Election 2010 & Yin Yang

As a person who has practiced Tai Chi--almost every afternoon--for over ten years and read books on Taoism, the current political climate is beyond frustrating. The country is so polarized. Conservatives and Liberals are pointing their fingers at the other and calling them names and refusing to play remotely nice. Democrats vote as a block. Republicans vote as a block. Whoa to anyone’s political future if they cross the line. This is turning into national suicide. –-I will cease my rant here. You’ve got the idea.

The Tai Chi—yin/yang-- symbol has been used for millennia to describe life. Life contains opposites: yin and yang, “male” and “female”, expansion and contraction, etc. According to the symbol, even the most yang has a little bit of yin and even the most yin has a little bit of yang. The symbol tells us that everything that exists was created by a dance between these opposites. Martial arts are based upon this principle. In Tai Chi practice those principles help us balance as well as prepare to fight an opponent. For many centuries in the East this principle was used as the basis for medicine and philosophy. The point is the dance, the interplay.

I personally believe now is the time for the United States to use the principle of the yin and the yang. The polarization needs to stop being a static barrier and become a dance. We don’t need partisanship. We don’t need compromise. We need the two sides to come together to create new solutions that neither could arrive at by themselves. We need to work with the good from both sides and create something unique and perhaps surprising. The two sides need to dance, wrestle, argue, and brainstorm with one another until they create something that no one could ever have expected.

[A few wild guesses to some new directions: Increase economic stability by nurturing and encouraging relatively small, very flexible and mobile companies that can change directions rapidly. Build industries that use the extreme weather the world has been experiencing—and will continue to experience—as an economic opportunity. Help reduce healthcare costs by making outdoor activities fun and trendy again. Help reduce healthcare costs by creating a patriotic incentive for fast food restaurants to get people hooked on nutritionally rich/calorie sane foods—think sweet potatoes and carrots glammed up.]

I am not a political person. I just want to read my mystery and science fiction books, practice Tai Chi & stay healthy, and make a living. I hope this is my last political rant.