Where is the Red White and Blue

    
Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe has announced she is leaving the Senate, explaining her departure as having been brought on by a political environment in which as a country we have come to view ourselves in terms of red or blue states instead of a Red, White and Blue nation.
How very sad. How very true.

Between the hardline left and the Tea Party right, our leaders have lost their sense of nation. Is it any wonder that our status in the world is crumbling? Our leaders (in both parties) couldn't agree to turn on the heat if they were standing in a blizzard. We have few congressmen and women who are capable of addressing issues with the interest of the nation at heart; and now those few moderates in both parties are abandoning ship rather than play a role in the continued decline of our nation.

Lincoln's government of the people, by the people, for people has become a government of the manipulated, by the obstructionist, for the elite. The concept of middle ground has been lost and we have been left with a polarity in our government that reaches from Washington to Small Town USA. In the seventies it was a popular theme on TV talk shows to discuss sound bite politics. They pontificated (and were indeed accurate) about how the political activity of the day was often distilled into a small bite of dialog that usually engendered some highly emotional response.  Today our leaders are leading by “issue bites” with fixation on one issue or another preventing progress on any issue.

We have become a nation that is so divided on singular issues that we refuse to consider any option unless it includes a complete embrace of our own narrow beliefs.  So, we end up with health and welfare legislation that is totally stonewalled because of a single element.   We watch as gas prices go through the roof while our leaders debate pipelines that could alleviate the situation.  Our leaders want a black or white solution in a country that is too complex to be monochromatic.  The time has come.  Not for revolution but rather for resolution.  Resolve to tell your leaders to take off the blinders and get back to work as a nation.

We must send a message to Washington that our leaders must work together or find other work.
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A Message to Republicans

I have made it a point to remain apolitical in my postings here and elsewhere, but I grow weary of our Leadership measuring their success by how well they do at thwarting the opposition's agenda rather than executing their own. The resulting stagnation is unhealthy to the nation and an inexcusable example of childish partisan politics.
I address the following to Republicans and Specifically the Republican Leadership.
Your task in the coming months, is not to avoid health care reform, but rather to construct responsible health care reform. Business as usual, has already brought this country to the edge of economic chaos. Embracing the status quo in Healthcare is to pursue chaos of a different kind. Republicans are at a crossroads. One path leads to perceived obstructionism, the other leads to the responsible execution of needed reform. A single election in Massachusetts does not allow Republicans to ignore the reality of the last general election. An emotional electorate can be swayed by irresponsible actions but can also be mobilized by partisan in-action.
At a recent certification class for emergency first aid and CPR, my instructor stated emphatically and repeatedly, that if you are to save a life, "you must do something". As elected representatives, and in the interest of our mutual future, “you must do something”.
The patient is in trouble, the symptoms are clear, and you possess the knowledge and ability to save.
History will not recall my name or my desires, but by your election, you are destined to leave a legacy. Will your legacy be one of in-action in the face of a clear emergency or one reflecting "determined action and contribution?"

Forget Politics and Remember Us

Ride of Silence ... A Memorial

Tonight is the Ride of Silence.
Riders World Wide will ride in memorial of cyclist lost.

I hope these words are adequate

Silent Riders

Tonight we have gathered, to remember the few.
An event of reflection,… contemplation,…review.

Of riders whose lives have been part of our past;
Whose wheel borne adventures have ended at last.

Our brothers,.. our sisters,.. whose light has been lost.
Whose travels and dreams.. were lost at such cost.

This day unlike others, we ride not as one,
But together in memory of those who have gone.

We ride not for victory, or contest, or leisure;
Or triumph, or challenge, or even for pleasure.

Our wheels spin in silence, in memory of those
Whose ending was violent and not one they chose.

Observers will puzzle and question our ride;
And not see the missing;.. the lost;… by our side.

We ride now with purpose and message and goal;
That others might know of these cyclist souls.

And when they have found him, and signaled to pass;
May God then provide them a ride unsurpassed.

-- Glenn Showers