Town Hall Meeting In Reflection
For most of my adult life, I have endeavored to avoid politics. The minutiae of administering institutions, the order of society has held no attraction for me. However beginning with the first Iraq war, and then Afghanistan, I’ve felt compelled to pay attention.
I’ve attempted to hire several veterans who were emotionally effected by combat experience. The working relationship catastrophically failed to the sorrow of both of us. The second concern is the rocketing national debt, –a debt manifestly unpayable. My children and grand children will be like Sisyphus never able to roll that rock to rest up the interest-inclined mountain.
I attended a town hall meeting yesterday. Brad Scheider is the 10th district elected Representative to the House. We are fortunate to have Brad. He speaks demonstrating a wide range of intelligence. He answered questions posed by constituents directly, graciously, yet holding firm to a personal principle when he knows his answer will not be what the interlocutor wishes to hear.
As to the seeming impossibility of compromise, collaboration across the aisle in Congress Brad described a social reality that structures the personal security of the elected Representative to be at odds with the bond of friendship that is foundational to working collaboratively with others. The expense of getting reelected to office, which for the House members is every two years, precludes living in Washington with one’s family. Individuals must fly home on Thursday evening in order to fund-raise in his or her district. Then one returns to Washington on Monday morning to resume work. The sums of money needed for reelection to one’s office prevent developing comity with others of the other Party, –the deeper regard that comes from sharing a meal together, or enjoying children or grandchildren in a school play with a fellow lawmaker. Circumstances preclude time for that.
Brad eloquently described this tragic scenario. Parenthetically my mind flashes to a scene in the HBO series, The Deuce, which is about sex workers in New York in the early years of the porn industry. The characters depicted each have a unique personal history. Some aspire to be more, to escape the double bind of “the business” involving pimps, and violence. The dominant note is desperation. Like in a Sartre, No-Exit drama there is no way out of the structural contradiction. Not much difference between those fictional sex workers and a member of Congress as far as I can see.
Two aspects of our situation greatly concern me. I cannot foresee how we will positively respond to either, — in a way that supports the continuation of civil society. Climate change is no longer the elephant in the room. Massive hurricanes have devastated Houston, the Florida coast, and Puerto Rico. The current occupant in the White House stands tout court in repudiation of human caused climate change. Weather scientists tell us that we will continue to be impacted by extreme weather events. That is, locally severe concentrations of drought and flooding. The economic impact stands to be incalculable. And certainly, no amount of financial resources can make whole the cultural assets of generations that are obliterated by flood or fire.
The issue of climate change was voiced at the town meeting.
Then there is the reality of virulent racism. We are living in a time when technology engenders the cultivation of antipathy, hatred for “the other.” The same convenient media sources, allow wide-spread promotion of public gatherings dedicated to the expression of hatred for individuals of non Caucasian heritage. Thus news of the equivalent of old time lynchings are becoming more common. The present
occupant of the White House tacitly supports these eruptions of terror. In the absence of a Justice Department to bring the weight of law to counter these behaviors—I am at a lost to know what is in store for our future.
I ended my day with a celebration of a birthday for my 3 year old grandson. Hope is indeed the practice of faith.
2 thoughts on “Town Hall Meeting In Reflection”
I’m posting this reply a few days after this entry was written. In the meantime several other blog entries have been added and it is apparent in those writings that you have chosen to stay away from the political maelstrom swirling around Alabama and our nation as a whole. I don’t blame you for looking towards lighter fare in these days of our reignited civil war. Despite a small victory for those who have the better interests of our country in their hearts, the prospects of continued decline are certainly, at times, overwhelming. I too would like to seek solace in the familiar songs of people I know and places that comfort a ravaged soul. Hopefully, refreshed, we can once again face the dragons that circle overhead and wield our mutual swords in defiance of insanity.
You have correctly intuited my rationale for non political subjects. Life consists of more than we can imagine. We can always choose a topic that is worthy of words. Trying to avoid a descent into dispair due to the onslaught of ignorance which we must presently endure.