Marching Forward

Marching suggests an energetic stepping forward in rhythm to music, shouts or other encouragement. We thrust our bodies forward in a march. It is determined and forceful. Does that describe our activity today?  I think not.

Forward is a direction. If we think we are moving forward I bet we feel we are moving toward an objective, a known goal. Are we doing that today? Again, I think not.

Time is marching forward; at least it is moving. Whether forward, upward, downward or somewhere else is open to debate. Time elapses. It runs out moment by moment. It is real this second and gone the next. Fleeting. Very fleeting. Even with decades of time behind us we realize soon enough that time quickly is spent. Labeling such movement a march doesn’t seem accurate.

What we do with time – or more accurately in time – is more the point. Are we consciously doing something with our time? What are we trying to build or accomplish? Seems to me we are at a crossroads each day we rise from our beds. What are we to do with this day? Do we have a set agenda we are working on and have tasks yet to do? Probably. Still, we need to ask if that agenda and list of tasks is really what we need to be doing or what we truly ought to be about.

I think the year 2016 is a time in which much will be set in motion. We have awareness of global warming and the consequences of that phenomenon if we do nothing about it. At least prepare for rising tides and swamping of coastal properties. Or we can also attempt to lessen how warming is caused and perhaps lessen the extreme of global warming on our lives.

2016 is also a period of time in which we continue to examine who we are as a person and as a people. What is it I wish to hitch my ‘star’ of life? What do I want my life to mean by the time I take my last breath? And what star-like movements or meanings are readily available for me to consider hitching to?

We can consider that from the positive base, or the negative one. The latter is plentiful with examples. Gun proliferation in American society. Dislike and distrust of authority. Hmm, is this connected with the gun issue? We don’t trust government means we have a lot of distrust for other people in general. Perhaps owning a gun and arming my household is the best I can do? Is that the motive behind gun ownership? Maybe. If it is, fear is the driving factor, not a positive emotion leading me somewhere.

Employment opportunities seem limited. Is that caused by massive numbers of immigrants converging on our shores and taking jobs from Americans already here? Or are employers and investors creating jobs or moving them from America to Asia and European cities? Or South America, Africa and Australia? Is that what is happening? Employment is elsewhere or snapped up by others not yet legal citizens here at home? I doubt that, too.

What is the economy doing? Growing? Shrinking? Re-inventing itself with new technology, products and services? What’s going on in the housing markets? Are people really changing how they are living and moving into smaller homes, more natural homes with non-polluting finishes and furnishings? What are the changes amounting to? And is this yet a march to a new tune that will revolutionize housing products and markets? Probably too early for us to know, but something is happening. How clear is our understanding of those changes?

Change. It is all around us. Of course, it always has been. In the past we could predict change and maybe even the rate of change. We had ample opportunity to be wrong about those predictions, but today seems different; change direction and pace are both more complex and unpredictable. It makes us nervous. Perhaps we are growing more worried?

So, going forward into the future is less knowable these days. It is unsettling. And Ted Cruz says we are doing things wrong, forsaking our religious principles and forgetting what America is all about. Marco Rubio speaks a similar patter and wistfully points to going back to old ways. And Trump? He just says everything is mucked up and the cause is with the Democrats, government, liberals and anyone who doesn’t think and talk like him. Fear is on his lips. So too are fear on the lips of Rubio and Cruz.

Bernie Sanders talks of a revolution and the need for it to happen. You know, revolt and bring rapid change and new policies forward to fix problems. Hillary agrees that much needs attention but she, perhaps alone (?), is willing to maintain government processes, policies and mechanisms in order to determine what needs fixing and when, in what order, and why.

Hillary does not speak fear. Bernie speaks in ‘ought tos’ while the Republican faithful fall back on fear if things continue on as they have been. Let’s not discuss how we got to this point in time and who really caused the break down. No, let’s just tell people it is Obama’s fault and concentrate on electing a white man with conservative clothing.

Marching forward. Only the Democrats appear to be speaking of possibilities and the absence of fear. Only they are talking about actually moving forward and building on solid ground.

The Republicans appear ready to toss out the baby with the bath water and move into the future with no vision or program. They have been thunderously mute on suggestions on how to fix things. The only thing they agree on is less government and lower taxes. Let’s not raise the fact that lower taxes killed the economy and government effectiveness. Under funding programs get us more problems, not solutions. Trickle down economics by lowering taxes did nothing but make wealthy people more wealthy, and poor people more poor.

Marching forward? With whose compass are we determining the forward part? I shudder if it is Trump. I suspect he will wet his finger and hold it up to the wind to see where the air currents are coming from. That is not a reliable finder of future directions. Never has been. Nor is it leadership.

And Rubio and Cruz have even less to say about the future or direction or objectives. Just ‘let us pray’ seems to be their mantra.

I’m solidly behind Democrats this season. In particular I think Bernie has interesting things to say but they are not very doable in a fractious political climate where congress is determined to stop all progress in any direction. No, Bernie is interesting but not the answer. Now Hillary has the experience and unselfish purpose to keep America moving forward toward known objectives.

It’s the march we need to practice. But first we have to get through all this noisy campaigning, do the actual voting, and get on with the nation’s business. Now that’s a march I can participate in.

Won’t you join me?

February 25, 2016