Based on my personal friends, family and colleagues, most conservatives are honest and sincere. And also based on my personal friends, family and colleagues, most liberals are honest and sincere.And then there are the wingers.
This may sound a little weird, but bear with me as I'm winging this analogy on the fly, so to speak.
Politics is like a plane.
There is a wing on the left side and a wing on the right side. Drop one wing and the plane spins in a circle because there is nothing to balance it. Drop the other wing and the plane does the same thing in the other direction. In neither case does the plane make any forward progress (and would likely just crash and burn). The wings need each other to "balance" the argument. Without the other, the one is useless.
In the middle there is the fuselage of the plane. The fuselage is designed to go straight. And forward. The wings may give it lift, but they also create a drag that slows the fuselage down (and after all, the fuselage is where all the people are so it's pretty important). Without the wings the fuselage acts like a missile and shoots towards its target with greater precision. But greater precision in the wrong direction isn't so good. The fuselage is also less stable without the wings. So, gosh darn it, the fuselage just has to have those wings to keep the balance somewhere near the middle, you betcha.
The problem with the wingers is that they tend to be out on the extremes of the political ideology. They aren't happy unless they are pushing through their agenda, left or right, and the other side loses. But if they actually accomplish their goals they would just spin us around in circles, either a left spin or a right spin. It would seem to be much more efficient if the left and right sides were a little closer to the middle.
Aye, but there's the rub. Because they are. Most Americans actually do fall closer to the middle. But most Americans aren't very vocal, nor are they particularly informed about the total picture. They tend to lean toward one side of the plane, but then leave the debate mostly to the extreme tips of the wings because those are the ones that are the most active and most vocal. And also the most likely to paint the other side as evildoers who will destroy the USA if given a chance to implement their vile agendas, say, to make health care affordable to all Americans or make policies to protect our children's futures.
What we need is shorter wings so the fuselage can move forward faster, but still have wings so the plane stays stable and balanced (and both ideological views are heard). What we need is more people in the fuselage who independently evaluate all the information, not just the information that supports their particular wing. And who can tell the wings to be more true.
Okay, way too long. I'm heading in on a wing and a prayer.
In the middle there is the fuselage of the plane. The fuselage is designed to go straight. And forward. The wings may give it lift, but they also create a drag that slows the fuselage down (and after all, the fuselage is where all the people are so it's pretty important). Without the wings the fuselage acts like a missile and shoots towards its target with greater precision. But greater precision in the wrong direction isn't so good. The fuselage is also less stable without the wings. So, gosh darn it, the fuselage just has to have those wings to keep the balance somewhere near the middle, you betcha.
The problem with the wingers is that they tend to be out on the extremes of the political ideology. They aren't happy unless they are pushing through their agenda, left or right, and the other side loses. But if they actually accomplish their goals they would just spin us around in circles, either a left spin or a right spin. It would seem to be much more efficient if the left and right sides were a little closer to the middle.
Aye, but there's the rub. Because they are. Most Americans actually do fall closer to the middle. But most Americans aren't very vocal, nor are they particularly informed about the total picture. They tend to lean toward one side of the plane, but then leave the debate mostly to the extreme tips of the wings because those are the ones that are the most active and most vocal. And also the most likely to paint the other side as evildoers who will destroy the USA if given a chance to implement their vile agendas, say, to make health care affordable to all Americans or make policies to protect our children's futures.
What we need is shorter wings so the fuselage can move forward faster, but still have wings so the plane stays stable and balanced (and both ideological views are heard). What we need is more people in the fuselage who independently evaluate all the information, not just the information that supports their particular wing. And who can tell the wings to be more true.
Okay, way too long. I'm heading in on a wing and a prayer.
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Comments: 58
Serendipity, I just posted...
May the number of moderates grow, and the partisans leave.
In both politics, and media.
We would definitely all notice.
I was talking in generality, not necessarily about our political environment today, although if the velcro shoes fit we should wear them.
Loved the analogy, it was spot on.
(is that true?)
What now is thought of as right wing conservatism has nothing to do with conservatism, but rather ideological self-righteous indignation that's spurred by the most vocal elements of the "wing."
