Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All

Tomorrow, I’ll write about when I first fell for Hugh Jackman. Today, I’ll tell about how I fell for the president last night.

Sure I’ve been pro-Obama before this, but to me, being president-elect is nowhere near the same thing as actually doing the job. And watching him do his job last night? Whoo was he hot.

It was almost too good to be true. A smart guy like him breaking out the triple threat of

1. history,
2. responsibility, and
3. pragmatism.

These are right up my alley, buddy.

Not to mention—the social contract? Are you kidding me? He broke out the social contract?

I’m probably his forever.

I wish it could be communicated somehow that the morality of good citizenry is more effective, more powerful, and farther reaching than any government run according to a morality of religion. A government of citizenship has character. A government of citizenship has integrity.

When the overarching powers of society operate like that, it does permeate through the rest of life. A trickle-down effect if you will.

An ethical standard does make lies, cheats, and crimes more shameful.

Citizenship and posterity are two things that George Washington especially understood. And that understanding makes a difference. He, now and in his own time, holds a revered spot above all the other Founders.

It heartens me to think that we may have placed another man with similar understandings in office last year.

Tags: Governance, Politics by Ms. SP
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I reread this book recently for a book club. It surprised me with how modern it remains, and how today’s events completely changed my understanding of the story’s events.

The first time I read this short work was as an early teenager. I read it after 1984 so to this younger me, this book was almost a throw-away effort.

Many of Orwell’s ideas are more developed and applied in 1984. It’s a longer story in a more extensively created fictional world.

Compared to this, Animal Farm was laughably simple.

What I discovered during my rereading is that the simplified elements make this work more flexible.

Even though Orwell was commenting specifically on socialism-communism within the Soviet Union and on their influences on the West, my modern mindset allows me to apply the events of the book to a number of contemporary issues.

First, there is the issue of colonialism and foreign occupation. Is it more desirable to suffer under the rule of your own “kind” or to be better off under the rule of a foreign power?

Next, there is the question of whether capitalism and communism can function as a self-contained system. As both the US and China continue to adapt to economic realities, is a hard-line belief in either economic system a sane belief to have?

The book also asks: Where is the line between loyalty/patriotism and a justified questioning of the leaders?

The final issue I’ll mention here is whether or not we can ever completely rely on our elites? And what are the consequences of obedience?

At this moment in the United States, we are living a reality where the elites have been sequestered in Jones’s farmhouse for a long, long time. (In the book, the growing elites shut themselves inside the overthrown farmer’s home to plan their new society.) They’ve been doing things and handing down decisions that have affected us all.

Foremost in the news these days are the financial and governmental elites. They led, but we are paying the price of our unquestioning obedience.

In Animal Farm, the commentary paints both sides, the pigs and their followers, in a bad light.

But … we are also living a reality that Orwell couldn’t have incorporated into his work. There are so many voices today. So many ways to dissent.

In our world, the domination of those in control did not last. Within a few short years, majority opinions have switched in a variety of very important national policy issues. We’re listening to those questioning voices now.

And so, in my rereading of Animal Farm, I see the cracks in the pigs’ plan. I see the eventual downfall of their system. Orwell may have intended to present an inevitable ending with a dark future extended way beyond the last page, but I hit the last page optimistic that things were not going to stay the same. Change will be inevitable.

Benjamin may be right. The next regime, or the new version of the pigs’ rule, may not be any better, but it will be different.

Tags: Books, Governance by Ms. SP
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My brother went to the Presidential Inauguration last Tuesday. This is his write-up.

I just wanted to write up something about the inauguration yesterday while the thoughts are still fresh in my mind. There are no words to describe what the feeling was like down there. I was in the masses right in the middle between the Capital building and the Washington monument. The part that amazes me the most was the look that people had because everyone had his/her own personal story and connection to the moment and why they came down there.

Now the story about how to get down there is a story in itself and I will get to that later. Everyone will think it is crazy but for this day, everything was worth it and that was part of the bond everyone had because everyone down there had gone through the same thing just to get there.

I think everyone knows I have been a big Obama supporter form the beginning and been following this campaign throughout. For me to be there at the inauguration was just a sense of pride to feel like I have been a small part of the process and of course hope that things will change in this country. There were many African Americans of all ages. I would estimate the number at over a third to half the crowd. You could see what the moment meant to them but you also met and talked with people from all over the country when you were on the train, at Starbucks, walking to the event, and while you were there.

Now I just wanted to give you a feel of what the logistics were like because it was crazy. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience and you really needed to have that level of commitment to get there. My day started out leaving my apartment at 3:00. I was meeting up with some friends at the plan was to get on the first train out at 4:00 AM. Needless to say the start of the lines was right there getting into the train station.

By time everyone got together we made it into DC at 5:30 and walked to the mall. By the time we settled into our position at 6AM, the middle of the mall is as far as we got. So it was there that I stayed till the event started at 11:30 AM. After 7AM you did not want to move and go anywhere because you would have never been able to make it back.

It was cold but you had to know that going in. I really didn’t feel it till after the event and here was when things got really crazy. DC was in total lock down. They had closed streets and access points to begin with and with the amount of people there in the mall they decided to close off access to the parade route.

If you are not familiar with DC, closing off the parade route meant people could not cross back into the city from the mall and with a million plus people there nobody really knew where to go. After tracing back and forth in the crown we finally found some security people that told us the only way to go the direction we needed was the end of the mall. Keep in mind the mall is about two miles in length. So we basically hung out around the Washington monument waiting for the crowd to thin out.

That is where the cold really hit. But we finally made it out and had to walk another mile after getting out of the mall to access a train station that was not flooded with people. You might have seen the stands had no people for the parade. Well what happened was most people could not get there and it was too long to out in the cold to make it through even if you wanted to. I made it back to the apartment at 4 PM with many memories.

Tags: Life, Politics by Ms. SP
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