I’m starting to lose interest in the Presidential election campaign. There doesn’t seem to be anything significant left to say about it. The only interesting thing will be the post-election analysis, the break-out of how the voting public actually responds to Obama and McCain. The polls are all over the place; the vote might be really tight, keeping everyone in suspense long into the night. Or by 9PM, it might be clear that Obama is taking the country by a landslide. I’m anxious to find out. There’s nothing more that I need to know about these guys.
As to what I think the outcome should be, I agree with Robert Robb of the Arizona Republic: “this is an election Republicans deserve to lose but Democrats don’t deserve to win”. However, someone is going to win, so right now I just want to get it over with and adapt to whatever happens (most likely a big change in the Senate, House, and White House; one that may be relatively short-lived).
I disagree with Joe the Plumber and John McCain regarding additional taxes on the rich. (Easy for me, since I ain’t rich). But I am also an economic realist; increased progressive taxes will slow down entrepreneurship, drive capital to other countries, and cut back the American economy’s growth rate. BUT, if the increased tax revenues are invested in infrastructure, scientific research and education, the growth slowdown can be largely reversed. So, I hope that Obama and Reid and Pelosi don’t give the store away in Democratic political plums like grants to ACORN, new regulatory agencies, and working-class tax credits (other than the college education credit, which indeed helps long-run economic growth). Unfortunately, they probably will.
TOP TEN LONELINESS: I don’t keep up with hit music anymore; I generally have no idea what songs are getting the most play on the airwaves, or on YouTube, or at the cash register (or illegal download sites). But I did recently hear one of the current “top ten”, a nice little tune by Nickelback called “Gotta Be Somebody”. As in “there’s gotta be somebody out there for me”. I was surprised that Nickelback, a throughly modern, post-grunge rock band, would put out something sentimental like that. When I think about Nickelback I usually think about “Just a Couple Animals”, a paean to raging teenage sex drive. “Gotta Be Somebody” is a surprising redirection of Chad Kroeger’s raw voice into something emotional but also romantic and innocent, something like Bono might do (e.g., “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”). The lyrics are simple but fairly nice, even mildly poetic. I now have it in my collection.
(There’s also a high-profile tune out by Beyonce called “If I Were a Boy”. I’m gonna take a pass on that one.)
“Gotta Be Somebody” touches a chord of loneliness and longing for many people, old and young. Well, mostly young; but an old guy like me is not immune either. The tune is mildly encouraging and optimistic; one line goes “you can’t give up when you’re looking for a diamond in the rough”. And it lets you know how great you will feel once you finally do find the true love of your life.
Well, at this point in my life, “finding the right person” no longer seems to be an inalienable right (or even a distinct possibility). Some people actually find their “soul mates” and stay together for decades. Their lives are better for finding each other. Many people, though, settle for “pretty close”. As a long-lost friend of mine once said about dating and romance, “it’s an off-the-rack world”. If you wait for perfection, you might die waiting. Some people do hold out for perfection; most never find it. The world is not always a fair place.
I compare the search for a soulmate in this life with my lost sock drawer. Socks are meant to be paired, but sometimes one gets lost in the wash. When that happens, I put the remaining sock in a corner of the drawer. Perhaps the other one will show up; or maybe a future lost sock will provide a good match, and the two outcasts can get out into the world once more. But mostly these socks sit and wait for a partner that will never arrive. They all have the same problem, but they can’t provide each other with a solution. Because they just don’t go together. Everyone who complains about being lonely is usually surrounded by many others with the same complaint, others who could theoretically answer their longings and end their loneliness. But 99% of the time, it just doesn’t work. Just like a blue nylon sock and a gray cotton sock, which don’t go together. They need their soulmates; and they most likely won’t find them.
But that’s life. Nonetheless, it’s nice that an emotionally naive song can still make it in this cynical world of so little faith. Dreams die hard, don’t they. But in dying hard, perhaps they live on.
