THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER 59

I watched the big speeches from the RNC & the DNC this year. I have listened to the big speeches from both conventions since 1992, maybe 1988. I generally don’t like politicians because so much of getting elected is making promises that don’t fit into the way the actual machinations of government work, the other aspect is creating a straw man out of the opposing side & saying why you’re not like them. This George Carlin quote popped up into my head “Inside every cynical person is a disappointed idealist”. This is definitely true in me though I don’t feel disappointed, I feel realistic. But my son Henry who is sixteen, idealistic, stubborn & naive has been pushing me in political discussions probably once a week that make me pause & reconsider some of the assumed wisdom I have accumulated over the years. I’ve had the position towards politics that I have towards meat eating. I was a vegan for almost a decade & stopped being a vegan so that I could participate in people’s hospitality without being all special-needs. I have never approached politics the same way. I am an anarchist at my core, though it’s pretty obvious to me that most people can’t live without laws or enforcement, this I’ve understood for a while but I’ve found it hard to move past that because there’s been so much political divisiveness in the USA that it’s been difficult to see what the overarching thread is. In listening to the speeches from the RNC & DNC the theme of honoring the middle class (the working class in my parlance) was emphasized as was a togetherness. There are a lot of details that are different, but as I was saying to Katie, it comes down to who you would loan your car (government) to. Republicans don’t believe in the car & are probably going to return the car wrecked if at all. The Democrats will borrow the car for too long, use up all the gas & get the interior dirty but actually return the car. At least in this metaphor. They’re not ideal but in the imperfect world we actually live in with the very real people we interact with, they’re going to do a better job for people. Ultimately that is what America is, imperfect, very flawed but better than the alternative.