Our Times

In retirement, I have a lot of time to think about all kinds of matters.  This election cycle has given me much to ponder.  I need to organize my thoughts.  Hence this post.

First, I find myself struggling with these propositions:

1. There appears to be a new third rail in American politics (or does that make it a fourth rail after Social Security?).  I'm thinking of the military, service personnel, and veterans.  I think there is a tendency to think of them as interchangeable.  The military = service personnel = veterans.  I think that is dangerous and would like to develop that thought.
2. I am concerned about a growing nationalism that I see in the campaigns of Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and, to a lesser degree, other candidates for President from the GOP.  Again, there is a tendency to conflate love of country, patriotism, and nationalism.  I believe we should start to grow beyond all of these.  That probably makes me some kind of "one-worlder".  I'd like to develop that topic as well.  
3. You can hardly talk about a growing sense of nationalism without engaging the immigration issue as well.  The anti-immigrant sentiment that is one of many drivers to the conservative ideology needs to be addressed.
4. I am concerned that education has become devalued by a large segment of our population.  I think I know when it started and I'd like to do something to shed light on this issue.
5. I am concerned that the same campaigns mentioned before have given voice to a segment of our population whose overt racism is suddenly more acceptable than it has been since the 1960s.
6. I am concerned with the degree to which religion has co-opted political discussion.  Barack Obama had to prove he was a Christian.  Ted Cruz wants the US to be a Christian theocracy.  Throw in Mike Huckabee and Ben Carson to the politicians who want our cultural life to be dictated by Christian Evangelicals.  Yet, the United States is apparently undergoing a process of secularization, following what has happened in Europe.
7. What happened to conservatives that I could respect while disagreeing with them?  people like Bob Dole, George H.W. Bush, Everett Dirkson, Howard Baker, even Ronald Reagan at his best.  Where have they gone?  We find conservative commentators like David Brooks and George Will throwing up their hands in dismay at the current crop.
8. I find the whole environment-global warming-climate change debate tiresome and frustrating.  If ever there was an indication of the stranglehold that big business, particularly the fossil fuel industry, has over our political discourse, this is it.

I hope to explore these (and perhaps more) topics in the days and weeks to come.  I'm sure the presidential race will find its place in my musings.

Something to get you started:  Will McAvoy on the greatest country in the world