Simple Living Isn’t Always

Joshua Alston’s profile of Sam Waterston, one of my favorite actors, includes this wonderful one-liner:

In a country where we’re bombarded by choice, why are we forced to step inside the voting booth every fourth year and choose between french fries and onion rings?

He’s talking about Waterston’s “cause,” Unity08, which is attempting to get a bipartisan ticket on the ballot in all 50 states.

It’s a radical concept, if only because of its roots in our founding. The US first chose as its vice-president as the best also-ran. When Washington was elected, John Adams earned enough second votes of the electors to give him the vice-presidency. The political bloodbath that was the Election of 1800—36 ballots in the House before Jefferson was elected—led to the passage of the Twelfth Amendment, requiring separate electoral ballots for president and vice-president.

It’s an interesting idea that probably should get more attention.

[Disclaimer: I’m still wrestling with the Christian’s proper place in politics. It’s an issue I return to periodically, and never with more verve than in the months (or in this case, year) leading into a presidential election. I get jazzed about politics and current events despite myself. But as a Christian, I know that my hope is not in either processes or personalities. And as a bit of a cynic, I doubt that any elected official is going to do much to change day-to-day life in America. After all, the war does little to touch everyday Americans unless they have a family member or friend in Afghanistan or Iraq. Nonetheless, I’m so weary of the soundbites and handled candidates that a rogue thinker like Newt Gingrich gets my brain juices flowing.]

National Journal has posted an interview with Newt Gingrich. I agree with at least one statement of his:

“We need very bold, dramatic change, change at every level — from school board to city council to county commission to state legislatures to the presidency.”

There’s no energy in any conservative candidate apart from Ron Paul, and he has lacked the ability to energize the number of voters necessary to make him a contender. But he is a man with big ideas, and that’s what we need. Unfortunately, we live in the era of soundbite politics. You can’t discuss big ideas with pedestrians from a speeding train, which is what segmented television offers candidates. Neither can you discuss big ideas on Leno or Letterman, or even on The Daily Show. (Though you get a little more of it on TDS; John Stewart doesn’t shy away from “scary” issues.)

And Newt seems to have big ideas and the communication chops to talk about them. The problem, however, is that Newt’s not well liked. He’s the kind of polarizing figure on the right that Hillary is for the left.

I think we conservatives (not Republicans) will have to recognize that cultural change is sea change. It takes years, even decades, and we’ve been so consumed with making apologies for George W. Bush and his war that we’ve been unable to focus on anything else. If our economy survives the Bush era, perhaps a far-reaching movement can catch fire and make a difference in ‘12.

Pavarotti, legendary Italian tenor, died today at 71. The video below shows him performing with the king of “blues opera,” James Brown. For some reason, I find it riveting.

I caught the end of Clear and Present Danger (1994) yesterday. That’s the Clancy-inspired movie where Jack Ryan goes back to the CIA and ends up taking on a Colombian drug lord and his KGB-trained intelligence chief. It’s probably the weakest Jack Ryan movie, but I found myself almost cheering at the end. (Couple of spoilers below, so if you haven’t seen it, you may want to skip to the end.) Continue Reading »

Al Gore’s new book (excerpted at Time.com) is called The Assault on Reason. It’s mainly about the absence of reason in the public/political square, best I can tell. The description calls it “A visionary analysis of how the politics of fear, secrecy, cronyism, and blind faith has combined with the degration of the public sphere to create an environment dangerously hostile to reason.” Finally, something Gore and I agree on!

But I see broader evidence that reason is at risk. Continue Reading »