Comment

I like the Newsroom.  It is not as awesome as The West Wing was but it is a fictionalization of today and what is happening in the world right now and of course, it seems to fit my politics.  On Sunday I was watching the (short) season finale and Will made this statement:

“No, I call myself a Republican and I am one.  I believe in market solutions and I believe in common sense realities and the necessity to defend ourselves against a dangerous world and tha’t about it. 

Problem is now I have to be homophobic, I have to count the number of times people go to church, I have to deny facts and think scientific research is a long con. I have to think poor people are getting a sweet ride and I have to have such a stunning inferiority complex that I fear education and intellect in the twenty-first century.  But most of all the biggest requirement ..the only requirement is that I have to hate Democrats and I have to hate Chris Christie for not spitting on the President when he got off Air Force One.  The two Party system is crucial for the whole operation  - there is honor in being the loyal opposition and I’m a Republican for the same reasons you are so I hope your voice gets louder in the next four years."

I have a very dear friend who is a Republican.  He says that he "never left the Republican Party, the Party left him."   I think he is right.  Over the years the party has changed and is being held hostage by the religious right (who are wrong about almost everything).  

My grandparents were one of each party -one was a Democrat and the other was a Republican.  I never knew for sure which was which because they did not argue or discuss politics.  I just remember them talking one time about how they would "cancel each others vote."  And yet they still voted.  I have the feeling that my grandfather was the Republican because I remember him mocking Kennedy's accent and the way he said Democrat Pahawty rather than party. But that is just a guess.

My grandparents and their six daughters
Back row - Fran, Ruth (myMom) Jean, Ellen
Front row - Ethlynn (Sis) Doc and Sadie (Ma) Cole, JoAnn

My point is that they loved each other and in spite of differing opinions raised six girls in a house of love and compassion.  They set an example for all of us that exemplifies the best of the United States.  They helped people who needed it (even when they didn't have a lot themselves) and along with my mother gave me the values I cherish today.  

I think we need to remember in this country the principles on which we were founded.

And I think that these remarks by Benjamin Franklin on the Constitution made on the day it was signed are germane:  "I doubt too whether any other Convention we can obtain may be able to make a better Constitution. For when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men, all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an Assembly can a perfect production be expected? It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to hear that our councils are confounded like those of the Builders of Babel; and that our States are on the point of separation, only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting one another's throats. Thus I consent, Sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure, that it is not the best."

So today I want to honor both parties with the sincere hope that they will endeavour to return to the high ideals upon which they were formed.