Flag Day, 2016 Musings of a
Political Neo-Cynic

Summertime and the Politics is Easy:
Ignore Everything & Tune Out Until After Labor Day

So Flag Day, 2016…

We have the Presidential nominees – the most disliked ever!

We do not yet have the VP candidates, but who cares. I know, one heartbeat away…, but I repeat: who cares? We’ll deal with that sad contingency if we have to. One prediction about the VP choices: Each presidential candidate will declare his or her pick the most qualified. The pundits will chatter about which demographics they attract and thus which states they’ll help to carry. Wanna bet otherwise?

We will have the conventions – great for the local economies – Yeah for Philadelphia and Cleveland!! Useless for almost everything else! They may provide some entertainment – maybe, but you can do better with Netflix. I am hoping they don’t produce the titillating type of entertainment from violent disruptive behavior that we both lament and are growing addicted to.

Rest up from all the pompous officious pundits. Sorry to have to lump a few good ones in with the majority. Better yet, watch last summer’s pundit reruns: “Trump won’t last!” “Hillary will wrap it up after the first few caucuses/primaries.” And yet these pundits still draw their salaries. Many hard working Americans would be in danger of being fired for lesser blunders. So don’t waste your time this summer.

However, if you can’t go cold turkey on politics, then pray for the politics of our country. This nation, touted by some as “The City on the Hill,” has become the “The Country in the Political Cesspool.” And let’s not kid ourselves; it’s becomes pervasive: All 3 branches of government, executive, legislative and judicial; at all 3 levels, federal, state and local; bi-partisan, Democrats and Republicans are virally infected. (My apologies to the many dedicated women and men who hold elective and appointed office and are struggling against odds to promote the common good. I thank them, because without them the cesspool would be even smellier and dirtier.)

The Supreme Court gave us virtually unlimited money for political campaigns. Corporations are considered persons. I may have to accept the legal definition but I re-affirm corporations are not made in the image and likeness of God, only human persons are.

Legislators don’t legislate. When they hold “hearings,” they speak more than listen. And when they are not campaigning and dialing for dollars, they stand trial and go to jail.

Presidents have taken to enacting major policies by executive fiat and then arguing them before courts rather than debating them with Congress. Governors, mayors, county executives and town supervisors take their cue from the divisive national tone and figure out their own methods to work more for their own re-elections than the common good.

While these new solutions for governing appear fairly straightforward they don’t seem to accomplish much.

That’s why I’m suggesting prayer. The way we run our politics – nationally and at every level of government — does matter to God because the way we do business affects the dignity of people made in God’s image. So let’s pray for the politics of our nation this summer.