Sunday, January 1, 2012

Golf & Politics


I played golf on New Year’s Eve with a former Army intelligence officer.  We were stacked up behind several foursomes and so we naturally passed the time by bull shitting.  I was rewarded with one of the best conversations of the year.  His work in the intelligence field was truly fascinating – especially how they discovered Pakistan had nuclear weapons.  Eventually we started talking politics.  My fellow competitor was careful to mention he was a registered Republican.  I quickly confessed that I was a registered Democrat.  From that moment on we had the best give and take conversation about what needs to be done to solve our country’s problems.

 We both agreed that the election procedure is crazy.  Our politicians spend all their time getting elected.  We decided to make the presidential primary election season last only two months.  Every candidate would get free TV advertising, but it would be on C-SPAN.  We would also have a national primary election day at the end of the two month.  On other subjects we agreed to end the war in Afghanistan immediately, solved the budget problem with both spending cuts and tax increases and created jobs by repairing our infrastructure.  And this was all accomplished in the last five holes of play.  Just think what we could have done if we had decided to play another nine.  It was really refreshing to see there are still some moderate Republicans left. 

When I am King, that Army intelligence officer is going to be my Vice-King.  Were going to send the government on a two month vacation and when they get back all major problems will be solved.  Of course, we’ll accomplish this while playing more golf.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks, Mike. I had begun to think that I was the only one who had Republican friends who were moderate. Things that you read on the internet tend to only showcase the most vocal (and that usually means extremist) examples of both Liberal and Conservative points of view. Personally, I believe that if both sides would back up a little and hash things out at a local level instead of depending on 'Whoever Is Electable' we would be a hell of a lot better off.
    P.S. The idea of getting the money out of the process and "Every candidate would get free TV advertising, but it would be on C-SPAN." ? I'm not sure if you meant that as a joke, but it both amused me and, at the same time, sounded totally appropriate.

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  2. What a coincidence. I spent an evening with a Navy XO, and had a quite similar experience. It's amazing to me how we can find common ground with our supposed 'enemy' while the elected officials couldnt pass legislation declaring the sky blue.

    Honestly, I think the dysfunction is the result of a changing nation. When you poll by age group, you see a definite split. Were fighting a war against what we were, and what were becoming. That war has only one outcome, but the rearguard are fighting tooth and nail to the last man.

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