POLITICAL WINDS; Here we go again!

In case you have been in a coma or living in the Arctic, or Antarctic, you should know there is another election coming up very soon. The pundits have been making their hay all summer with predictions of Red Waves and then Blue Waves. Then back again.

We all sit on the edge of our seats hoping, some even praying, that THIS TIME there will be changes that matter. The reality is that there will in fact be changes and they will matter, despite what the Anarchists tell you. The problem is those changes never seem to last. Because the Winds of Change keep changing themselves.

First we get Winds from the Right

Then Winds from the Left

It seems the only constant is that the winds are always blowing. We never get any calm anymore. That period of rest that comes before the next storm. Instead we are just subjected to one storm after another after another…..asking ourselves, will that fat lady ever sing?

Why does this seem to happen in almost predictable cycles? First, Americans have traditionally been kind of passive players. Only getting in the game when the game seems to have finally impacted them. Second, Americans have been more pragmatic in their political voting, not ideological or hard partisans. Most Americans historically didn’t give a hoot about politics. Because they either did not see a connection to their lives or felt they couldn’t make a difference anyway. But as the affect of Government on our daily lives has increased, our participation, voting, has increased. But that “pragmatism” still comes into play. Which is why we see such a large number of Americans claiming “Independent” status rather than choosing a political party.

Now to be fair, part of this is due to the behavior of the Political Parties. As parties become controlled by more ideologically pure types, the more Americans will be driven to the “Independent” group. The more people are driven to be Independents, then the more diverse and unpredictable this group becomes. The more who are in that group the more the forces of change for the sake of change will take over when things are not going well. This works against the ideologically pure. They can never gain control for very long because bad things always happen and when they do those in the middle will call for change once again.

The irony is that these forces or “winds of change” have the effect of moderating the “ideological forces”. As the parties need to moderate to keep the middle ground in order to get and retain power. Thus both parties start to look the same. The more this happens the more we all start complaining about the “Uniparty”. Next thing you know we are packing up and moving back to the “Partisan House”. And the cycle begins all over again.

There are many political science types who believe this is a good thing for the country. It is very hard for any single party to gain permanent control, especially the more ideological it becomes. On the other hand, this tendency of ours never allows us to settle on a political ideology long enough to solve real problems. Instead we keep running from fire to fire with out “pragmatic hose”, dowsing this fire then the next. Never getting them out completely, just subduing them long enough to move on for awhile.

These are my rambling thoughts this morning on the nature of our political elections. There may be some good in them or not. But one thing is for certain. Until we settle on a singular set of principles, values and political beliefs, the Winds of Change will continue to blow.

There is of course one other constant in this. No matter what happens next Tuesday there will be much celebrating, whining, moaning, complaining, prognostication about what happened, why and what it means, predictions about changes to be made, and then the games will begin again. With no rest for the weary American people.