Politik

Geeze, I've been talking a lot about politics lately. I suppose with the impending election, that's only natural. I didn't watch any of the Republican National Convention, just as I didn't watch the DNC, but I've read some of the speeches here and there online.

Mark Evanier, who I respect both as a comedy writer and someone with intersting political observations, made a very interesting post on his bloggie today, addressing some of the, for lack of a better term, dipshit comments made during the RNC.

I had a long discussion with Liz the other night about the current state of affairs in our country. She made an observation that's stuck with me since then, one that came, strangely enough, from Martin's Game of Thrones series.

There's a scene where an exiled queen asks one of her retainers if the stories her insane brother told her were true; whether the people in "her" kingdom were patiently waiting her return, holding feasts in her honor. Her retainer told her that the folk were more worried about whether or not the crops would grow and the rains would come, so long as those in power did not interfere in their lives.

A rather defeatist view, but looking back, there is something to be said for it. Civil rights advanced in the 1960s not because the government interfered, but because Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus and Martin Luther King, Jr. led marches. Gay rights continue to advance despite government attempts to block them; fifteen years ago, Will and Grace never would have lasted a single season. Yes, for every three steps forward we take two back, but we still end up ahead of the game.

I can't decide if I'm deluding myself into some kind of contentment with a political administration that I've spent a lot of my time despising, or if I'm preparing for the worst come November, or I'm trying to make sense of something that may never make sense. In a universal sense, I seriously doubt that the Bush administration will do anything to permanently destroy life as we know it. Life will continue; Nero and Caligula may have assisted in Rome's destruction, but civilization endured.

Perhaps I'm simply tired of shouting at the shadows on the cave wall, and it's time to retire to Iceland once and for all.