The Alternative View - A Weekly Review

The Alternative View - Is McCain a Maverick or Pinto?

The Alternative View - Gay Friends Share and Care

The Campaigns Are Off and Running

Now the presidential campaign is in full swing. The conventions are over. Each of the political parties have chosen their candidates and their themes. This process is very similar to a seven year old with a box of crayons trying to decide what colors to pick. I look at the Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates as crayons. Hopefully, each party has chosen complementary colors. I think the seven year has a better grasp on their color selection. There are no campaign promises to hear and temporarily forget. The four crayons chosen by the two political parties in theory represent the best that each party has to offer. But, they are politicians. And politicians are human, very human. For some strange reason, the media wants to elevate these elected officials to some lofty perch, where they might sit calmly or melodramatically fall. The issues of the campaign rise and fall. The personalities of the candidates rise, plateau, and rise some more. This cycle will continue until election day.

Now, there four crayons making speeches and trying to color the minds of the American voters.

Let's Talk about Politics and Family

Political Commercials

As the political commercials appear with an alarming frequency, vague statements are given prominence and urgency. The commercials are aimed straight at the hearts and minds of the middle class. The commercials use the indirect cadence of “spreading the news, not the facts.” This is the language of gossip and slander. It is not the language of truth. Political campaigns spend more time distorting the truth than actually presenting ideas. This year words like “maverick” and “reformer” are hyped. What do they really mean? Is the American public really supposed to believe that the cabinet members of the new administration will all be new untested would be civil servants who have never been to Washington except for a class trip? Is the American public really supposed to believe that increased off shore drilling will immediately lower the price of gas? Is the American public really supposed to accept the “increased taxes are coming! increased taxes are coming!” battle cry?

Why aren’t we seeing commercials about improving the public schools? Why aren’t we seeing commercials about ending homelessness? The true social problems are not being addressed. The American public is being clobbered with silly nonsense without either style or substance. The same old commercials, in the same old educated, insulated voices are stopping by the homes of the American public for a friendly chat. I think that it is time that the door is closed in their faces.

It is important that all Americans know as much about the issues and the candidates as possible. Sadly, the commercials do not provide any information.

Alternative Views-Gays, Mortgages, & the Economy

A Conversation With Friends

The idea for a talk show began several months ago, when the conversation which erupted during an impromptu dinner party was so intellectual and provocative. That night the friendly dialogue began with talk of a Mediterranean cruise, sipped into problems with the economy, the rise and fall of celebrities, the great female soul singers, the best and worst professional football teams, Afghanistan, Iraq, Korea, Russia, the military, contaminated food, conditions in Haiti, professional baseball, primaries, conventions, security, health care, negative political advertising, tax reform, rights of inheritance, civil rights, and movies; and during laughter and martini refills every plan or idea under a harvest was discussed.

The Alternative View is a Washington based talk show by friends about politics, relationships, dating, life. The discussions are compassionate, cultured, eclectic.

The Alternative View - Let's Talk About Alaska!

The Alternative View - Blog URL Commercial

The Alternative View - Dating (Part 1)

The Alternative View - Dating (Part 2)

Welcome to The Alternative View

The triumph of life occurs when we form and nurture healthy relationships. The triumph in literature occurs when we are able to write a sentence with a simple cadence, natural eloquence. My life is filled with family, friends, acquaintances, and misspelled words. Although I try to avoid having political discussions, I can spell Democrat, Republican, Independent, Statehood, Green, Libertarian. I can even say nice things about all of them. In Washington, DC saying nice things about a political party often requires great diplomacy and social skills.

Searching for a topic is both exhilarating and frustrating. I looked around my apartment at the books on the shelves, at the weekly news magazines on my desk. No single issue appealed to me.

Creating an essay in my mind is easy, the hard part is deciding upon the words and writing it. The mechanics of writing can slow any writer. Potential ideas flashed boldly in my brain, and then coyly retreated with thoughts of washing dishes, folding laundry.

I needed a living, moving muse. I remembered this “gentleman activist” the boy from Tennessee. He is one of those amazing, intelligent people that you bump into and want to have long conversations about the writings of Socrates, Thucydides, Aristotle. All of history flashes when he tells an anecdote about growing up in Tennessee.

And so he suggested writing about the media’s sensational coverage of Hurricane Gustav. He said something about Hurricane Katrina. Amidst this talk of hurricanes and evacuations and refugees and emergency shelters and displaced populations, my mind flashed to the Vietnam War, then to the American Civil War, and finally to the Peloponnesian War.

Then, our conversation turned to the Governor of Alaska’s candidacy to be the next Vice President, her beauty pageant days, her variant of a beehive hairdo, her pregnant seventeen year old daughter.

The triumph of life occurs when we try to connect to new people and share an alternative view.