Stormy days and politics

The weather around here recently has been very unpredictable and tumultuous.  One minute it will be bright shining sun outside my window, and the next the skies are black and it is hailing like a mo-fo.  In sum, the weather in Portland in April reminds me a lot of life in general.  If you don't like it, just wait 15 minutes, it will change.

Speaking of wild atmospheric changes, I have been sad to observe over the past couple of years how our political conversation has disintegrated.  I am not naive, I do not believe that politics used to be an innocent and honorable profession in which everyone worked together cooperatively and uttered nary a negative word towards the other side.  But there has been a radical shift in America's ability to discuss politics and government without becoming apoplectic.

Like countless numbers of others in this country, I am a George W. Bush Democrat.  Prior to George's failed administration, I was a member of the Republican Party.  My voting was never in lock-step with the GOP, but rather based on individual candidates, ballot measures, and how they compared to the traditional republican ideals, which I understood to be smaller and less intrusive government, fiscal responsibility, transparency, and a deep and abiding respect for civil rights.

After a few years of the Bush regime's trampling of these Republican fundamentals, I could no longer stomach being a member of the GOP and I joined ranks with the Dems.  Again, even after switching parties, I still voted my ideals, not whether there was a "D" or an "R" next to a candidate's name.  I did have one hard and fast rule, however, and that was to vote against any candidacy of or measure supported by Bill Sizemore.  That goes without saying.

Fast forward to 2010: we have Obama in the White House and the emergence of a political discourse that has become ugly and threatening.  It isn't enough to argue your position anymore, now the debate is all about fear-mongering, finger pointing and name-calling.  The debate over health care reform was overshadowed by screaming fanatics convinced that the President is a Socialist Nazi because he wants our citizens to have access to health care.  By the way, these people need to make up their minds as to whether Obama is a Socialist or a Nazi, because these two political groups are completely opposite from one another.  Unfortunately, that level of intellectual analysis is not likely forthcoming from the right today.

We seem to have become a country filled with people who cannot talk to each other in order to solve problems - all we do is scream.  It's like the Jerry Springer show has gone to Washington.  The obvious and enormous problem that results is that less will be accomplished by our government if the opposing sides cannot talk to each other and find middle ground.  I keep hearing people opposed to Obama saying it is time to "take our country back."  Take it back?  From whom?  From the elected officials who the majority of our population put into office?  It just is so nonsensical.  And what is with the "protesters" bringing guns to demonstrations?  Is this type of aggressive behavior supposed to facilitate a positive exchange of ideas?

I love this guy's poster.  Your rights come from God?  Oh really?  Tell that to the people unfortunate enough to have been born in Burma...or does God not like them?

Those of you that know me are aware I briefly lost my mind a few years ago and decided to practice family law.  My desire to go into this area was based on my own myriad experiences with divorce, beginning with those that occurred in my family and finally with my own dissolution.  My goal was to contrast family law experiences earlier in my life with how my husband and I handled our divorce.  I had a child-like belief that as a lawyer, I would be able to guide my clients in what is a very painful process with as little negativity as possible.  In turn, I thought families could be spared the agony of a bad breakup.

Oh boy was I wrong.  My idea of becoming a highly collaborative divorce attorney was shattered by a few issues.  First, many clients did not want to make the divorce as amicable as possible.  Second, the unfortunate fact is that many attorneys in this town (most exemplified, of course, by the Fanged Consensus Killer from Hell pictured above) will not engage in a collaborative process.  Instead, they increase their billing and their reputations as a tough lawyer by being immovable.

Why the trip down memory lane, you ask?  Because I do not want our government to become the federal version of divorce court, with screaming, tears, retribution and high costs.  The Sarah Palins and Glenn Becks of the right have whipped their side into such a frothy fervor that it seems unlikely the right and the left will be able to work together to accomplish anything.

The motivation behind this unusual political posting on my blog (shoes and body fat percentage are so much more interesting) is that I know someone running for the U.S Senate - Professor Jim Huffman.  My esteem for this gentleman could not be higher - he was a professor and dean at my law school and he is wicked smart.  He is also thoughtful, calm, and a revered expert on Constitutional Law.  Finally, he is a genuinely nice guy (though I read in a recent blog post he is a "mensch" I don't agree with that assessment) and as if all that weren't enough, he's good looking and tall.  Being handsome and tall almost automatically makes you a senator - did you know that?

OK, so what's my problem?  Obviously, given my high regard for Professor Huffman, I must be voting for him, right?  Did I mention he is a Republican?  Unfortunately, I have become so entirely disenchanted with the Republican Party that I am not sure I will be able to pull the lever and add to their ranks.  Well, we don't really pull the lever here in Oregon, what with mandatory vote by mail and all, but you get my drift.  By the way, is vote-by-mail a socialist agenda too?  Food for thought...

Tom tells me not to abandon my history of voting along my principles, rather than party lines.  I told Tom that I need to see a real commitment from any Republican asking for my vote to distance themselves from the fringe.  Not only do we need the moderate Republicans to not engage in the race/class/geopolitical baiting, but we need them to call attention to the radicals and distinguish themselves from those groups.

I'd really like to send Mr. Huffman to Washington, but can he be a force for collaboration, and not become a part of the screaming match?  Watching him in a television news interview the other night, I was impressed by his ability to actually answer those questions that he was asked, which is something almost every politician is unequivocally unable to do.  But I need to know more than what Jim Huffman is about, as important as that is.  I want to know what he isn't about as well.

**update**

Oh Dear Lord.  I am speechless.  Absolutely speechless.  But fear not, I can still type.  Rush Limbaugh has weighed in on the oil spill disaster in Louisiana:

"I want to get back to the timing of the blowing up, the explosion out there in the Gulf of Mexico of this oil rig. Since they're sending SWAT teams down there now this changes the whole perspective of this. Now, lest we forget, ladies and gentlemen, the carbon tax bill, cap and trade that was scheduled to be announced on Earth Day. I remember that. And then it was postponed for a couple of days later after Earth Day, and then of course immigration has now moved in front of it.


But this bill, the cap-and-trade bill, was strongly criticized by hardcore environmentalist wackos because it supposedly allowed more offshore drilling and nuclear plants, nuclear plant investment. So, since they're sending SWAT teams down there, folks, since they're sending SWAT teams to inspect the other rigs, what better way to head off more oil drilling, nuclear plants, than by blowing up a rig? I'm just noting the timing here."

He didn't stop there.  Instead, he offered his expert opinion on how to clean up the mess and what the eventual environmental impact is likely to be:

"You do survive these things. I'm not advocating don't care about it hitting the shore or coast and whatever you can do to keep it out of there is fine and dandy, but the ocean will take care of this on its own if it was left alone and was left out there.  It's natural. It's as natural as the ocean water is."

Oil and water just go together so naturally, don't they?  That's the point of that expression, right?  Mr. Huffman, do you see what I am talking about?  Rush is the titular head and mouthpiece of the Republican party.  Why can't the non-insane Republicans speak out against him?

Final comment on politics: did anyone see the KATU debate last night featuring the Republican candidates?  All 9 of them?  If not, I beg you to take the time to view the debate on http://www.katu.com/.  Tom and I haven't laughed this hard EVER.  This is the state of the Republican Party in Oregon.