Michael's Corner

I don’t abide by the concept Voting is my civic duty. I vote when a candidate has earned my vote. Moreover, I consider myself politically homeless. I don’t “play for a team.” When one allows themselves to get drafted onto a team (into a political party), one tends to root for that team irrespective of policies. It’s easy to grow blind to a party’s warts when one has gift-wrapped one’s allegiance, even if those warts are glaring. Throughout my lifetime (I’m 63) I’ve listened to those who gave their party undying support spin failure into success using all sorts of skewed perspectives. Remember, a political party or candidate is not your hometown baseball team; neither deserves your vote unless they have earned it.

I grew up in an America that saw Democrats as the party of labor and Republicans as the party of management. Labor and management need to cooperate to succeed; pure proletariat movements or top-down authoritarian movements will breed colossal failure, assuming history is a viable teacher. Nowadays, in the West, the polity is disconnected from labor, and we’re stuck with two management parties vying for universal supremacy. Good luck!