alternative hippopotamus

progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital

June 4, 2007

Reflection on Sunday’s Debate

by AltHippo @ 12:05 pm. Filed under 2008 Elections

If there was one phrase, one sound bite from last night’s Presidential Primary debate that summed up my sense of being underwhelmed, it was Joe Biden’s remark that the principle role of the president is the safety and security of its citizens. I don’t have a transcipt in front of me, but that’s pretty close.

It’s not that safety and security aren’t important- of course, they are. But when you start with these two as the basis for the role of the executive then you can end up with a lot of the things we most dislike about the Bush administration: secrecy, chronyism, subversion of justice to serve political ends, the suppression of dissent, the elevation and calcification of one class over another, even spying on your citizens. You can have all these things, and indeed this is the Bush legacy, yet be safe and secure, at least in the basic creature comfort sense of those words.

The fish in the 10 gallon aquarium tank next to my television are safe in the same sense of those words. That doesn’t make them the heirs of a great civilization, however.

Safety and security as an aim for our society falls well below the mark set by the preamble to our Constitution:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

As I was watching the debate I found myself withdrawing into the world of the Onion. Whenever I’m a little down it’s always a lift to the spirits to see headlines like: “Paul Newman to Receive Lifelong Award for Achievement in Salad Dressing” or “Maytag Repairman Dies of Boredom.” Last night I was penning headlines in my mind like: “Future Former Candidate Edwards Polititely Raises Voice to Opponents, Provoking Monotonic Policy Proposal from Frontrunner Clinton.”

When I discuss the election with fellow progressives the standard response is that at least none of them are George Bush. Thank goodness for that. I just think we can do better. I would like to hear a candidate say that he sees the role of the US and sees his job as president as providing a beacon of light for the rest of the world.

Isn’t that what we want from our leaders?

Bookmark on del.icio.us

Leave a Reply

*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture.
Anti-Spam Image

« On Religious Beliefs in the Workplace
How Cool is That? »

[powered by WordPress.]

hip·po·pot·a·mus n. A notion, perhaps distinct from conventional wisdom, that needs to be verified by reality-based scrutiny.

contact

TBA 2008

The Alternative Hypothesis

the elephants of anwr

issues and insight

capitolists

alt media

sounds

critical resources

flora and fauna

law & order

events

cinema

literati

propaganda

use with extreme caution

internal links:

categories:

search blog:

archives:

June 2007
M T W T F S S
« May   Jul »
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
252627282930  

other:

95. Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum (I think that I think, therefore I think that I am.)
— Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

comments

Recent Comments

HippoWire

  • Recent Trackbacks:

    • 27 queries. 31.849 seconds