Re: RAT Gore, gosh darnit!

[SylvainBBB@aol.com]

I recently heard two provocative things that shook up my thinking about 
politics and I'd like to share them with y'all to see what shakes loose.

1. Most People don't vote not because they are turned off or angry but 
because they are apathetically happy. If the people in DC were really 
screwing up the country in a way that most people disagreed with, many more 
people would vote. The Silent Majority (that Nixon was speaking for) don't 
care all that much because they're pretty happy with the country. At least 
happy enought to not be very thoughtful about it.

This, obviously, doesn't apply to most people who are active in this debate. 
It doesn't apply to me. But it certainly applies to my father and many people 
I've met in my non-artistic life. 

2. Americans in general are frustrated by politics because politicians must 
compromise in order to get things done. Most people think that everyone else 
believes what they believe themselves. My wife, for example, thinks that only 
a few loonys are homophobic and that all Republicans are rich, selfish, 
bigots. Compromise is actually the way that democracy works. Bush Sr. lost 
because he compromised on taxes when he said he wouldn't. It's not that he 
compromised that was really the problem. The problem was he was dumb enough 
to promise over and over again that he wouldn't. I am not saying anyone 
SHOULD compromise, just pointing out that democracy works well when people 
do. That's what put the hex on Newt and the contract with America. He and the 
freaky freshmen of 1992 lost sight of what Congress actually is and how it 
actually works.

Finally a thought of my own. Change seems to come from the middle because 
when the middle changes that's when change seems inevitable. But without 
radicals rioting in the street and voting for Nader and so on the middle will 
never be moved. So vote for Nader if you want to. If you really want him to 
be president. Play full out.