Turning the Corner

I've been thinking for some time about the connection between politics and “life”. My life is divided between family and work, including housekeeping, cooking, gardening, etc. Things go task to task and day to day, and I have yet to see or meet an actual person representing the Federal government, and few people here talk openly about politics. So I have thought from time to time that “government and politics” is not so important.

But then again, it colors everything, unites and divides and defines us. It is a big part of my kid's questions about the world, and a big part of my answers. They learn from me who they are and how we are together based on my cues, and those of their teachers at school. And many of my understandings have their communicable foundation in the dialogs and bases of our political party and its history, which was passed to me from my own parents. Of course there is much more that a parent teaches - religion would be one big one, though it didn't stick in my case - but politics defines an aspect of our lives that is very important in how we live in our communities, how we think about other people's differences, how we react to other people's suffering or needs, near or far, and who we are as “socialized” people.

So what happens when politics goes wrong? I am thinking of the late 60's which I remember as a small child, and the sense of openness and freedom and real caring. And when I was in high school and Carter was my president, and there was a lot of contention but I knew he was right on the environment and energy. He was beaten by Reagan in the worst way – the majority of the country turned their backs on him and his policies, and there was a sense of the final closing of a chapter even as my life as an adult was beginning. What I dreamed of as a kid was already discounted, then, and I entered the workforce without much of a dream. I wanted something that paid and didn't occupy my mind too much, and that's what I got.

That's where politics really mattered, but I pretended they didn't. I figured things go on regardless, and I was involved and interested but not particularly hopeful each election year. It seemed that, like Carter, anyone who sounded like a good person to me was rejected by the people as a whole each primary. When Bush was elected I admitted again it did matter, as all the basic rights and principles I grew up assuming to be untouchable were suddenly worn out relics, hindrances in the new era of rumored “empire” abroad and fear at home.

It was like childhood was an open vista, a boundless horizon. Young adulthood was a Dutch landscape, well defined and predictable rules. The Bush years were like a closed room, dimly lit.

I started smoking as a daily bit of self destructive escape, and drinking too much, and parenting and family life were affected by a difficulty in thinking about the future. The connection between politics and life, at its worst.

I think there is quite a bit of this in the party as a whole. It has been a rough 8 years, and I think the frustrations and anger, the distrust and hatred and division we see here so often reflect it. It is not the easy and open party I grew up with; it is the party caged for too long.

To get to the part about “turning the corner”, I would say that the worst of the last 8 years was an inability to think hopefully or to plan for the future. When Obama won Iowa, my ears opened and some reading showed me one who could win, finally, and the future seemed to open up a little. For a party caged too long, a leader only need set the boundaries and point the direction. I think he has done that perfectly, and the race is on, with full confidence. I think also when I listen to him speak, like last Tuesday, what can I do, what would I change? What would I have done if Reagan hadn't shut Carter down, if I had began life with a role whose meaning I could see?

Well, one thing at a time. As said, the last 8 years have been rough on us all. I quit smoking in February, drink only moderately (a bit of wine in the evening), and enlarged my garden this year. I made space for both of my daughters to have their own plots, and we work together quite a bit. I smile more, and I think about solutions to the energy problems Carter dealt with. Pessimism is fading, and there is much to be done and a future to work for...starting with taking back the WH.