Vascillation

At some point in the last two weeks an odd thought came to me; have I been drifting too far to the left? Did I unwittingly drink the Kool-Aid and turn into a Commie-bot while ripping on the RNC and conservatives in general? How could I answer this question in an objective manner?

Well it hit me fairly quickly, as I was also bemoaning the basic lack of programming on POTUS, that I could cast my net into new waters and sample the channel which specifically labels itself as "Liberal Radio", on XM 167. I took the waters, as it were and I can only say one thing in all honesty.

Holy shit. Any suspicion that my enthusiasm for Obama and his overall administration thus far qualified me as being a "liberal" was blown completely out of the water. I mean wow. Just over a weak of listening to Mike Malloy and Alex Bunnett has cured me of any such illusions. Listening to Malloy reminds me of the old joke about what happens when you play country music backwards; substitute Limbaugh for Hank Williams. Apparently, according to Micky here, everything wrong in life can be laid at the feet of capitalism; frankly, if you listen to this lefty loonie tune, you can figure out he's a hold-over hippie who is still carrying a torch for communism. Bleeding hell I am tired of "-isms".

So what have I learned? I am hated at both ends of the spectrum and while I still have to politely (or not so much) disagree with both the loonies and the wing-nuts I can at least understand while they both hate each other. I have to return to my earlier position that letting these to waring camps hold the reigns of power is a hideously bad idea. Massive Left-Right political shifts in our national policies are going to tear this country apart and the only way to cure the affliction is the one thing we can't get people to do; we can't get them to actually reason and compromise with one another. This in the age of instant, real-time communication...the irony could gag a goat.

Throughout human history, numerous figures have cautioned against extremes in society. From Taoism to Aristotlean ethics we are again and again advised to avoid extremes...yet the dramatic nature of such draw followers like moths to a flame and even as they are immolated the followers of extremes hurl invective at we more moderate persons for our refusal to abandon our control and grasp of the mean.

If it wasn't for the fact that modern candle flames include nuclear energies, I would be tempted to ask these fools to hurry to their fate a bit faster.