Happy 4th of July!!
This will post on the morning of the 5th, but I am writing it on the 4th.
It is dusk, and as I sit by my living room window, many dramatic firework displays are happening simultaneously in different areas of the city even as I write these words, some quite close.
As I watch them I ponder…
1776 was a long time ago. The country was unrecognizable, the world was unrecognizable to what it is today. Each generation sprouts up and takes the baton from the previous. It is a wonder that so many of the norms of the structure of the government have endured. In the last ten years or so I have come to a place of mid-life rebirth with my understandings and beliefs regarding the country and it’s government.
I grew up here in conservative Colorado Springs. The first vote I cast when I became old enough to vote was for Ronald Reagan. He was popular, I knew very little about politics, and I had seen Bedtime for Bonzo, a movie he had been in. In other words, as a teenager, I knew hardly anything about the government of great substance to base my vote on, so it was mostly a reflection of surface judgements and those around me.
In college, I had a political science class that opened my eyes to a larger world. Political science wasn’t my area of study, so I had a class or two, but that is all. I remember Free to Choose, by Milton Friedman was big then and part of my required reading. It outlined how I had grown to see the political and economic dominant view of our country, (at least from my lense at the time.) The free market system if left unfettered would produce a large middle class through trickle-down economics. From that basic premise many beliefs, and political movements formed.
I didn’t see that as a disputed ideology. I saw it as how it was. I graduated from college in 1989, so that was many years ago. I have read many books, but few on politics or economics. Between School House Rock in my elementary days, and a couple of classes in my college days, and some training in between, I figured I’d learned all I needed to know on the topic. My views served me well enough to form opinions and vote.
Except for about 1 year when I registered as a Democrat, most of my life, I have been Independent. I was a Republican leaning Independent through my mid-twenties, then became a Democrat leaning one after that.
Why the change?
I experienced more, lived in different areas, met more people from different parts of the demographic spectrum of the country. My Independent position is not that I sometimes vote Democrat and sometimes vote Republican because I rarely vote Republican anymore. I remain Independent because I feel I can form a set of policy positions without having to match them against any political party or individual in that party. I like to look deeper at long term legislative events and find authors to read. Of interest to me lately has been Glass Steagall, Dodd Frank, and more recently, the activities of the Supreme Court.
I read, listen and watch sources like Noam Chompsky, Paul Krugman, and Heather Cox Richardson for context. I hear authors they mention or recommend then expand from there. Thomas Piketty and Yanis Varoufakis came later in this way.
In modern times I am just scratching the surface. When I read, I am made painfully clear how much I don’t know in relationship to what I do know, but hearing informed viewpoints, and understanding how those viewpoints agree or contrast with each other is helpful.
I’ve moved on from pure Milton Friedman ideology as a sole ideology, but have not traveled all the way to ‘socialism’ (as actual socialists describe it, not as many critical Americans do.) I understand Neoliberalism has lead to the polarization of the classes, and the near elimination of the middle class leading to an increasingly more powerful oligarchy. However, I am not giving myself or my viewpoint a political label. However, right now, social democrat would be close which, to me means new deal democrat. It is advocating for a new deal similar to the Eisenhower new deal, only updated for modern times.
What is actually needed as the country moves forward? Who seems to have their finger on the pulse on some angle of it? Who disagrees with their point of view? Why? This is the basis of my inquiry as I learn.
The firework displays outside my living room window are winding down, but a bright crescent moon remains which is equally lovely.
I am giving thanks for this country today for which I am grateful. I don’t take for granted our democracy experiment and hope very much that our best days are ahead. May all that weaken us recede. May all that strengthen us rise. I wish for the country and all of it’s people peace, prosperity, and harmony from sea to shining sea.