THE GONG SHOW

I was at a neighborhood party last night and chatted with the host, a really likable Nova Scotian who winters here in Florida. We got on the subject of American politics. He loves America, spending three months or more here, but he also is able to take an objective look at us. He noted in Canada the process of electing a new Premier takes ninety days. I noted it is about the same in England.

I’ve been on this soap box for a long time that the American electoral process has become tortuous and unnecessarily long. My Canadian friend used a wonderful image for the Republican debates---the Gong Show. I’m sure many of you remember that hilarious show back in the eighties where amateurs performed and were kicked off the show by a loud gong sounding. It was fun to watch.

I can’t say the Republican equivalent is quite so hilarious. It has its share of bumblers; all four candidates take turns making gaffes and then spending an inordinate amount of time removing their feet from their mouths. The unfortunate part is that this show isn’t comedy but more in the nature of tragedy as we watch the Republican Party self-destruct. More and more political pundits are commenting on the sad state of politics and the loss of moderation in political views.

I have also commented before that I am a political dinosaur when I said I was once a Moderate Republican. There ain’t no such animal left in existence today. A simplistic definition of a Moderate Republican could be summed up in the phrase, “a social liberal and a fiscal conservative”. The Republican in me preferred that as much and as efficiently as possible in government be handled on a state or local level. The liberal in me thought that certain federal standards and supervision were necessary in key elements of our lives like Education, Social Security/Medicare, Defense, Foreign Policy and Health (this latter being a really dirty word).

One of these days we old dinosaurs are going to win one and make a comeback. The extremes are doing to knock each other out, and suddenly civility, discussion, compromise, reconciliation and all those other outmoded terms will return to favor.

I hope it’s in my lifetime. I’m sick and tired of the current Gong Show.