You can't make this stuff up...This year saw a candidate for Congress in California named Theodore Terbolizard. I'm not kidding. Check out his campaign website here.
I swear to God, I was tempted to move to Cali just so I could vote for him. OK, maybe not. Remarkably, there's only one degree of separation between Mr. Terbolizard and me. One of my previous entries talked about a friend's experience in politics. This guy is one of his associates.
I know, I know, it seems like political suicide to associate with people named Terbolizard (or Terbo Ted, as he calls himself). It probably is...Then again, associating with the Ron Paul 'R3volution' was likely political suicide anyway.
The final chapter hasn't been written on my friend's campaign yet. He actually has what I would consider solid political opinions, and comes across quite well when speaking publicly. He does, however, need to work on his associations.
But back to Terbolizard. He seemed to be quite serious about his run for office, though it would be a stretch to call him a serious candidate. He managed to get arrested for DUI during his campaign. To call him eccentric would be an understatement.
In the end, he got a little over 2% of the vote. That frightens me. That's an awful lot of people with a serious lack of judgement.
Or maybe they just liked the name.
I started this venture in 2008 as an avenue to talk about a wide variety of topics, but primarily as a SCUBA blog under the name "Musings from the Deep Blue Sea". It's evolved. My renewed interest in health, fitness, and nutrition (at the age of 43) has brought me to where I am today, and this site reflects that. Having said that, my original mission statement hasn't changed...
Our lives are important only because of the impact they have on the lives of others. Making a difference is important. This blog isn't written for you, it's written for me. My way of reviewing my life, and its significance...Of course, given my wide range of interests in life, there will be much variety. Welcome to my life.
Showing posts with label libertarian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label libertarian. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Monday, August 4, 2008
A Lesson in Politics
I have a friend who is running for political office. It's his first involvement in politics. He's fully committed and genuinely interested in making a difference.
He was first attracted to this path when he was introduced to the Ron Paul 'Revolution'...If you've spent any time on the internet in the past year, there's a fair chance you've been exposed to this movement. For those of you who don't know about Ron Paul, he's a Libertarian Republican Congressman from Texas who was running for President. He attracted a small number of people (in terms of percentage), but definitely had an impact.
Paul has since dropped his Presidential bid, but the 'Revolution' continues...and it's gotten ugly! Paul was the glue that held this thing together. The 'Revolution' was a cult of personality that attracted fringe elements of every stripe, along with true libertarians and other conservative leaning Americans. The message was vague enough to attract everyone, so long as they didn't ask about specifics.
Now, back to my friend...I warned him months ago to disassociate himself from these fringe clowns, but he felt it was his only base support. He didn't have the name recognition necessary to be picky about his associations. Now he's paying.
The 'Revolution' is disintegrating. They're all turning on one another. Now that the Messiah (Ron Paul) is gone, they're all discovering that they really don't agree about much. And my friend is feeling it.
"Politics IS compromise", I wrote to him. Ron Paul, et al, are idealogues. For them there can never be compromise.
He changed course somewhere along the way. Rather than ranting, he began to talk to others, became accepting of the opinions of those who disagree with him. In short, he began to compromise.
But that doesn't sit well with his idealogue friends...
He was first attracted to this path when he was introduced to the Ron Paul 'Revolution'...If you've spent any time on the internet in the past year, there's a fair chance you've been exposed to this movement. For those of you who don't know about Ron Paul, he's a Libertarian Republican Congressman from Texas who was running for President. He attracted a small number of people (in terms of percentage), but definitely had an impact.
Paul has since dropped his Presidential bid, but the 'Revolution' continues...and it's gotten ugly! Paul was the glue that held this thing together. The 'Revolution' was a cult of personality that attracted fringe elements of every stripe, along with true libertarians and other conservative leaning Americans. The message was vague enough to attract everyone, so long as they didn't ask about specifics.
Now, back to my friend...I warned him months ago to disassociate himself from these fringe clowns, but he felt it was his only base support. He didn't have the name recognition necessary to be picky about his associations. Now he's paying.
The 'Revolution' is disintegrating. They're all turning on one another. Now that the Messiah (Ron Paul) is gone, they're all discovering that they really don't agree about much. And my friend is feeling it.
"Politics IS compromise", I wrote to him. Ron Paul, et al, are idealogues. For them there can never be compromise.
He changed course somewhere along the way. Rather than ranting, he began to talk to others, became accepting of the opinions of those who disagree with him. In short, he began to compromise.
But that doesn't sit well with his idealogue friends...
Labels:
idealogue,
libertarian,
politics,
revolution,
ron paul
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)