Moved by both a recent visit to my home state of GA where I bunked at the house of a longtime friend -and Senator Biden's call to reach out to the right after the Obama is elected 44th president of the US, I started a web log here and at Navajoy (Word Press) blog today .
My visit to Macon GA was overshadowed by a “N-Obama” attitude that met me on my arrival. I spent the week I was there learning more about the fear that is being exercised from humanity at this point in time. My hope is to meet it as the shadow it is and be of compassionate, helpful, real service. To that end, I began emailing the Republicans I call friends.
My friend J. is an attorney in private practice and makes < 250K he's a Reagan Republican. L. is a mother and wife and her husband see that their taxes will go to 50% and there will be will be coming taxes at 50% for the middle class. That one is beyond my ability to address - for now.
Thanks for reading. Namaste’ :
Dear J. and L.,
Since driving home from my recent visit to GA, I can only think of this election andthe fears/concerns that exist and need to be addressed asWe the People select the leader of the last Superpower. We havean obligation beyond our borders as well as to future generations of Americans. The article I am sending you is an examination of our 2 US political parties intheir most extreme expression and where the middle exists.Basic premise opening paragraph: there are 2parties in the US - 3 political tendencies. I send this to you for the purpose offraming the discussion about taxation and welfare, things that came up in talkingwith each of you during my visit. Written by conservative David Brooks with an eye on McCain, I offer the link andthe text for your review. If you can't read the whole thing skim down to theHamilton Project (which is an intitative of 3 high level Democrats and I think wouldinform a Democratic Adminstration). More importantly, I think the project indicatesa wisdom that you might find reassuring. The article ends with a lament which speaksto your thought (lament) about our de facto 2 party system. Brooks find McCain a qualifiedcandidate hobbled by a party that can't seem to rebirth a T. Roosevelt approachto "economics as if people mattered". It is my hope that our next president will be able to facilitate the evolution ofthat type of economy/culture. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/opinion/26brooks.html?emThe link to the NYT shows a photo of Mr. Brooks - you might recognize the face ifnot the name.The article in its entirety: There are two major political parties in America, but there are at least three majorpolitical tendencies. The first is orthodox liberalism, a belief in using governmentto maximize equality. The second is free-market conservatism, the belief in limitinggovernment to maximize freedom.But there is a third tendency, which floats between. It is for using limited butenergetic government to enhance social mobility. This tendency began with AlexanderHamilton, who created a vibrant national economy so more people could rise and succeed.It matured with Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War Republicans, who created the LandGrant College Act and the Homestead Act to give people the tools to pursue theirambitions. It continued with Theodore Roosevelt, who busted the trusts to give moreAmericans a square deal. Members of this tradition have one foot in the conservatism of Edmund Burke. Theyunderstand how little we know or can know and how much we should rely on tradition,prudence and habit. They have an awareness of sin, of the importance of traditionalvirtues and stable institutions. They understand that we are not free-floating individualsbut are embedded in thick social organisms.But members of this tradition also have a foot in the landscape of America, andshare its optimism and its Lincolnian faith in personal transformation. Hamiltondidn’t seek wealth for its own sake, but as a way to enhance the country’s greatnessand serve the unique cause America represents in the world.Members of this tradition are Americanized Burkeans, or to put it another way, (*****progressiveconservatives***** - can we meet here??).This tendency thrived in American life for a century and a half, but it went intohibernation during the 20th century because it sat crossways to that era’s greatdebate — the one between socialism and its enemies. But many of us hoped this Hamilton-to-BullMoose tradition would be reborn in John McCain’s campaign.McCain shares the progressive conservative instinct. He has shown his sympathy withthe striving immigrant and his disgust with the colluding corporatist. He has anuntiring reform impulse and a devotion to national service and American exceptionalism.His campaign seemed the perfect vehicle to explain how this old approach appliedto a new century with new problems — a century with widening inequality, declininghuman capital, a fraying social contract, rising entitlement debt, corporate authoritarianregimes abroad and soft corporatist collusion at home. In modernizing this old tradition, some of us hoped McCain would take sides in thedebate now dividing the G.O.P. Some Republicans believe the G.O.P. went astray byabandoning its tax-cutting, anti-government principles. They want a return to Reagan(or at least the Reagan of their imaginations). But others want to modernize andwiden the party and adapt it to new challenges. Some of us hoped that by reforminghis party, which has grown so unpopular, McCain could prove that he could reformthe country.But McCain never took sides in this debate and never articulated a governing philosophy,Hamiltonian or any other. In Sunday’s issue of The Times Magazine, Robert Draperdescribes the shifts in tactics that consumed the McCain campaign. The tactics variedpromiscuously, but they were all about how to present McCain, not about how to describethe state of country or the needs of the voter. It was all biography, which wasnecessary, but it did not clearly point to a new direction for the party or thecountry. The Hamiltonian-Bull Moose tendency is the great, moderate strain in American politics.In some sense this whole campaign was a contest to see which party could reach outfrom its base and occupy that centrist ground. The Democratic Party did that. SeniorDemocrats like Robert Rubin, Larry Summers and Jason Furman actually created somethingcalled The Hamilton Project to lay out a Hamiltonian approach for our day. McCain and Republicans stayed within their lines. There was a lot of talk aboutearmarks. There was a good health care plan that was never fully explained. Andthere was Sarah Palin, who represents the old resentments and the narrow appealof conventional Republicanism.As a result, Democrats now control the middle. Self-declared moderates now favorObama by 59 to 30, according to the New York Times/CBS News poll. Suburban votersfavor Obama 50 to 39. Voters over all give him a 21 point lead when it comes tobetter handling the economy and a 14 point lead on tax policy, according to theWall Street Journal/NBC News poll. McCain would be an outstanding president. In government, he has almost always hadan instinct for the right cause. He has become an experienced legislative craftsman.He is stalwart against the country’s foes and cooperative with its friends. Buthe never escaped the straitjacket of a party that is ailing and a conservatism thatis behind the times. And that’s what makes the final weeks of this campaign so unspeakablysad.End of article.Perhaps it doesn't have to be sad for anyone on either side. That is my Hope. More to follow.With Love,JoySo, Dear Reader, there it is my first attempt at talking to my friends who are afraid oframpant government and taxes out of control.Next- Obama's tax plan and McCain's Tax Plan as compared and contrasted on their respective websites.Thank you to Helen and Margaret for inspiring me to blog.
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