The Absent Uncle: Politics

I guess I am a crossroads. Not so much a crossroads as a quandary. Quandary is defined as a state of uncertainty; a perplexing situation or position. I guess that defines my feelings about today’s politics best. I’ve always considered myself sometimes a member of one party or another. But in today’s politics, nothing seems to fit. Not anymore.

According to the Webster’s Dictionary politic(s) is defined as 1.) Having practical wisdom; 2.) Crafty, unscrupulous 3.) Prudently or artfully contrived.

Nothing seems to fit. Two out of three of the definitions fit today’s political world. (I’ll leave you to pick the two I or you prefer referring to). I know how I feel and the candidates being presented just don’t fit for me. I am sort of a center-of-the-road kind of guy. I don’t swerve to the left or right very often.

Fiscally conservative, socially moderate. Get what you pay for, make sure people are responsible. Use the Golden Rule. That’s about it.

Isn’t that most of America?  

So now we have people from the right questioning Social Security and Medicare programs (at my age they are important to me). From the left they are trying to expand them to people who may be in desperate need but really haven’t earned them. But who wants – or admits that they want – people to suffer? And let’s be clear, I believe we absolutely have to have a safety net in our society. Bottom line.

So here we go. They debate (but not really), stop talking (really), vilify (on camera), condemn (?), and kick the can down the road to the next election cycle. It’s so exhausting. With no path forward, no clear decision having been made without dispute; either prudently or artfully contrived (Definition 3). 

In my mind, that pretty much covers the entire spectrum of today’s goings on. Isn’t it somewhat disappointing that my old dictionary can define the same questions we feel today and we have not been able to move past that old definition or add another with a few short words? 

The fourth definition of politic(s): Ironically so, is ‘The use of practical wisdom.’