Tag Archives: government

General, Uncategorized

Dude: We're Purple

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It’s been an OUTRAGEOUSLY busy day at work, but I did turn on the inaugural programming on hulu and CSPAN, just kept it on in the background.

I talked to someone the other day who made a comment something like this is a big day for all those Obama supporters out there, and while that’s true, I don’t think the sentiment goes far enough.  It is a big day for those folks, but it is just as big a day for everyone who didn’t vote for our new president.

It’s an historic occasion, a time to celebrate the peaceful and seamless transition that we can so easily take for granted, and a moment to reach out to our fellow citizens that often disagree with us.  As we turn this page in American history, it’s important to focus on our strengths, put the past behind us, and make a conscious, concerted effort to work together in these troubling times.

It’s sad that it is so easy for us to distrust our elected officials.  But just maybe if we can put doubt aside and try to empathize with those on the other side of the aisle, it will be easier to follow the example that President Obama says he present: a transparent, honest and straightforward method of governance that you may not always agree with, but should always understand.

As excited as I am to see the person I voted for take office today, I am more hopeful than anything; that he will continue to demostrate the qualities that brought me over in the first place, and that he will earn the respect of those he hasn’t yet convinced.  I am hopeful that when Barack Obama leaves office, we as a nation can say that we have bit more faith in our government than we did yesterday.  It will definitely not be easy, but it feels good to think there’s a chance.

General, Uncategorized

A Very Special "This American Life"

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I haven’t been able to listen to the show as regularly since I live in Milwaukee and don’t have a 90-minute drive a few times a week.  But I digress.

The episode from March 28 was called, “The Audacity of Government.”  What it dealt with most of all is the way that the Bush Administration has very shrewdly, very carefully, and very frighteningly reinterpreted the way that executive power can be used in the United States and how and when the Constitution applies to the president.  These are issues that are easy to overlook if you’re not directly affected by them, but they do cut to the core of what sort of democracy we want to have (and what sort President Bush has set the precedent for us to have).  In my mind, this is something that should be central to the current presidential campaign, because of some of the power seized by Bush isn’t returned immediately, it’s never going back, and the way that we govern ourselves will have been fundamentally changed.

Anyway, I get my TAL via podcast, but for now, you’ll need to stream this episode over the web.  I HIGHLY reccommend doing so.  This was one of the best ones I’ve ever heard.