Bananafish Blues

My first political memory was in 1976 when I was around three-and-a-half years old. Ford and Carter were in full campaign mode heading toward the home stretch of a close race for the first elected president of the post-Nixon era. I was staring at the Zenith and saw Carter at an outdoor rally waving at supporters and I think I saw the camera veer to the right a block or two to see a Ford rally nearby. I'm most likely wrong and it was a camera switch to another city. My brain was still soft as rich Nebraska soil then and the mind does like to pen fiction in the blank spots. Nevertheless, I do remember knowing roughly who they were and what they were doing. Next thing I remember, Carter is president and I'm thinking how cool it is that he had the same name as me, Jimmy. At this point, I knew nothing of a man named Ronald Reagan. That changed in 1980. Reagan would be the man to challenge Carter for the presidency. My parents were excited. He would win. The hostages in Iran would come home and Reagan would grow in popularity. Then I started to see what political hatred was all about.

My mom and dad would voice frustration over guys like Tip O'Neill, Ted Kennedy, and the news media who would say terrible things about the president and fight anything he proposed. Then I learned about communism, and then I learned about what the political parties thought about communism. Certainly my parents were a large factor in shaping my ideology, but many of my views on world affairs, politics, etc., even at a very young age, were innate. Why would the Democrats oppose helping the Contras in Nicaragua fight communists? Don't communists have a record of tyranny, mass-murder and injustice? my young self would ask in a game of inner-dialogue.

I ramble away on all this as I look at America in 2015. I find myself extremely crestfallen over the state of our culture, both political and sociological. I'm sure during Watergate, many thought the political climate couldn't get any worse. Ironically, some of those same people are our power-brokers today. Hillary Clinton herself served on the House Judiciary Committee overseeing Watergate and was fired for unethical behavior. Now she will probably be president. About what not to be cynical?

Is it worse now? I'm inclined to say yes as we live in a time where we are more distracted than ever before. We look at our iPhones and computers constantly and are barraged with gender-benders, celebrity asses (actual asses), and outrage over the latest newly-christened offensive term, all while this New Jerusalem burns every so slowly in tandem with the Old Jerusalem across the sea. I'm part of the problem, I suppose. Here I sit at a computer, and I'll be putting my iPhone to my nose for some godforsaken reason soon enough.

It's not just that you feel like the bad guys are always winning, but that you feel like this time, the wins might be permanent. But there again, history is a story of rises and falls. Sometimes it has to get worse before it gets better, before the masses finally say, "I'm Spartacus." Cold comfort? Pipe Dream?

Voicing my dismay on Twitter, Roger L. Simon replied with some advice. He said, quite astutely, that being cynical is easy, but also self-destructive. Then channeling Churchill, "Tell everybody you know what's happening. Never stop. Never, never give up."

He's right. We may get down, but we have to trudge on. We could keep losing for many years hence, but let's face it: there is no destination, no ultimate victory or failure. As Homer said, the journey is the thing. Cliché, yes, but nothing ventured, nothing...(damn)