politics

Pon farr

In the Star Trek episode ‘Amok Time,’ Spock experiences Pon farr, a time of mating when primitive emotions overwhelm the evolved logic of the Vulcan species. The Enterprise’s first officer must return to his family’s ritual grounds on his home planet to mate or die in the attempt.

In the marriage or challenge ceremony, Spock’s chosen mate, T’Pring, who has her eyes set on another men, opts for the challenge. She cleverly chooses Kirk, the Enterprise commander, to fight Spock to the death, calculating if Spock wins, he must turn himself in to Starfleet command for killing his captain and if Kirk wins, she and Stonn, her desired mate, can consummate their relationship.

In his enraged Pon farr condition, Spock “kills” Kirk (Dr. McCoy slipped a neural paralyzer into Kirk to simulate death). Upon returning to his logical self, Spock turns to T’Pring’s chosen mate, and offers, “Stonn, she is yours. You may find that having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting. This is not logical, but it is often true."

In a “win at all costs” campaign, punctuated with questionable assertions, outright fabrications and mean-spirited, Machiavellian (maybe we should start calling them “Rovian”) attacks on both sides, the Republicans now have control of the Presidency, the Senate and the House for the next four years. With the likely departure of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Warren Rehnquist—he was diagnosed recently with one of the most virulent forms of cancer—and the advanced age of the court—eight of the nine justices are older than 65 with John Paul Stevens 84 and Rehnquist 80--Bush will likely have an opportunity to nominate as many as three conservative judges to the nation’s highest court during his term.

Rarely has such a potential perfect storm of legislative, executive and judicial partisan power been present in the 217 year history of the republic.

But as Sponn learned, having might not be so pleasurable as wanting.

Although presidential elections have long festered deep reservoirs of accusatory mud (Federalist newspapers claimed that the election of Thomas Jefferson in 1800 would cause the “teaching of murder robbery, rape, adultery and incest.”), the 2004 campaign ranks as one of the most vitriolic campaigns in recent memory with a country now sharply divided along increasingly entrenched ideological lines. Middle ground and tolerance appear to be waning qualities.

The growing gap between the affluent and the impoverished threatens to sap the traditional strength of the United States—the ability of average citizens to enjoy a respectable living. Yes, home ownership is at an all-time high, but total consumer debit eclipsed the $2 trillion mark for the first time in the first half of 2004. That’s about $18,654 per household, a figure that doesn’t include mortgage debt. The number is up more than 41% from the $1.4 trillion consumers owed in 1998

After inheriting the first surplus in generations, Bush has squandered the money on—among other things--an ill-advised tax cut favoring his rich supporters and a questionably motivated, costly excursion in Iraq. The Treasury department reported last month that the U.S. budget gap will attain record-status for the second consecutive year at $412.55 billion.

The United States is more than $7.4 trillion in the red with the national debt growing at a rate of $1.67 billion per day. Payday will come someday and even our self-deluding assertion that other nations will continue to fund our largesse indefinitely rings unreasonable.

Whatever illusion coerced the administration to believe the United States would be welcome as liberators in Iraq is succinctly and cruelly shattered with each new insurgent attack and each American death. In addition, according to the Lancet, a respected medical journal, more than 100,000 Iraqis are dead as a result of the United States invasion.

Most countries are as concerned about the United States as we are fearful of al-Qaeda and Islamic extremists. Our alliances are withering under our unilateral pursuit. The goodwill and sympathy engendered by the Twin Towers‘ attacks has been misspent as quickly and efficiently as the budget surplus. Bush’s pithy cowboy sound bites, stated goal to develop bunker busting nuclear weapons programs, and a willingness to invade sovereign nations that have not attacked the United States coerce other nations to see us with the same paranoia as we see them.

Despite the billboard-savvy “No Child Left Behind” program, the nation’s public schools are struggling to deal with the underfunded mandate and exasperating funding issues.

More than 41 million Americans do not have health insurance. While MediCare helps the elderly and Medicaid assists the poor, employed workers are now the most likely candidates for the health insurance blues.

Will America demand progress toward solutions on these issues? Or, will America allow the Bush administration to play the terrorism ticket or create another convenient distraction whenever one of these critical challenges is raised? It may be illogical but it is often true.

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posted by dq @ 8:39 AM