Diameters

We're going to begin today with a geometry lesson. Whoa, get back here you mathaphobe. It's just an illustration. Each circle has a diameter, you will remember. It starts at any point on the circle and passes through the exact center to a point on the other side. By definition, then, the two points must be 180 degrees apart. In order to travel the circumference from one point to the other, you would have to go as far around to the other side as possible without returning. That is where we are politically. We can travel the circumference as much as we want, but we can never leave to meet in the middle. Thus endeth the analogy.

The system has been broken for a long time. I think we all know that. But it's arguably worse than it has ever been, due largely to the lovely media people who are part of my discipline. Yelling and screaming has become a form of entertainment, not just among the people who pass themselves off as pundits, but in most of reality TV. The irony is that pundit comes from the sanskrit word pandita, meaning learned man. Hardly.

I don't have this gene. I hate confrontation. Ask anyone who has every known me if I've ever yelled at him or her. You'll find few if any. It's not so much that I am afraid of confrontation; it's more that yelling and screaming in the heat of the moment don't tend to solve anything.

There are several issues in this country that will never be resolved--NEVER. That is because the two points of view are diametrically opposed and there is no chance of even locating the center, let alone meeting there. And yet, I doubt extremism has ever been the answer to anything. We are no longer Democrats and Republicans; we are Liberals and Conservatives. We may as well just change the names. And 535 people will never agree on anything. Every time a president screws up or we think screws up, we elect the other party in congress as punishment. Geniuses that we are, that adds to the gridlock.

Ah, but I am not just a complainer. I propose solutions as well, cockamamie as they may be. First of all, do away with parties. Belonging to a party destroys any chance at you had for original thought. Each state elects one representative by popular vote from among the candidates who have taken a combination law and business exam and passed. There is no house or senate anymore. Most people don't understand the difference anyway. The fifty representatives replace the 535 heads of cabbage we have now. They act as a board of directors for the country. The fifty hire a CEO to run the country. I know what you're thinking. Corporate greed will take over. The catch is all of their salaries are determined every four years by a popular vote, when we may fire the current representative and choose a new one. They have no control over their own profitability, only the country's. Therefore, it runs more like a non-profit, but the people have been hired for their business savvy instead of their politics. In other words, the head of the country would interview for a job and actually be chosen by qualifications rather than political rhetoric. Oh, wait, I forgot about decisions regarding things like war. Oh, well, I guess we just won't have any.

Now, you and I both know this will never happen. But I urge you not to gainsay it. In fact, please don't even post any comments telling me why this won't work. I'm not interested. Let me dream my dream. Let me have my Rodney King moment where we all come together and sing kumbaya. No, wait, kumbaya has religious connotations and I don't want to get into that debate either. Aw, dang it. Let's just sing Barry Manilow's Can't Smile Without You then.