This is the time of year when many, especially pundits, either look back at the year ending, or look ahead with resolutions, or both.
There is some of each in this New York Times column this morning, but the focus is primarily forward, with four resolutions Blow offers as his commitment for the forthcoming year.
Let me list them, in bold since this is not a continuous quote, but is word for word, and then below the cheesedoodle offer a bit more from Blow and some remarks of my own if you are interested.
1. To stop treating politicians like sports stars, political parties like teams and our national debate like sport.
2. To force politicians to remember, with as much force and fervor as my pen can muster, that they are servants, not rulers.
3. To remember that justice is a natural aching of human morality.
4. To focus more fully on the power and beauty of the human spirit.
Please keep reading.
For each of the four resolutions listed above, except the second, Blows offers an explanation.
Perhaps that is because the 2nd SHOULD be obvious in a nation whose establishing document begins We the People in a paragraph that concludes with do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Yet such is not the case.
Not when too many who seek or hold the position of power supposedly on our behalf think more about the sources of their campaign contributions than the well-being of the people they are supposed to serve.
Not when those in our government lie or obfuscate, not only to us, but to Courts (FISA) and to those responsible for overseeing the actions of the executive branch.
I look at the first point, about our politics and politicians as sport and I have one immediate reaction - a winning sports team may thrill us, as does winning an election, but neither the team nor its star - sport or political - is a magic solution to our problems. We have a responsibility to address the needs of our society beyond those immediately affecting us and our kith and our kin.
Blow's explanation of the 3d point on justice is worth close reading:
In the core of most people is an overwhelming desire to see others treated fairly and dealt with honestly. That is not a party-line impulse but a universal one. I will do my best to highlight that basic quality. For instance, I believe that there will come a time when we will all look back at the brouhaha over same-sex marriage in disbelief and disgrace, and ask: Why was that even a debate?
I have seen this coming for some time, since a young student whose father was one of the most prominent Afrcan-American ministers in Prince George's County Maryland, a man who would preach that God had created us Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve, once opined in class that she did not understand why people were so upset at the notion of what we now call marriage equality - were not her gay and lesbian friends as entitled to the pursuit of happiness as was she? I knew then that is was only a matter of time until the fear and prejudice that reinforced the prejudice and discrimination would fade.
I am not overly sanguine that it will disappear. After all, election of a Black President has unleashed racism all over, and some have chosen to attempt to use it for their political and personal benefit.
But most Americans will have more open hearts that than, so long as we do not scare them too much, which is why the demagogues always play on fear, because it is the only way they can sustain their power and control.
It is that fundamental decency that Blow addresses in his expounding of his fourth and final resolution:
Regardless of their politics, the vast majority of the people I meet, when they can speak and listen and act of their own accord and not in concert with a group, are good, decent and caring people. Most work hard or want to. They love their families and like their neighbors. They will give until it hurts. They fall down, but they bounce back. They are just real people, struggling to get a bit and get by, and hoping to share a laugh and a hug with an honest heart or two along the way. That is no small observation and not one of little consequence. I believe that I can write more about those traits.
I read those words and I understand at least in part why I like Blow's writing. Those words speak to me. They remind me of why I teach. They underlie why I am politically active, why my primary political activity is what I am doing right now - writing to inform, persuade, inspire, challenge - myself in the writing as much as any hoped for impact from those who might choose to read my words.
Blow writes Those are my resolutions, ones I will strive to keep, ones I’ll reflect on even if I fall short. He asks what the resolutions of his readers might be.
I do not make resolutions.
I used to joke that what I gave up for Lent when I considered myself a Christian were my New Years Resolutions, except I do not make them.
It is not that I do not commit to do better, to examine myself and my actions, affirming what is good and purposing to change what is not or is lacking. I do so regularly, because by nature I am a reflective person. For me this is an ongoing process, not limited to the change-over of a calendar.
Still, it is worthwhile to examine how others approach this process, to learn from their perceptions of the world.
I found what Blow wrote to be useful.
I thought it worth sharing, especially since it was not referenced in the Abbreviated Pundit Roundtup.
I chose to reflect upon it a bit.
Hope you don't mind that I also shared my thoughts.
Have a blessed weekend.
Peace.