Back In A While.

I haven't had much of a burning desire to write lately, likely the result of reading the undergraduate papers I've been grading for much of the past few weeks. As such, I'll be back when the batteries recharge. In the meantime, Here are some fine weblogs that you may enjoy in lieu of my own:

http://www.redroachpress.blogspot.com/
Good man, good 'blog.

http://realtalk79.blogspot.com/
One of my best students. He's just getting started, so get in on the ground floor.

www.edgeofsports.com
Dave Zirin, the anti-ESPN.

Now get out of here. Go on...git!

Q&A.

Yesterday I had a student ask me some questions on the record for his political science class. I thought I'd post my answers here:

1.)What do you feel our government can do to increase voter turnout?

Purge the system of the money that alienates so many citizens. Politics is a millionaire's game, and it's unfathomable for better qualified and experienced citizens without access to the infrastructure of favoritism to contend in the modern American political arena. Level the economic playing field so that anyone with a serious interest in running for public office can have access to the public election forum, and people will very naturally become more interested.

2.)Why do you feel voter turnout is so low in America?

Because the system is corrupt and broken. More people vote for American Idol than they do their own congressional representatives, because they see their results in the former, and rarely do in the latter. For example, say a community does rally and put a truly "representative" congressional delegate in office. Chances are that representative will get railroaded and stonewalled in session from getting anything meaningful done for their district, and will therefore appear "ineffective." In the meantime, the vultures of political opportunism swoop in and buy the seat back with ad campaigns and smear tactics.

3.)What are your feelings on the electoral college?

I'm indifferent to it. I see both sides of the debate. Ultimately, it does seem to balance the rural and urban electorate, but it does so at an expense that compromises truly democratic principles. It's a compromise that seems necessary given Montesquieu's observations that the geographical extent of a territory predicates the type of government which will manifest upon it. Our alternative is to break up the United States of America as a singular political entity, and allow states to operate pluralistically on an international level. I think most Americans would be uncomfortable with that suggestion, so the electoral college serves to mitigate the vast geographical differences of the union in the meantime.

4.)Why do you think that politicians have such a bad reputation?

Because they've worked so hard to earn them. The culture of incumbency allows a sense of detachment that turns politician from his or her constituency to special economic interests, which are inherently anti-democratic. The precedent of Cincinnatus is all but forgotten in America, and in the meantime capitalism, not democracy, governs the nation.

Thanks For The Memories.

Pope John Paul II has been the pope for as long as I can remember. 25 years have passed since the white smoke came out of the Vatican declaring that he had been chosen. I remember my Mother, known in the neighborhood as "Sister Mary Holycards" was particularly impressed. He had two doctoral degrees, and spoke eight languages. Regardless if you like the guy or not, he came to the job with an impressive resume.

During his tenure as Pope, he supported the underground Solidarity movement in Poland, told people in Central America and Africa not to use birth control, and condemned the United States embargo on Cuba. He stood firm against women who sought to amplify their voices in the church, and against priests who argued that allowing them to marry would be a practical, popular solution to the current clerical freakiness going on. As someone who grew up Catholic, I know his words carry titanic weight. That said, the Catholic Church, after a brief progressive moment early in Pope John Paul's career, is ass-backwards, but I think ultimately that's exactly the posture he's sought to cultivate. Like the missionaries who first came to North America, the church operates in a kind of "anti-reality," and in itself it's a rather nice place to be. Seeing the world in terms of "darkness" and "light" excuses any terribly complex understanding of it, and allows a degree of moral exactitude that no contemplative philosopher could ever match.

All the novenas in the world do not, however, ease the suffering of overpopulated third world people, prevent some priests from dealing with their stifled sexuality in less than moral ways, or make the issue of gender equality go away. These are things that the next Pope can either deal with or ignore. In the meantime, it will be interesting to see how the Catholic Church postures itself on the death of Pope John Paul II and the election of a new successor to Peter. Whatever the decision, I'm sure there's some kid in some neighborhood, who goes to Catholic School, who's mother is as hopeful for the future of the church and her son as mine was back in 1978. Whether that kid grows up to be devout or jaded based on the policies of the next Pope remain to be seen.