Politics – the body politic
I smile when I read or hear of comments suggesting that the experience of the Gold Star families should not be a political issue. I ask myself, “Is my understanding the of word politic different than what is understood by many other people?”. I turn again to the internet and find that in this case Wikipedia has the best introduction to the term:
“Politics (from Greek: πολιτικός politikos, definition "of, for, or relating to citizens") is the process of making uniform decisions applying to all members of a group. More narrowly, it refers to achieving and exercising positions of governance — organized control over a human community, particularly a state. Furthermore, politics is the study or practice of the distribution of power and resources within a given community (a usually hierarchically organized population) as well as the interrelationship(s) between communities. Politics presents one of the ten function systems of modern societies. “
While it is true that the system of electing those who will assume the mantel of leadership locally and nationally in this country may be riddled with the influence of special interest groups, debasing and negative rhetoric and open to much criticism, it is an effort to continue a system for making decisions which has, with all its increasing limitations,held together this country since in’s inception.
Regardless of what the individual citizen thinks about the morality of the use of violence to combat violence, the distribution of resources, the international responsibilities of the United States to join with others in addressing issues such as ISIS, one has to designate those who will make decisions about how how the United States will proceed on all these and other important issues. In my mind all of us who are citizens of the United States and especially those whose sons and daughters have died physically fighting the cause which those we have previously elected decided was necessary should be actively involved in these decisions. Families have been giving their blessing, often reluctantly, to their sons and daughters to go “fight the good fight” for a very long time. Who, among us, has more right to offer an opinion about the future fate of our children then those families? Who, has given more thought to the results of decisions made in the local city hall, the state government office or the hallowed halls of Congress than those who have faced the solemn knock on the door of the person come to announce, “We regret to inform you…” Who has more interest in electing the next person who will meet with the generals, the religious community and others to decide if indeed it is a moral decision to send armed planes or other military forces to Libya or the country de jour which is alleged to be hosting those we have declared tthe enemy; or who declared themselves the enemy?
No matter how corrupted by the influenced of those who are attempting to prove their worth through the power of money; no matter all the various forces which influence the outcome of an election; no matter the half-truths and outright lies; no matter the seeming reactionary dance of some of our angry neighbors; no matter how effete we may view some of those we term the ineffective establishment; no matter the effect of the theater of modern day politics which has been enhanced by various modern methods of communication; no matter how imperfect the system we, as a country will elect new leaders or at least those who promise to assume the sacred mantle of leadership beginning in 2017.
The educated, the emotional, the narrow minded, the vested interest, the angry, the thoughtful, the rational, the irrational, and all those who fall somewhere on the spectrum deserve a voice. Surely those voices should include those of the Gold Star families as well as those who lives have been permanently changed as a result of their decision to follow the leadership of whoever is in power. Their voices are an essential part of the body politic.
Welcome.
Written August 2, 2016
I smile when I read or hear of comments suggesting that the experience of the Gold Star families should not be a political issue. I ask myself, “Is my understanding the of word politic different than what is understood by many other people?”. I turn again to the internet and find that in this case Wikipedia has the best introduction to the term:
“Politics (from Greek: πολιτικός politikos, definition "of, for, or relating to citizens") is the process of making uniform decisions applying to all members of a group. More narrowly, it refers to achieving and exercising positions of governance — organized control over a human community, particularly a state. Furthermore, politics is the study or practice of the distribution of power and resources within a given community (a usually hierarchically organized population) as well as the interrelationship(s) between communities. Politics presents one of the ten function systems of modern societies. “
While it is true that the system of electing those who will assume the mantel of leadership locally and nationally in this country may be riddled with the influence of special interest groups, debasing and negative rhetoric and open to much criticism, it is an effort to continue a system for making decisions which has, with all its increasing limitations,held together this country since in’s inception.
Regardless of what the individual citizen thinks about the morality of the use of violence to combat violence, the distribution of resources, the international responsibilities of the United States to join with others in addressing issues such as ISIS, one has to designate those who will make decisions about how how the United States will proceed on all these and other important issues. In my mind all of us who are citizens of the United States and especially those whose sons and daughters have died physically fighting the cause which those we have previously elected decided was necessary should be actively involved in these decisions. Families have been giving their blessing, often reluctantly, to their sons and daughters to go “fight the good fight” for a very long time. Who, among us, has more right to offer an opinion about the future fate of our children then those families? Who, has given more thought to the results of decisions made in the local city hall, the state government office or the hallowed halls of Congress than those who have faced the solemn knock on the door of the person come to announce, “We regret to inform you…” Who has more interest in electing the next person who will meet with the generals, the religious community and others to decide if indeed it is a moral decision to send armed planes or other military forces to Libya or the country de jour which is alleged to be hosting those we have declared tthe enemy; or who declared themselves the enemy?
No matter how corrupted by the influenced of those who are attempting to prove their worth through the power of money; no matter all the various forces which influence the outcome of an election; no matter the half-truths and outright lies; no matter the seeming reactionary dance of some of our angry neighbors; no matter how effete we may view some of those we term the ineffective establishment; no matter the effect of the theater of modern day politics which has been enhanced by various modern methods of communication; no matter how imperfect the system we, as a country will elect new leaders or at least those who promise to assume the sacred mantle of leadership beginning in 2017.
The educated, the emotional, the narrow minded, the vested interest, the angry, the thoughtful, the rational, the irrational, and all those who fall somewhere on the spectrum deserve a voice. Surely those voices should include those of the Gold Star families as well as those who lives have been permanently changed as a result of their decision to follow the leadership of whoever is in power. Their voices are an essential part of the body politic.
Welcome.
Written August 2, 2016
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