Words That Don't Stay in Place

It seems these days that we are in some sort of a lull. As George in Colorado Springs says, these halcyon days make him wonder if the political opposition (right wing) is merely regrouping.

Personally, I think it's just that it's hard for them to maintain a level of alarmist high dudgeon when there is so little reward for it. The politics of no require a regular infusion of indignation, and that's hard to maintain in the face of repeated defeat. People like the idea of health coverage and many wanted the public option; insurance companies will continue to shoot themselves in their feet over the need for profit, so it's only a matter of time--which is pretty much what the right understands and is so angry about.

Anyway, Sid and I are between culture wars right now. We are here back in the RV resort in Apache Junction after a relatively (for us) smooth trip down from Denver. The weather this time was good--no complaints there, but we opted to come through a canyon from Show Low to Globe, which, while it was spectacular, was also rather sobering. About every mile there was a marker saying "in the memory of . . ." In one area there was a gap in the guard rail marked by three crosses and wreaths. It seems that our highways are rapidly becoming cemeteries, or at least memorial chapels.

Pretty much can be said about Congress these days with the announced decisions not to seek office again. Don't get me wrong there. I think a good changing of the guard is not only a good thing but something necessary. Some time ago, I wrote a blog about Obama, wondering if he was the bitter medicine we needed to take if we were to get back on track. It seems I was right, except he has been more polished than I expected--or perhaps more than I deserved in my president. He has been quietly moving forward on the things we need to do while all manner of shrill fallout has harmlessly fallen to ground about him. The extremes on both sides--left and right, but particularly the right--are actually becoming boring. One wishes they would get beyond their one-note diatribes and get a life.

One thing about being set down in the midst of a group of people who disagree completely with me is the opportunity it provides for reflection. I find myself wondering to what extent there is a generational war going on. I heard that a lot during the 60's, but I wonder if Right and Left aren't clashing over control of America's past. I hear people throwing around the Constitution as if the document were capable of easy interpretation. Hundreds of years of intricate case law and precedent should disabuse them of the idea that language can be pinned down to one meaning, but that point seems to be eluding them. Words are slippery, as T.S.Eliot once said: they do not stay in place.

So much has to depend on good will if there is to be any resolution of anything, let alone something as substantial and our future. That's what we're lacking since it seems more important to the frantic among us to simply howl at the moon and be damned to doing anything worthwhile. I for one would like something better.