Patty, So true about Lincoln. Honest Abe would not recognize his party today.

Has anyone heard about the news that came out yesterday, from Macomb County in Michigan about not allowing those whose homes are on a forceclosure list, not being able to vote in the Presidential election? Sounds to me that THIS election, as someone has already stated, is the most important election for us to ponder on…… http://www.michiganmessenger.com/4076/lose-your-house-lose-your-vote

Good points, Rock.

The help that’s on the way must come from each of us, not our leaders. I do not want or need to be “rescued” by my president. We tried that recently, and it didn’t work out too well. This morning, someone left these thoughts in my inbox. “Sometimes politics has the uncanny effect of mirroring the national psyche even when nobody intended to do that. This is perfectly illustrated by the rousing effect that Gov. Sarah Palin had on the Republican convention in Minneapolis. Palin’s pluck has been admired, and her forthrightness, but her real appeal goes deeper. She is the reverse of Barack Obama, in essence his shadow, deriding his idealism and exhorting people to obey their worst impulses. In psychological terms the shadow is that part of the psyche that hides out of sight, countering our aspirations, virtue, and vision with qualities we are ashamed to face: anger, fear, revenge, violence, selfishness, and suspicion of “the other.” For millions of Americans, Obama triggers those feelings, but they don’t want to express them. He is calling for us to reach for our higher selves, and frankly, that stirs up hidden reactions of an unsavory kind. (Just to be perfectly clear, I am not making a verbal play out of the fact that Sen. Obama is black. The shadow is a metaphor widely in use before his arrival on the scene.) I recognize that psychological analysis of politics is usually not welcome by the public, but I believe such a perspective can be helpful here to understand Palin’s message. In her acceptance speech Gov. Palin sent a rousing call to those who want to celebrate their resistance to change and a higher vision. Look at what she stands for: Small town values — a denial of America’s global role, a return to petty, small-minded parochialism. Ignorance of world affairs — a repudiation of the need to repair America’s image abroad. Family values — a code for walling out anybody who makes a claim for social justice. Such strangers, being outside the family, don’t need to be heeded. Rigid stands on guns and abortion — a scornful repudiation that these issues can be negotiated with those who disagree. Patriotism — the usual fallback in an surprise attack or failed war “Reform” — an italicized term, since in addition to cleaning out corruption and excessive spending, one also throws out anyone who doesn’t fit your ideology. Palin reinforces the overall message of the reactionary right, which has been in play since 1980, that social justice is liberal-radical, that minorities and immigrants, being different from “us” pure American types, can be ignored, that progressivism takes too much effort and globalism is a foreign threat. The radical right marches under the banners of “I’m all right, Jack,” and “Why change? Everything’s OK as it is.” The irony, of course, is that Gov. Palin is a woman and areactionary at the same time. She can add mom to apple pie on her resume, while blithely reversing forty years of feminist progress. The irony is superficial; there are millions of women who stand on the side of conservatism, however obviously they are voting against their own good. The Republicans have won multiple national elections by raising shadow issues based on fear, rejection, hostility to change, and narrow-mindedness. Obama’s call for higher ideals in politics can’t be seen in a vacuum. The shadow is real; it was bound to respond. Not just conservatives possess a shadow — we all do. So what comes next is a contest between the two forces of progress and inertia. Will the shadow win again, or has its furtive appeal become exhausted? No one can predict for certain. The best thing about Gov. Palin is that she brought this conflict to light, which makes the upcoming debate honest. We deserve to see what we are getting, without disguise.”