Talking aviation stories though here is one you might enjoy. During Viet Nam (Opn Linebacker II) we had hundreds of B52 bombers hitting targets daily. Many fly out of Anderson AFB in Guam. One day a bird was coming in and a message announced most of the crew was dead plus she was badly damaged with only a couple of wounded men alive. As it was some a couple of hundred plus miles out, concern was it might not make it in. The wounded caller stopped transmitting and soon enough the tower crew watched the damaged aircraft come in and make a perfect landing and taxi to a side pit.
Rescue crews got aboard to find the entire flight crew dead. Doctors said the last man had died over an hour earlier. The B52 had brought her crew home by herself. That B52 is still at Anderson AFB mounted off the main run way with the plaque detailing the story. Her name escapes me but the story I've never forgot.
I like your B52 story. Very heartwarming and inspiring. If I ever get to Guam I will be sure to check it out.
I think this maneuver is an inevitable part of the process of group decision making...but it does slow down the plane.
Something for something political airline- Corruption Red and Blue Airline Inc.
The American people are not the evil and vile persons in politics the evil and vile one's are the politicians, let us stop arguing between ourselves- blaming us for the problems in America, we are not the problem. We are the people who care about America and are fed-up with what these pols have done.
America was born on the backs of "Angry People" who knew that something had to be done. The left wing- the right wing-ya-da-ya-da! IT'S the Corrupt Politician Wing- airline that has to be grounded and kept on the runway, by angry fed-up patriots made up of all Americans.
The only thing I would disagree with you on is your idea of keeping "Air Corruption" grounded on the tarmac...I would suggest that we allow it to take flight and then blow it (and ALL of our corrupt politicians) out of the air!!!
We need to vote every member of Congress out of office and start anew. No more life long hacks, no more self serving loons, no more self righteous crooks - let's get rid of the whole darn lot of em!
"Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth." Abe Lincoln
I believe that a lot of this "reelection madness" stems from this false sense of party security...the thought that today these Democrats or Republicans actually represent the wishes and beliefs of the American people and act on our behalf.
If we (the American people) had the guts to vote every single incumbent out of office over the next 2-4-6 years - we could change the "status-quo" and begin to rebuild our nation for the better.
I fear that we as a people - do not have the backbone to do such...so we will only continue to propogate this insanity! We have to blame ourselves for allowing the current state of complaciancy and thus the ineptitude that we have allowed to overtake Washington.
How unfurtunate for ALL of us!
When our Airplane of State seemed like it was heading for a crash landing, I noticed the first class passengers all got out their golden parachutes and made plans to exit the plane over the Cayman Islands.
I am also a lifelong Independent who has been on more planes than I could possibly count (and about to hop another one in a few days), which is probably why I thought of this.
The party called for a purge of centrists, which made up 25% of Congress at the time. In a nano-second, the left wing called for the same thing. Soon the litmus test wars were on, and the centrists fell to low double digits.
Fast forward to the big tent Republican party, pulling together a coalition, and electing more centrists to Congress. Not to be outdone, Howard Dean took credit for doing the same.
Note that no matter how small, or large the center gets, the result is the same.
The two gubernatorial elections in this off year, New Jersey and Virginia, are currently leaning toward very conservative Republican candidates. NJ may be a lost cause for the Democrats because it has been hard hit by the tanking economy and the incumbent isn't particularly well liked even in his own party. Virginia is probably closer than it appears at the moment but could also go Republican. Wins in both states would of course be interpreted (wrongly in my opinion) as a public groundswell of support for going back to conservative policies, which means the Republicans will lean pretty far right for next year's elections.
In the end, the moderates are likely to still be Democrats after next year and the Republicans will likely be not-so-moderate. Still way too early to tell though, as this all rides on the economy. If it's still bad next summer, the Democrats could lose a significant number of seats. Not enough to switch control but enough to make it even more difficult to get things done.
Corruption is our country's greatest problem. To many still refuse to admit it for political partisan reasons- even those who are now preaching can't we all get along political debate.
