There's Diamonds on the Sidewalk

Here's what I"m thinking, since we're now on the last day of the holiday weekend (and still really haven't confronted what the holiday means), how about we turn off the TV 24/7 noise channels (I see close to no news on any of them so I cannot call them that) for today and see if the world ends while we weren't noticing. 

If it doesn't, perhaps we can extend the moratorium through tomorrow and the day after etc. lather, rinse and repeat. 

I can use the break and whether you realize it or not, so can you.  We've been watching Election TV probably non-stop since some point about an hour after Barack Obama was declared President (and some would argue it started even earlier than that). 

Per the Talking Heads (sorry, David, not you guys) the demise of our democracy has been hastened by everything one or the other major political party does. On a good day, downhill with a strong breeze at their backs, most of the folks making those arguments on the tube/screen can't diagram a sentence much less construct a coherent argument that doesn't involve the use of 'Democrat' or 'Republican' as an epithet.

A lot of people had to sacrifice everything, and far more sacrificed a great deal for us to choose to barbecue, watch fireworks, go to the beach/the mountains, do whatever, for "America's Birthday" that I'd just like us, just for today to NOT have to pick a side, unless it's either cole slaw or potato salad, if you follow my drift.

The chatter channels make sure we never have to be alone most especially with our thoughts. And if you and I are distressed by the vicious belittling of those who don't share a studio host's views, we may be the only people who grasp that two diatribes don't make a dialogue. I'm not sure that's a good thing for us, especially this holiday weekend, as we'll get stomped from both sides for lacking the purity of faith that their ideology, mislabeled as patriotism, demands.

So maybe later, instead of turning up the big screen so you can hear it better over the charcoal in the grill, you can hope for a lull in the battle that has become life in these United States, where the sides are no longer clearly defined and the tradition of Right and Wrong hasn't been "improved" by situational ethics. 

We're not the first Americans to have seared our souls searching for a better life, but if we can't find or create a common ground to continue to do so real soon, there may not be that many more after us. It is high time to recapture the dream and rekindle the flame.

There's diamonds in the sidewalk, the gutters lined in song. Dear, I hear that beer flows through the faucets all night long. There's treasure for the taking, for any hard working man who'll make his home in the American land. 

-bill kenny