One of the things I found frustrating when conducting a protest rally was gazing over along the periphery and seeing all of the bystanders.  They stood there, arms folded or akimbo, maybe holding shopping bags when the action was in a downtown site, and gazed upon whatever spectacle we had put together.   Sometimes one individual would lean toward another and make a comment - maybe about the protest or maybe about how they ought to take off and go do what they had originally planned.

There are two basic groups of citizens when it comes to their evaluation of the socio-economic and political state of the country: those who are satisfied and those who are dissatisfied. Within each group, one can further categorized them between the somewhat (dis)satisfied and the very (dis)satisfied.

There is the basic concept of human scale which asserts humans interact with their social and physical environments based on their dimensions, capabilities and limits. We generally encounter the concept in architecture and city planning.  But it is just as important in the political and social realm. 

This started out as a response to a blog about how Democrats should campaign in a purple district or state.  As one might expect, the general consensus is Dems need to focus on jobs (and its companion the economy). 

A significant key for the discussion which I don’t think is adequately addressed is that we are dealing with a purple region of the country, whether district or state.  We can get into whole debate about what makes such a region purple, but I will use the 30-40-30* explanation.  By this I mean that 30% of the population will vote Republican pretty much no matter what and 30% will vote Democrat come hell or high water for the most part.  This leaves us the middle 40.

I have to say that I have always understood Tip O'Neill's pithy little saying a little different than the generally understanding of what he meant. From Wikipedia:

Jeremiah Johnson made his way into the mountains
Bettin' on forgettin' all the troubles that he knew
The trail was wide and narrow
And the eagle or the sparrow
Showed the path he was to follow as they flew.

A little while I go, in response to the claim that Unforgiven is best American film ever made – I claimed that the truth actually was Jeremiah Johnson.

As we continue to watch the unfolding debate regarding the budget, debt ceiling, and the deficit, it seems to me that it is pretty clear what is at stake in 2012.  Regardless of one's opinions about how liberal Obama is, or just how much difference there is between the Dems and the Repubs, one has to say now that the "tea party" faction has taken most of the control, a Republican-controlled Congress starting in 2013 would be disastrous, even with Obama still in the Oval Office.

The current cover of Time magazine depicts a modified image of Abraham Lincoln shedding a tear with the headline “Why We’re Still Fighting the Civil War: The endless battle over the war’s true cause would make Lincoln Weep.”