Be warned: this is a rant.
I look and Washington lately and go… huh? Whether you lean left or right or even as far as believing that refusing to raise the debt ceiling is a good idea (and saying so in a campaign commercial)… what we should address is: how does one change or move an opposing mountain? You think I'm crazy, I think you're crazy… so what now? Who wins? How do we get Washington out of its bubble and remember why it is they're actually there?
Full disclosure: I'm left handed. Left dominant, anyway. I eat, write, and play pool as a lefty – the important things – other things, kicking, swinging, punching I do as a righty. Things I need to do: left. Things I do in reaction or in agression… right. (Though in reading that it's not difficult to see where my bias resides.) Yes, I think the House is not being wise right now. I look at the 80 anti-choice bills passed nation-wide and ask.. jobs? Jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs… what's that your last press conference? Personally, I've never seen such a collection of short-sighted finger pointing since kindergarten in Wyoming on Halloween after the teacher got hit in the back by a water balloon. But that's not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about getting around impossible situations.
Rules of the game: I can't win. I can never win. I will never win. (and) You always win, you will win, I won't let you win, you will be big and strong and fight me to win. If I let you win, then it's not really a win.
Strange rules, but we are where we are.
In situations where no matter what you say the other will disagree simply because that's what they feel they have to do – the only option left is for them to win. Period. The country is in a really bad marriage right now. In bad marriages one person always has to be the winner.
Remember junior high? Unless you were the top 10 cool kids there always had to be at least one person who for some unknown reason just enjoyed seeing you lose. Whether that be getting a bad grade on a test, being made fun of for missing a goal, or catching you tripping over a small crack in the sideway – they for some reason… enjoyed… seeing you lose. It was more empowering to them than their winning. The sad truth is that is where we are. All the smart kids went and professors and musicians and artists, and now all we're left with are the school bullies who can't see past their prom running the country. We're in junior high right now. I want MY country back: one with wisdom, maturity, intelligence and working together to find the best compromise for everyone who lives in this country.
One has either a strategic retreat or, if lucky, pre-empting the debate by jumping in with equally outrageous demands so that when it's whittled away to something manageable it looks like you've actually lost. You HAVE to look like you lost in order to even hope of making progress. A glimmer of win and the immovable mountain will be even higher next time. No one like retreating, so the only desirable solution is to start the game before the other person does. You have to build the track, plan the twists and turns, and be thinking about the issues two or three in the future b/c the current one has already been scripted.
To win, you lose. Not a new concept, but one from cultures that are a few thousand years older than being and bold American, so I for one would like to listen a little bit. My other hope is that… we embrace facts, equal opportunity (socially and financially), separation of church and state, and small government in the literal sense rather than as a catch phrase.
?Anyway, why can't everyone just chill and listen to Jazz. I mean, honestly! Chill out for a little bit. Cut back on the fake tan and forces souther drawl to get more nascar votes. Fly a kite or play a G chord under an oak tree on a sunny day.
