Paying Attention

The 2008 Presidential race is being run at full steam by both political parties. With the general election more than a year away, it makes a person wonder if all the money and energy is really valuable to the nation. Are we getting better informed about who would make a good president or are they busily turning more voters away from the process in apathetic frustration? The process of choosing a candidate to represent each party certainly isn't efficient in any discernible way. Each candidate, no matter how obscure, has spent thousands promoting and running their campaigns. Of all the candidates Mike Gravel seems to have spent the least. However, even he has spent more than a quarter of a million dollars to convince America that he could be the next President. Who is Mike Gravel? Where does Duncan Hunter stand on the issues? Yes, these are both candidates for President running for their parties nomination. Is there value and service to the nation in the money they are spending? Shouldn't we just declare Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney the de facto candidates now and save ourselves hours of obnoxious ads and mud slinging?
Political campaigns are an exercise as flawed and as inefficient as the government itself. Which makes it a perfect device for vetting out those that don't have the stomach or ability to work within such a system. There are plenty of virtuous, intelligent and creative people working within public service that could guide our country through the problems we face if only the system wasn't so backward, corrupt and contradictory. Unfortunately, after thousands of years of trying to find the perfect system of government, this is the best humanity has come up with. Those that cannot function and get things done in an environment of partisan bickering and closed door dealing have no real claim to become President.
To make the process better would take an engagement of the general population much earlier in the electoral process. That isn't likely to happen. The American voter isn't interested in the process as much as they are the outcome. This is unfortunate because by the time the parties nominate their candidate all the diversity of ideas have been purged by attrition. Right now each party has a spectrum of ideas and view points competing for attention. The only voters that are participating are those people that always participate. The partisan, ideological activists entrench themselves every election with the candidates that most strongly oppose the competing point of view. Long before the major primaries, any candidate that hasn't catered to the activist base of their party will have run out of money and support. Meanwhile, the average American is left wondering why there isn't more choices within the political system.
Everyone watches the Superbowl. We celebrate the game as if it were a national holiday. Far fewer people watch the playoffs. Even less pay attention to the regular season games. There are those fans that watch all the games. They tune to ESPN every day to see highlites and football “experts” critique the game play and evaluate the skill of each team. Politics in America today is very similar. Except that by watching what goes on in the game of politics we can affect who plays in the final game. The lobbyist, activists and handlers of political campaigns are very aware of this truth. This is why they are spending so much money right now on campaigns while no one else seems to be watching. You can't win if you don't play. If you are not playing within the game of politics then your issues, interests and ideals are going to lose. If we want our government to be more responsive, less susceptible to corruption and more representative of the pragmatic nature of the American spirit; then the common person will have to start paying more attention to these early political games.
As Americans, we have a special opportunity this election cycle. Republicans, for the first time in years, are struggling to define themselves as a political unit. Democrats are finding courage in their convictions that has brought a pride to the party that hasn't been there in years. Each political party finds themselves in flux and poised on the edge of a revolution and revitalization of ideals. However, without input and interest from the diversity of American voters it will be easy for the successful candidates to back away from this opportunity of change.
It is not my intent to suggest that Mike Gravel or Duncan Hunter are the best choices for the future of America. The question is: What if they are? By the time most of us will care to investigate the possibilities, these campaigns will long since have been closed down from lack of funds and lack of interest. If people want to have a truly profound effect on who will win coming election then the time to start playing is right now.

Something Different

Tim feeds the early morning camp fire. The morning mist swirls around him as the sun barely lights the sky. The trunks of the trees are black in contrast to the ghostly clouds that scrape the earth before him. The damp wood snaps and crackles. Yellow flames cough out white smoke that makes the fog look dull in comparison. The light of the fire nor the luminous column of smoke give Tim any comfort. Bret would be there soon and Tim knew full well of his own guilt. There was a knot in his stomach as if the world was ending. Here in the fog, his private little hell with only the fire to keep him company. Moreover, it is what he deserved and that hurt the more. Every piece of his life was shattered only the mirror had yet to be broken. He was standing on the edge of that moment, just as the tea cup slips from your hand and all you can do is watch it fall. He curses the moment. Better to be smashed into a thousand pieces than endure this limbo for an instant more. The smashing of his life was inevitable. The pain of waiting for it to happen; excruciating.
A chill ran through his body. His toes were cold inside his boots. He held the soul over the fire. Burning heat filled the soft arch of his foot. He put his foot back down on the ground and stomped the burn out. His toes were still cold. The knot in his stomach all the worse. After an eternity, or several minutes, the sound of tires on gravel could be heard. Bret's truck was finally coming up the drive. A flush of relief and anxiety whitened Tim's face and drained the sound from his ears.
Tim blew air out his lungs with forceful breath to keep his head from swimming in panic. His heart was pounding in his temple. He saw sparkles in his vision and the world swirled with the sensation of faintness. It washed over him with the weight of an ocean wave. Suffocation was the thought in his head now more than the impending confrontation with Bret. He had to breathe, move and think. The only action his body wanted to take was to run.
The lights from Bret's truck peered over the back as it came to a stop up by the house. The feeling of panic buzzed in Tim's ears louder than ever and then subsided as quickly as it had come. The hot flushing of his skin settled to an unexpected calm. Tim could see Bret coming down the trail now, but all Tim wanted to do was sleep. A drowsy quiet settled over Tim's mind. Where fear once clogged his thoughts irritation crept in. Bret was arriving at the most inconvenient of times. All Tim wanted was to rest. Was that so much to ask? “Couldn't we do this later?” he thought. Bret was on his way now and the confrontation was inevitable and immediate and there was nothing either of them could do about it.