Dorm Wars
I turned twenty-one in 1977 during my senior year of college. I lived at Denison University in a dorm full of guys, and the envy of the whole dorm was “Mario”, who owned the biggest, baddest, stereo system around. When he decided that the whole dorm was going to listen to “Dark Side of the Moon” by Pink Floyd, we had no choice. So, for my birthday, I gave myself the big gift I really wanted. I bought a full scale “stereo” system, with a Pioneer turntable and receiver, a Technics amplifier and tape cassette deck, and two speakers big enough to use as end tables.
Now the system I got couldn’t compete with Mario’s, but, if I closed the door and turned up the volume, I could at least listen to my Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (CSNY) without interruption. I later added a JVC equalizer and, when it came around, a Pioneer multi-disc CD player. I had a great system…that today is completely out of date.
Choose My Music
Music isn’t “analog” anymore. Sure, I still have most of the electronics, carefully stacked in the garage. I can’t bear to get rid of them. And there are 200 or more record albums holding down the bottom of the cabinet (even “Meet the Beatles”), underneath the new turntable (audio-technica) I bought during Covid. But today’s music is digital. When I want to listen to CSNY (never been a “Floyd” guy) I pull it up on Sonos, with wireless speakers spread throughout the house. Or if I want to listen to Joni Mitchell, Jenn’s least favorite folk singer, I can dial it up on Sonos for “just” my office, and play something else in the rest of the house.
Since the 1970’s a lot has changed. And some of the things we cherished most, like that stereo system, are obsolete.
Analog Politics
Sunday, I listened to a commentator on one of the news shows. He is a proud “independent”. “I want the politicians I vote for to work together, regardless of their party, so I vote for the ‘person’, not the party,” was his comment. I admire the sentiment. But in our current era, he’s about as relevant as my stereo system, as up-to-date as my Technics dual cassette player. He has an “analog” view of American politics, left behind by our current “digital” world. And he’s dangerous.
Just like my nearly half-century old stereo system, he’s living in a world that doesn’t exist anymore. We all know the old story: arch-conservative Republican President Ronald Reagan and moderate Democrat Speaker of the House Tip O’Neil working together for the “good” of America. And when we voted for a candidate back then, like Ohio’s John Glenn for Senate (Democrat) or Missouri’s John Danforth (Republican), we absolutely expected them to work together on a lot of issues. We knew one thing for sure about them: they were men of “honor”, who would stand for what they believed even if it was against their own party, and maybe their own political interests.
And they started to become obsolete about the time I bought my multi-CD player, in the 1990’s.
Mavericks
Today the “maverick” politicians are exiled from their parties, and the government. Thom Tillis of North Carolina “chooses” not to run for re-election, because even he can’t stomach MAGA-ism. And the two “maverick” Democrats in the Senate, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, left in 2024, rather than face defeat at the polls. You might be “sad” that the mavericks are gone. But Joe Manchin prevented a lot of the Democratic reforms that might have stopped the second Trump Administration. And Tillis is another in a long line of Republicans who couldn’t stand up to the MAGA world.
So what’s left? You can choose: MAGA Republican, or Democrat. And Democrats are still a “big tent” party. They include moderates like Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky, and Social-Democrats like good old Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. But what you can’t do anymore is “vote for the ‘man’”.
First of all, it’s not “men only” anymore. Some of the most effective politicians in the nation are women and minorities. But, more importantly, there really is no such thing as “independence” in our political world. If you vote for a Republican, you are voting for a MAGA-supporter. If you vote for a Democrat, you are voting against MAGA. It’s really as simple, and as important, as that.
Our Digital World
Maybe, someday, we’ll get back to a government of individuals, choosing what’s best for the nation based on their own principles and beliefs. But right now, THE LABEL IS THE CHOICE. Looking for an Independent is really looking for someone who will have no say in what our government will become.
The issues of today are too important for “unicorns”. We need to “sign-up”, and join together to make changes. Declaring independence is abrogating responsibility for the anti-democratic actions of our Nation. And it’s giving away the future of the Republic.
It’s like plugging the turntable into a digital sound system. It just doesn’t work.
