August 2009 Archives

Gallup's survey from January to June of over 180,000 adults shows how lost the republican party continues to be. These eight years have left it in the wilderness still, and the Sotomayor process just made it even more palpable. The only thing they've got now is the bitter-white theme, and someone, somewhere, needs to start building a new party around positive alternatives.

I remember my mother constantly calling herself a 'commie pinko liberal' even as it was never, ever true. Liberal, yes, commie pinko, nfw. And she knee-jerk hated anything that was republican. That's what is happening with Republicanism now. Knee-jerk, thoughtless, self-identified anti-it-all. What if Republicanism jumped over the social issues of the day? What if there was a big tent Republicanism that somehow pole-vaulted into something radically new?

Where could it start?

Hopper took this the other day as he and I took the ferry to my office. Just playing around with my camera. He's six now. So I was astonished, as is my general way of being around young people. The composition was just so sickly perfect. I wondered about all the things we unlearn as life goes on. Having children is an obstacle to clarity and a vehicle to unexpected discovery and happiness. These days, every time my boys jump on me, I try to just soak it in for the tough years ahead, when things matter more and casual love is harder to come by. But now, there's a lot of everyday bliss.