Shoot The Moose

Sean Braisted got me to thinking of Billy Joel with this post: Nashville for the 21st Century: Sad .Sean is upset that the newly elected Dems seem to be putting power grabs ahead of their agenda. You can almost see the fringes of disillusionment that eventually hit everyone.

But why Billy Joel? I'm glad you asked. At this point in my life, my favorite Joel song is "Angry Young Man". This song used to really p*ss me off when I was a young idealist. Now I just think it's true. Check out the lyrics of the bridge:

I believe I've passed the age
Of consciousness and righteous rage
I've found that just surviving was a noble fight.
I once believed in causes, too
I had my pointless point of view
And life went on no matter who was wrong or right.

To think that Joel was in his 20's when he wrote this is amazing.

Politicians grab power and hold onto it for dear life. That's what they do. Their "agendas" are just window dressing to get votes. Oh, they'll enact a watered-down version of their agenda to throw a bone to the base, but nothing - and I mean NOTHING - is more important to a politician than holding onto power. Democrat, Republican, it doesn't matter.

And it's not their fault.

Whenever a politician does get idealistic and tries to change the world, he gets crushed underfoot. Oh, we say we want change, but what happens when someone REALLY tries it?

Hillary Clinton's push for health care reform ought to give you pause.
Even George Bush, who idealistically attempted to totally remake the Middle East, in a (many would say) foolhardy "democracy breeds peace" scheme.
And just watch and learn next time someone REALLY tries to reform social security.

I'm not saying we should all disengage politically. What I am saying is that maybe we should lower our expectations of our elected leaders.

After all, they're only politicians.