Over the last couple of years, I've noticed a slow but inexorable shift in the overall American mentality. At the risk of oversimplification, the sense that something is inherently wrong with the way the country is going has slipped into an attitude that something has got to give, and soon. This is where the mentality gets a little scary. The word "revolution" gets thrown around quite a bit, and that's distinctly unhelpful. In fact, that word gives me the willies to the point that it's become a real FP for me just hearing it.
A better phrase would be "paradigm shift", implying a major change in mentality and action. It's the semantics of the words, silly me. The other, related FP is making that connection between exploring ideas and actually achieving constructive action.
WYFP is our community's Saturday evening gathering to talk about our problems, empathize with one another, and share advice, pootie pictures, favorite adult beverages, and anything else that we think might help. Everyone and all sorts of troubles are welcome. May we find peace and healing here. Won't you please share the joy of WYFP by recommending?
This is going to be a pretty short diary, because, frankly, I'm not much of a political philosopher. There are plenty of minds hanging around this place that are much better at framing this sort of thing than I ever will be. But I had to bring this up, because it's an argument that this country has been engaged in for at least three years. The left wants the everything fixed, according to our own lights, now; the teabaggers want everything to be fixed, according to their lights, now; and everyone is tired of feeling as though there's no end to bad news, economic stagnation, political gridlock, social divisiveness, and flat-out bickering. To us, the course correction is happening too slowly. To our opposite numbers among the far right, it shouldn't be happening at all. Something has to give, and it had better not be us.
I tend to be somewhat insulated from the worst of the conservative Everyman's rantings. I don't do freeper delves, because it would make me absolutely frantic with despair. You can call me chicken if you like -- it would be a fair criticism. But my husband works in retail, and he hears all sorts of garbage from people who don't realize that working people in this country from the full range of the political spectrum are all facing the same issues and problems. And they sure as hell don't understand the power of the words they choose to use.
When he comes home, I ask him, as a matter of course, how his day went. That's when I hear about the people who really do believe health care reform is a socialist plot, that the president is in cahoots with the bankers to rob us all blind, that we'll never have a real economic recovery, blahblahblah. And he always notes how ugly the mood is. Then he drops the "R-word". He uses it to mean a major, decisive, abrupt shift in the way our society and political culture works. He's not a fan of violent overthrow, in fact he's rather opposed to the idea. He's correct, of course -- we do need a decisive change in direction and mentality. But there's also that other meaning of the word, and this is what gives me that knee-jerk fear reaction.
Last year, then-candidate Obama keyed into the malaise with the slogan "Change we can believe in." It was like someone had stuck the collective American finger into the electrical socket. A lot of Americans began to realize that, yes, the problems are real, it's not their imagination, and We'd. Better. DO. Something. About. It. NOW. We've followed our usual path to thoughtful, positive political change: elect new faces to Congress, write letters to our representatives and senators, sign petitions, et cetera, et cetera, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. From what I can see, most of the people in office do actually get it. The problem is that they're stymied by a minority of leftover red-state class-A nimrods -- whoops, I mean Republican lawmakers. (Yes, I do it, too. Muy bad) When our champions try to engage the other side in constructive conversation, the opposition falls back on the most horrid, hate-filled, fearful imagery and rhetorical tactics. The level of discourse stinks, and the end result is that they, and we as a people, talk past each other. It's far from edifying. So, here we are, stuck. The mental shift hasn't yet translated into concrete, pragmatic, workable, functioning programs because of the refusal to engage in real dialogue. And this is where the frustration kicks in, and the rhetoric ratchets up, and the tempers start to simmer and flare.
The big problems: healthcare reform; education reform; two wars and all the fallout from them; the banking sector crisis; the housing crisis; the jobs crisis; climate change; energy worries. What else did I miss? And all of them need to be fixed now, damn it, when each and every one needs single-minded focus and the utmost commitment to finding good solutions. This takes time, which most of us feel we don't have. If we don't get it together as a country, and soon, we're going to remain mired for longer than any of us want, no matter where we are on the political spectrum.
The paradigm shift I see, and hope is real, is a new sense of American community, that we need to start taking care of each other. The realization has hit more or less nationally that we're all in this together, and that we've fallen too far short of where we should be. Rugged individualism, if it was ever anything more than a pretty Frontierland myth, is not going to help the collective Us succeed. The nation as a whole has to help each other get up and get moving again or we, collectively speaking, are screwed. This isn't news, we all know this. The frustration is that we can't get the legislative action necessary to help us all get up off the floor. We can't force the opposition to deal with the reality we see, and we can't seem to get them to stop choosing heavily loaded words in the discourse. The paradigm shift hasn't hit D.C. yet, and the process of change appears to be stuck at the starting line. And that's the rest of my FP: I'm out of ideas on how to get it through the thick skulls of the Roadblock Republicans and the ConservaDems that the majority's mood has changed and that we want, need them to shift their perspective, too. Where do we go from here?
**********
On a more personal note, some of you may remember my bitching, over the last few months, about how my lower abdomen has been bothering me, with my lower GI tract being a notable issue, along with various aches. I've lost some bulk, noticeably around the ribcage and less so at the hips, not at all in the belly. This is not normal for me -- the gut's the first place I usually lose. I finally gave in and went to my doctor yesterday. He palpated my lower left belly, down near my pelvis. Let's just say it was not a pleasant thing. He's sending me in for an abdominal ultrasound Monday. I'm trying not to worry. Cross your fingers....
**********
Those are the two issues on my mind, the political and the personal. So tell me, on this chilly, slushy night, what's your f*@&ing problem?