The first thing, really, that matters to any legal action is standing. For the sake of this article: I have none. I was born and raised in rural (no, I mean really rural) Michigan; I’ve never flown a confederate flag, although some of my high school classmates thought it went well on a pick-up truck. But, let me resign myself to this, I am a Republican; I am not a Virginian.

Governor Bob McDonnell

Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia has reinstated Confederate History Month. Say what you will, but that took some chutzpah for a man living in an increasingly partisan state, who also is seeking reelection this fall.

“What does he mean by Confederate History?” asks the curious political observer. Certainly, he was reminding folks that it was the (then radical) Republican party that reunited the Union; certainly, he must have been channeling the divisiveness of that conflict and its myriad socio-economic and racial undertones; certainly, he meant this to show that, while there were many things not to be proud of, Virginia was a state of rich history which they intended to celebrate in episodic commemorative months. Right?

Wrong.

The proclamation McDonnell proffered lacked any real mention of slavery. It gave no mention to April’s proximity to February (Black History Month). It desired no deeper reflection about the lessons of divisive partisanship and the use of wedge issues to win increasingly embittered demographics. This was a tactic, plain and simple. It was (forgive me, President Reagan) a Tea Party Tactic; a move designed to gain the support of an increasingly radical and decreasingly Republican voting bloc.

Courting a radical element is fine. Especially when they bring about moderation in any fashion. The voices of moderation often bequeath great wisdom to those willing to listen. But McDonnell has, as yet, shown no interest in reconciling a state that is already one of the most irreconcilable in the Union.

Friends and neighbors, I leave you with a thought. It’s not my thought. But the thinker has a similar name. Here it is: “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present.”

I make it a point not to argue (too much) with someone who happens to be right. Let me be more specific: I make it a point not to disparage legislators who realize that, to co-opt a little Dylan, “the times they are a-changin’”. “Ron Burgundy had never heard that song, so when he fell, he fell hard.” An amicus asked my opinion the other day about why it was that Democratic legislators seem to be dropping faster than the price of pie in Poughkeepsie. I had this to say to my compadre, “It’s the economy, stupid.”

Poughkeepsie - An Increasingly Cheaper Place to Live

“When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them to another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” TJ, of course, was ramping up to tell King George, “Your Highness, we beseech you on this day in Philadelphia to bite me, if you please.” The importance of any government is to affect the will of the people. Vox populi, vox Dei.

The answer to the question is that Democratic legislators are getting caught with their pants down in the same way that dear old Dubs did: when things go wrong, we like to blame people. The people to blame these days (with their high-falootin’ “healthcare reform” and their namby-pamby “Republicans won’t play nice”) are the Democrats in Congress and their Maestro-North-of-the-Ellipse. The fact of the matter is that politicians in this country are facing the stark realization that the Change-meister-in-chief has changed doodly-squat.

Why So Glum, Dems?

Politics in Washington (should I point out he was a Senator?) haven’t changed. The reason that Democrats are dropping so quickly isn’t that, in the words of retiring Congressmen Bayh, “There is much too much partisanship and not enough progress”; the real reason is that the partisanship from the President’s party isn’t carrying the day. It isn’t doing what Obama wanted it to do: be an echo of the Bush year’s dominance.

Remember when most of us were teens-on-the-rise? When I was sitting in my eighth grade English class and watching smoke billow from the North Tower, there was a Texan in the White House. There were Conservatives running the show on the hill. When Dubs spoke, Congress listened; having listened, Congress acted. Obama has yet to get the same kind of fight, the same kind of dominance, out of his Congress. Here’s the punch-line: he has a larger majority. Obama’s margin is larger than Bushes (I’m comparing the 109^th to the 111^th, gang); the reason he isn’t getting what he wants is that what he wants isn’t what America wants. The Bush Whitehouse spun their policies far better than Obama’s has.

Democrats are dropping like flies. The reason is simple: partisan politics are wartime politics; the first rule of war is “fighting to win”. Democrats in Congress have yet to realize that winning is the important part; you bring about change by winning. The retirement spree isn’t just about sex and politics. Democrats are resigning because they’re losing. That’s the ball-game kids, thanks for playing. Democrats are dropping like flies because they’re losing; they’re losing the battle for hearts, minds, and policy initiatives. Until Democrats find their own Karl Rove, the Democratic ballgame is unwinnable.

Bokonon Stan.

Bokononsense.

“All of the true things I’m about to tell you are shameless lies.”

This may be Bokonon-sense, but when things like a 7.0 earthquake in Haiti happen, I have a tendency to be happy. Sure, that sounds like Schadenfreude, but think of it this way: if you’d have been there, you couldn’t do anything to help. There was a tragedy; there are always tragedies; “so it goes.”

Should we do what we can to help? Of course, but that’s not the point. The point of any exercise of human compassion is always selfish, but that’s not the point either. The point of any human tragedy is to reveal the importance of humanity in all of its capacity. Could I do absolutely nothing about Haiti? Sure, it’s no different than what I’m doing now; are there other things that I’m doing? Sure, but that’s not the point either. The point is that everyone likes to help, “likes and dislikes have nothing to do with it”, and everyone likes to be seen helping. Because I’m neither an NGO nor a world renowned philanthropist, I can’t do anything; this column is worthless; it’s an opinion piece; my opinion is that there are a lot of great successes in the world; PALS is a success; Recyclemania is a success.

We can’t predict tragedy; we can’t really mitigate it; we can’t heal its wounds; we can’t make the world better by wishing it so; we can’t use five semi-colons in a row in two consecutive sets without realizing that “all a semi-colon proves is that you’ve been to college.” That’s really my point, friends and neighbors, whether we come from small towns in small counties (yours truly included) or big cities with big skylines, we’re all connected by the foma that education makes us more capable to handle tragedy or more capable to find meaning or success. Can we fix the earthquake in Haiti or the hurricane that will ravage the Caribbean every year or the next civil war that rips apart an already fragile region or whatever the next pool-pah happens to be? We can’t, I’m sorry, but we can’t. The imperative, saints and sinners, is that we recognize that every so often we enjoy a genuine moment and make a genuine difference.

What’s the point of any of this nonsense? The point is that, at any given moment, life can be relatively swell in these parts (relative to Pyongyang or Port-au-Prince) and we should enjoy it while it lasts (it won’t forever); “sometimes the pool-pah exceeds the ability of man’s power to comment”, but sometimes the only thing we can do is give a little time, a little money, or a little effort and try to move on. So it goes. Do what you can: “Live by the foma that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.” It’s a busy universe out there kiddies; busy, busy, busy… … …