The deeply held convictions of children

I guess you know why the common man doesn't like a lawyer.... It's
simply because truth doesn't seem to matter to them... only a
persistent desire to win their case, at all costs. A lawyer apparently
figures that it's their job to prosecute or defend to the best of their
ability.. and let blind justice sort out the truth...

There's some logic to that... But it still doesn't sit easy on the
populace.

The same sort of onus sticks on the politician...

Since the politician is a sort of weathervane of his or her
constituency, it is never clear whether the job of a politician is to
simply flow with the winds of the populace or to express some kind of
resolute fortitude which his people are expected to admire even if they
disagree with his principles..

Hence the discussions about Kerry's apparent vacillation (apparently
for political survival) versus Bush's supposed forthrightness (in the
face of what people really want).

It's so odd to have one politician criticizing another for
vacillation... when that is the very nature of that beast. And, in a
way it is evident that it should be so... Since a close approximation
to the (changing) will of the people might be seen as a prerequisite
for higher office... not just, well, I'm in office for four years so
it's my way or the highway (to Guantanamo).

It's not really clear why we need these politicos anymore, what with
electronic voting, 4 hours travel coast to coast, etc. But we still do
have them, along with all of the baggage of previous centuries,
including, for example, the electoral college.

The point of all this musing is simply that it is pretty sad watching
these people stand up and root for George Bush in the ongoing
republican convention...

It's guilt by association. Unless you know some Yiddish, in which case
it's gelt (wealth) by association.

I know that they have to root for their party.

But anyone who can still think that there is any sense in a Bush
presidency only marks themselves as lacking in intellectual fluidity.

You have to admire their loyalty... But it's that sort of thing that
allowed Colin Powell's ship to slowly sink into oblivion in the
national consciousness. For a while there he represented a point of
potential sanity in this administration... But he lost all credibility
as he headed out to the UN with the "proof" of WMD in his briefcase.

And where is he now? Lost in the rank and file of the Bush Admin.,
instead of running for president as the alternate to Bush, and right
now getting the nod from the sensible Republicans, instead of the
simply loyal ones...

So, what we have is apparent adults, with apparently deeply held
beliefs, holding a convention to nominate George for president.

But the problem is that, in comparison with what we now know, the kind
of world view that would propose such a thing is so limited, so
obvious, so lacking in broad awareness of human nature, culture,
development and/or consciousness, that one can only view it with the
detached amusement typically reserved for the sand box theories of a
group of children.

Knowing that apparent adults not only hold these opinions but are taken
seriously as actual voting members of society is a great mystery,
irony, travesty, or all of the above.

It's as if we grew up in a world where some people matured but others
didn't, where some people grew to adulthood but all of one's childhood
friends stayed three feet tall and 45 pounds for their entire lives.
Only they get to vote.

Kinda scary.

Personally, I'd rather have an administration of grownups for a while.

I for one would feel a bit safer.