If I dare to call all politicians evil and corrupt, and there is no doubt anymore that-that is true, I am called a "winger" aka, a nut-job. How Pathetic.
Lets just keep treating these liars and crooks with respect and dignity- tone it down.
The short memory thing is also a major challenge in politics, along with the uncontrollable partisan thing. I hope that we will all be able to handle it when we realize that we are not going to see full employment any time soon, and a 2 or 3% growth rate, not real good, is about the best we can expect. Economic disasters have consequences, we are not going to be able to hand everybody another round of tax refunds and make it all instantly better.
I agree with the short term memory problem. How quickly each side forgets what they were saying and doing last time they were in the majority/minority.
Alas, I suspect we'll see a slow, drawn out and uneven recovery, assuming we aren't dumb enough to get impatient and go back to doing the same things that got us into this mess. Guess we'll see. I just wish there were less people holding on to the tips of the wings screaming obscenities at each other and not listening at all. Or if they are going to scream let it be about actual facts, not stuff they just made up.
It is not working- it will never work, history tells us that. If high taxation on the American people was the answer for our economic problems- than my state, NY, should be rolling in "dough" NY State is broke and bankrupt, and NY is the highest taxed state- so how could this happen.
The airplane we are currently riding is headed for a financial crash landing.
That said, I'll post another article tomorrow that shows just how fast "green" jobs are overtaking the old job sectors worldwide.
The overall effect will be fewer jobs, and great new technology.
The Star Trek future has a new balance of welfare/capitalism. A new type of economy.
David, some states are at 15/16/17 % unemployment- Obamanomics promised that it would not pass 8%- it is not working at all.
The blame Bush excuse is over, Obamanomics owns the economy now.
Ronald Reagan also inherited an economy just as bad if not worse from Carter- than Obama inherited from Bush. It took 1/12 years for Reaganomics to turn the economy around, and send the country on a 17 year economic boom.
So, Obamanomics has a 1/12 year time span to get it done.
Obamanomics vs. Reaganomics??
What better polar opposite policies- two totally different plans put into action.
Lets make a deal David, the plan that proves to be the one that worked- is the plan we should all get behind and support- Bipartisan.
Unemployment has always been uneven, and yes, the national mean of somewhere around 9.7% is the worst it's been in years. And as I have already said, the job loss rate has slowed dramatically since Obama took office. You think there is some magic wand that can take the mess and make it go away overnight? Not gonna happen. And it's simply not a valid comparison to see the late 1970s and the crash of 2008 as similar. A possibly better comparison could be the 1987 Black Monday crash of the stock market, which tanked the economy pretty badly (though not on a worldwide basis). [For the record, Reagan was in office 1980-1988, with Bush I continuing the Reagan policies for another 4 years, after which he lost badly almost exclusively because "it's the economy stupid" killed his chances]
Also for the record, when is the last time you saw something of importance get bipartisan support? And of those few you might be able to dredge up, how many never lived up to their billing because they never got the funding they were promised (NCLB comes to mind)?
If you recall, the point of the analogy is that the people in the fuselage are level headed and deal in facts. The people on the wings do a lot of hand waving in an attempt to not fall off.
Nice try David. Bush senior was no Reagan- read my lips H.W. was a liberal republican and economically governed that way. Very-weak analogy David.
Level headed?. who might they be?.
Are they the pilots who foolishly are trying to force the great majority of Americans who have medical insurance, and who keep saying they are satisfied and happy with it, should be panicked and stampeded into supporting vast increases in the arbitrary power of Washington bureaucrats to take medical decisions out of the hands of their doctors- all ostensibly because a minority of Americans do not have medical insurance.
David, the American people are not as stupid as Obama and the democrats think they are. Only a complete idiot could believe that when you add millions of people to a government health- insurance plan without increasing the federal deficit at all.
Anyone selling that LIE, should be pushed off your airplane w/o a chute.
David, Obama has set this nation on a program of
'Fiscal- irresponsibility"on Steroids.--20 trillion dollar debt in next decade-
This is insanity and has to be stopped NOW!
fencing