Why Can't We be Sensible?

 

I'm a little bit country

And I'm a little bit rock 'n roll

I'm a little bit of Memphis and Nashville

With a Little bit of Motown in my soul 

--Little Bit Country, Little Bit Rock and Roll, 

Marie Osmond 

I am large,

I contain multitides 

--Song of Myself, Walt Whitman 

 _______________________

We don't usually support I'm-not-gay Charlie Crist, so when we saw this cartoon, we wondered, why? I mean, it is being just as mean and petty as the Republicans to poke fun of his sexual orientation. Thinking back, it was probably his hypocrisy on the matter that galled, but that is a requisite for office (politician, thy name is "hypocrite".)

Crist was a moderate Republican Florida governor who was on the short list for Vice President in 2008, and rushed to marry before possibly being disqualified for his sexual orientation; his gambit failed anyway. He was an adequate governor for Florida. But the cartoon sparked a thought:

Why can't a candidate/person be both "moderate Left" AND "Moderate Right"? Sometimes conservative and sometimes liberal? How can one claim to be completely one way or the other? Is the problem that we cannot find a good fit because there is no one good fit?

Our fairy tales suggest there is a shoe that fits (Cinderella), or a bed the right size (Goldilocks). Perhaps we have already addressed the "Big Issues" which leant themselves to clear bifurcation: Sweatshop exploitation of women and children; meat and food standards, animal rights, minority rights, social security. Not to be naive -- of course exploitation continues on all fronts, and we will never legislate morality or bigotry. But the Big issues -- those which cleave people together -- are gone.

Some matters demand liberality, while others do not. At least, ISTM. Where can a thinking person go, politically, and is this why the enervation of the Democratic party?