Monday, November 22, 2004
Monday Night Ramblings
Where has the time gone? It seems but a short time ago that we were all in college, ready to face the challenges of a new and exciting world. And now we have arrived at this tender age some years later, witnessing our friends getting married, maybe having children of their own, and we are confronted with the fact that we are kids no longer. That guy you knew who was dying of a badly laced marijuana o.d. has now settled down. Scary stuff.
Such thoughts cross the mind as one witnesses yet another dear friend take their wedding vows, vows that perhaps you yourself were scheduled to make in the near future, though in an age now seem long forgotten. And the frivolities of youth seem to pass in the rearview mirror.
But as Eddie Vedder once sung, "Everything has changed. Absolutely nothing's changed." And so we prepare to head home for our Thanksgiving holidays, ready to "celebrate" the great American holiday with an evening in some bar. Did you know that the night before Thanksgiving was the biggest bar night of the year, surpassing even New Year's Eve? Makes sense. Thanksgiving Thursday is a day everyone has the day off. Many college kids come home, or perhaps post-grads even, and we congregate with our old chums and sing songs about the good times, and sings songs about the better times.
And we gather together to celebrate what exactly? We give thanks this Thursday, but to whom and for what? To God for the blessings He has granted us that have been so blessed as to have been born into this Nation. Thank God you say? Why, that would violate the separation of Church and State? Yeah, because we all know that this Nation was founded upon secularist foundations. So let us give thanks to Snoopy and Garfield for the blessings they have bestowed upon us this year.
But in all seriousness we have much to be thankful this Thanksgiving Thursday, and I was reminded of this fact this past week as I watched the dedication of the Clinton Library in Arkansas. As a member of the Republican party I am particularly grateful for the Clinton presidency. Let us flash back to the year 1992. President George Bush was preparing to become the sixth Republican in seven tries to win election to the Presidency. At the same time, the Democrats began to defend their 38-year control of the House of Representatives. Well, the Democrats successfully defended their control of the majority in both the House and Senate, but they were able to win back the White House. And who can forget the glorious success of America's greatest politician ever, the charismatic superhero from Arkansas - the man who managed to touch so mnay hearts with his inspired rhetoric and vision of the future. Oh yes, who can forget the inspiring campaign of the man from Hope, the man who so inspired the Nation that he commanded a whopping 43% of the vote on his way to victory?
And that man has become the shining beacon of the Democratic party. Last week we celebrated this man's soaring legacy, a legacy that every politician in America can only hope to emulate one day. How many men in American history can say that they ended their own party's 40-year monopoly grip on Congress? How many men can say that they were responsible for the final push that lead to the South's complete abandonment of the Democratic party, a party that the South had managed to support for a mere 194 years?
Before he took office the Democrats controlled most of the governorships accross the US. Before he took office Democrats contolled most of the state legislatures. Before he took office the Democratic party controlled party id in almost every poll. Now that has all been erased and in fact been reversed. How can we not celebrate a man who accomplished so much in so short a period of time? We are talking about a clear political genius, a suave politician that garnered so much popularity that he coasted to re-lection with nearly 49% of the vote. This is a man who was so popular that his Vice President came within a mere 527 votes in Florida of winning the presidency. Reagan's VP only won election by several million votes. How sad.
We have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. As we all give thanks to some ethereal being that certainly is not God (after all, we have separation of Church and State, and we would never ever think of giving thanks to some sectarian being, except of course that time Washington did it, or Adams, or Lincoln), let us most of all give thanks for our health and well-being.
And please, let us give thanks to the brave men and women serving in our armed forces. They are what allows us to write in these silly little blogs of ours. God bless you all.
Such thoughts cross the mind as one witnesses yet another dear friend take their wedding vows, vows that perhaps you yourself were scheduled to make in the near future, though in an age now seem long forgotten. And the frivolities of youth seem to pass in the rearview mirror.
But as Eddie Vedder once sung, "Everything has changed. Absolutely nothing's changed." And so we prepare to head home for our Thanksgiving holidays, ready to "celebrate" the great American holiday with an evening in some bar. Did you know that the night before Thanksgiving was the biggest bar night of the year, surpassing even New Year's Eve? Makes sense. Thanksgiving Thursday is a day everyone has the day off. Many college kids come home, or perhaps post-grads even, and we congregate with our old chums and sing songs about the good times, and sings songs about the better times.
And we gather together to celebrate what exactly? We give thanks this Thursday, but to whom and for what? To God for the blessings He has granted us that have been so blessed as to have been born into this Nation. Thank God you say? Why, that would violate the separation of Church and State? Yeah, because we all know that this Nation was founded upon secularist foundations. So let us give thanks to Snoopy and Garfield for the blessings they have bestowed upon us this year.
But in all seriousness we have much to be thankful this Thanksgiving Thursday, and I was reminded of this fact this past week as I watched the dedication of the Clinton Library in Arkansas. As a member of the Republican party I am particularly grateful for the Clinton presidency. Let us flash back to the year 1992. President George Bush was preparing to become the sixth Republican in seven tries to win election to the Presidency. At the same time, the Democrats began to defend their 38-year control of the House of Representatives. Well, the Democrats successfully defended their control of the majority in both the House and Senate, but they were able to win back the White House. And who can forget the glorious success of America's greatest politician ever, the charismatic superhero from Arkansas - the man who managed to touch so mnay hearts with his inspired rhetoric and vision of the future. Oh yes, who can forget the inspiring campaign of the man from Hope, the man who so inspired the Nation that he commanded a whopping 43% of the vote on his way to victory?
And that man has become the shining beacon of the Democratic party. Last week we celebrated this man's soaring legacy, a legacy that every politician in America can only hope to emulate one day. How many men in American history can say that they ended their own party's 40-year monopoly grip on Congress? How many men can say that they were responsible for the final push that lead to the South's complete abandonment of the Democratic party, a party that the South had managed to support for a mere 194 years?
Before he took office the Democrats controlled most of the governorships accross the US. Before he took office Democrats contolled most of the state legislatures. Before he took office the Democratic party controlled party id in almost every poll. Now that has all been erased and in fact been reversed. How can we not celebrate a man who accomplished so much in so short a period of time? We are talking about a clear political genius, a suave politician that garnered so much popularity that he coasted to re-lection with nearly 49% of the vote. This is a man who was so popular that his Vice President came within a mere 527 votes in Florida of winning the presidency. Reagan's VP only won election by several million votes. How sad.
We have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. As we all give thanks to some ethereal being that certainly is not God (after all, we have separation of Church and State, and we would never ever think of giving thanks to some sectarian being, except of course that time Washington did it, or Adams, or Lincoln), let us most of all give thanks for our health and well-being.
And please, let us give thanks to the brave men and women serving in our armed forces. They are what allows us to write in these silly little blogs of ours. God bless you all.
# posted by Paul Zummo : 11:14 PM