Jim,
Having gone to early voting, I too have finished all discussion on the election. I voted for whom I ended up deciding to vote and that’s that. All that remains now is to wait for the counting on November 4.
As to the discussion on taxes: I say it’s all a waste of time and breath. In the end the person who gets elected will do what he has to do. Inevitably, elected officials (national, county, city, etc.) end up raising taxes; I have yet to see anyone who said he/she would not raise taxes actually NOT raise taxes. As I see it, none of such discussion means anything at all.
What I do see looming on the horizon and that I don’t think the American people have a clue of yet is the fact that we have become a socialistic country with the buy out of some of the banks–and it has been the Republicans (the ones tirading against that most vociferously) who have already done that. I wonder at the psychological denial of it all!
As to modern music: I have long ago lost interest in it. It holds no thrill for me–either singers sing in a flat, dead–yes DEAD–monotone or they scream. Yes, there are some musicians who value the concept of “less is more”–such as Nora Jones (I think that’s her name) and perhaps Alicia Keyes. But too many of those who pass for musicians mistake (or substitute) screaming for any real musical talent. I have little patience with such.
As to the friend of yours who said it’s an “off-the-rack world”: I have no doubt that person has found only people who never met his/her “standards.” I have never understood the idea of some people these days that another–the ideal soul mate–would meet a criteria of qualifications set out by the person “looking” for a soul mate. In my life relationships I have taken people as they are. And the concept that once one gets married he/she will never be lonely again is naive beyond belief as far as I am concerned. I think that the closer the relationship often the greater the realization that we are alone when it comes right down to it. And I think that realization comes from the fact that the closer one gets to knowing the other individual, of course, paradoxically the greater the divide between them as the uniqueness of the individual is appreciated by the other person.
Most people love being in love and are disappointed when real love is not like that. But the real, true reward comes in knowing the other individual so closely that one eventually realizes the paradox built within the relationship. Once one gets beyond that point one reaches a depth of love one never really conceived of.
MCS
Comment by MCS — October 26, 2008 @ 9:15 am
Jim,
Having gone to early voting, I too have finished all discussion on the election. I voted for whom I ended up deciding to vote and that’s that. All that remains now is to wait for the counting on November 4.
As to the discussion on taxes: I say it’s all a waste of time and breath. In the end the person who gets elected will do what he has to do. Inevitably, elected officials (national, county, city, etc.) end up raising taxes; I have yet to see anyone who said he/she would not raise taxes actually NOT raise taxes. As I see it, none of such discussion means anything at all.
What I do see looming on the horizon and that I don’t think the American people have a clue of yet is the fact that we have become a socialistic country with the buy out of some of the banks–and it has been the Republicans (the ones tirading against that most vociferously) who have already done that. I wonder at the psychological denial of it all!
As to modern music: I have long ago lost interest in it. It holds no thrill for me–either singers sing in a flat, dead–yes DEAD–monotone or they scream. Yes, there are some musicians who value the concept of “less is more”–such as Nora Jones (I think that’s her name) and perhaps Alicia Keyes. But too many of those who pass for musicians mistake (or substitute) screaming for any real musical talent. I have little patience with such.
As to the friend of yours who said it’s an “off-the-rack world”: I have no doubt that person has found only people who never met his/her “standards.” I have never understood the idea of some people these days that another–the ideal soul mate–would meet a criteria of qualifications set out by the person “looking” for a soul mate. In my life relationships I have taken people as they are. And the concept that once one gets married he/she will never be lonely again is naive beyond belief as far as I am concerned. I think that the closer the relationship often the greater the realization that we are alone when it comes right down to it. And I think that realization comes from the fact that the closer one gets to knowing the other individual, of course, paradoxically the greater the divide between them as the uniqueness of the individual is appreciated by the other person.
Most people love being in love and are disappointed when real love is not like that. But the real, true reward comes in knowing the other individual so closely that one eventually realizes the paradox built within the relationship. Once one gets beyond that point one reaches a depth of love one never really conceived of.
MCS
Comment by MCS — October 26, 2008 @ 9:15 am