Recycling election politics

What goes around comes around. That is just the way things are in the USA.

A recent article by a well known and respected pundit suggested a 16 year cycle in election considerations based on American generational life spans. The general principle suggested is that much of the bad (to include mistakes) are forgotten as generations come and go, and it is always the latest generations that are voting. It was a fair proposition. For this poster, the 16 year cycle in the article is about half of the genealogy generation time span which is about 30 years in the USA. That is one generation is on average 30 years, so for example, when one speaks about “over 3 generations”, those years are about 90 years.

And generations are a mostly matriarchal thing, as in women and their husbands have 30 years of influence before their children assert themselves. Others may say it other ways.

One can say the sins of our ancestors can be forgiven. More likely they are forgotten, as in superceded. How many of us have heard our seniors refer to the “good old days” and other now deceased ancestors in the first name? Most of us, I think. And most have let it pass by it because they are too busy trying to make their own lives and families.

Some of this ancestor stuff from genealogy can apply to our election politics. For the voters today, can we learn anything from the past and our ancestors? Or is the past simply superceded due to normal human behavior? Do the present voters always have to figure things out, again? There are arguments for both schemes. Both are very appealing. One is better than the other as an alternative, though.

One scheme in the USA is to reinforce success, not failure. This idea suggests we look at and review all the good and bad ideas of the past, the government programs to try implement them, and be ruthless about what has worked and failed. The intent in this scheme is to make us feel better about using government to help the downtrodden; and to free up taxes to also help we majority in the more basic things like police and fire security, clean water and flush toilets, public health, public education, and public commerce. Pretty much the basics!

The other scheme is to change our American society and culture, albeit with the best of intentions, decades old though they may be. Massive redistribution of funds (often called taxes) are required to enable this most grand socialistic English commune idea applied to an entire Nation. And the enablers of this scheme suggest they can dictate how people also think. Fine. But we all know any group can legislate behavior but can never legislate how people think. Hence using PC police and kangaroo courts and amazingly Totalitarianism is so un-American.

Right now another third scheme in the 2008 federal election is appearing. It is a talk and do nothing scheme as part of a get elected strategy. While it may work for the politician in the short term, it does not work for the USA in the long term. In fairness, some politicians are better than others.

And so can we learn by good ideas and bad from the past about how to vote today? The question suggests many things. One is to vote, today. The other is to educate our children in the 3 R's as a first priority. Elections are also local. After all this friction, then the kids are in charge, good, bad, or indifferent. In the meantime while we of the most recent old generation can vote, a little historical history about good ideas and failed ideas will always help in decisions of all voting generations.