems to understand the role their own "team" has played in creating this mess.
This election was, like 2008, 2006, and 1994 before it, a backlash against an establishment that has been dividing and conquering this nation for some time now. It was a response to the Glenn Becks and Rush Limbaughs of the world, just as it was a response to the Barack Obamas and Keith Olbermanns of the world. (For the record, I miss Keith Olbermann on ESPN; go home, Keith. Please.)
The majority opinions which used to reside in the middle are now, due to differing and widespread influences, pushing themselves toward the fringes, right and left, and what we're seeing is a macrocosm of sorts where moderate voices are trampled by talk of teabaggers and socialism. What should've been a relatively local election ballooned into a continuation of the national circus act that I've talked about and studied with growing intensity since Bill Clinton turned the Oval Office into... well... nevermind.
Long story short, it's a rock fight that -- UNFORTUNATE SPOILER ALERT -- neither side will win. (The system, great as it is, currently isn't designed to allow a winner, but rather someone who can keep the proverbial seat warm until public opinion polls, with the help of talk radio and dodging Congressmen, sway again.)
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The America we live in today is far too polar for any long-standing "change" to occur, as public opinion polls find themselves based on the tension we're feeling from a representative government that, quite frankly, shares equal blame in putting us into the position we're in right now, regardless of what Glenn Beck or Keith Olbermann tell you. Both sides have had "majority rule" since 1990; conservatives who bash Obama for the economy and stimulus package completely push aside the fiscal irresponsibility of the R before him, and liberals who thought Obama was getting into office to "bring our troops home" have seen him basically repeat Bush's Iraq strategy in Afghanistan, for example.
Want another example? Here's one that hits closer to home for me personally.
Even today, three years after I left a classroom for the final time, I thrive on studying educational trends. I earned the degree, taught in high school back home while doing so, and came to Atlanta to fulfill a lifelong dream to teach in the inner city. Therefore, any time I've seen federal influence on the classroom, I've watched with a pretty careful eye dating back to the end of Clinton's presidency. I've studied the history of the relationship between the government and the classroom back to the beginnings of the nation. I know a thing or two about the history of the educational system in our country, in other words.
The situation that happened back in September -- the one where Barack Obama was supposedly "indoctrinating our schools" with his "You can do it!" motivational speech to the students -- was the crockiest of crocks that were told about the guy. It was dishonest, Rovian debate done beautifully, because it managed to fire up an entire constituency and, in some cases, sell more books. But it was still a crock. Care to know why?
In October 1991, we were also at war in the Middle East, when President Bush made an announcement that he wanted to speak to school children on an eerily similar topic around the country early in the school year. I'll give you two guesses as to how the Democrats responded. (Want a hint? Sure, you do... "Campaign commercial!" I'll bet I can guess how the Republican congressmen and congresswomen felt about that at the time, as well...)
In the past five people who sit in the Oval Office, I know for certain that four of them have spoken directly to school children; and I'm no Presidential historian, either, but my guess is that more have done so than that and all have faced whining from the opposition. (I'm just glad MSNBC wasn't around to pull a Fox News when Bush Sr. gave his speech in '92.)
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If I may make a prediction -- and I'll even preface it with an "I hope I'm wrong on this one, guys." -- it is this: we will not have any governmental continuity lasting longer than two terms again in our lifetime. And it's not because of the sides, or even the issues, as I don't see a lot of actual "changes" that have been made on a national level, administration to administration, but rather because both sides have stirred the pot into a slow boil, and they've left the burner on while leaving the house.
And, as some of you knew before this piece, I'm sick of the lot of them, as well as the "us vs. them," "left vs. right," "good vs. evil" mentality that has come about because of the games they've played with the American population. They've argued themselves into a standstill over everything from health care to the economy to the war to a myriad of the other issues that have spawned about while they've struggled for power and wealth, and I really do believe that in order for the "American people to take their country back," we as individuals need to not only step back from the argument and look at things again from the proverbial 5,000 foot view.
Accountability shouldn't begin in Washington, though a good dose of it is needed; accountability should begin at home.
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I don't have kids. I used to have 120 or so, but I only got to see them 30 or so at a time, for an hour and a half, and I couldn't tell them the same stuff that I'm telling you tonight for fear of losing my job. But, if a single man with no children that he knows of could offer you a single bit of advice tonight without fear of being dragged like a pinata through the media for attempting to indoctrinate them, it's this: teach your children, among other ideas, to do the following things...
Respect themselves.
Respect their elders.
Respect their fellow man.
Respect the Lord.
Go after what they love. (...and forget about the rest.)
Manage their resources.
Avoid mind-rotting vices like cable news and the internet. (...it's too late for me.)
Learn to think critically...
Our future depends on it.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
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