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Ashland, Oregon HOME Valley & State Sports Nation & World Opinion/Editorial Classifieds Business Columnists Local Issues Obituaries Weather Archive Revels Etcetera Backpage Hot Topics Most Viewed Forum Photo Galleries Video Readers Polls O-Zone Online Games Movie Preview Special Sections Real Estate Guide Menu Guide Shakespeare Subscribe Contact Us Rate Card Place an Ad John Darling April 28, 2006 I’ll Shut Up — Right After This What if we ran the world like daycare? I’m getting a haircut while reading Esquire and here’s Bill Clinton on the cover, being called the most influential person in the world. Another story says nuclear power is inevitable. We can and must resolve the safety and waste disposal issues, the story argues. It’s one of those eye-opening moments when you ask, OK, why is Clinton respected and embraced all over the world, and why is a savvy, realistic men’s mag embracing nuclear power? The answer is because people are getting tired of the dogmas of either side and want a pragmatic world that works. Clinton is the man of the 21st century, the post-modern guy who cheerfully did what worked for the most people, like the big trade agreements, earned income credit and diminishing the “great leader” icon by playing the sax, eating at MacDonald’s and being imperfect in his marriage, like the rest of us. The postmodern vision for the 21st century, after we finish this present chest-beating period with the last fundamentalist, imperial president, is that we’re just sick of war and profiteering. It’s time to stop crushing politicians who try to do sensible, pragmatic things, like setting up national health care and letting it be OK for gays to serve in the military. Useful Things The age of patriarchy is over. We pay a lot of taxes and they should go for useful things, like national health care, good schools and a sustainable environment that works for everyone, including Bambi. These are the basic responsibilities of modern, sensible people. We have to stop electing people who exploit our fear to serve their own greed. We need to look at the world as if it were a day care center, community health clinic or food co-op, and ask ourselves — would we want the board of directors run by those who say we live in a dangerous place, and only the rich and powerful are entitled to its benefits? There are a lot of people on earth now and we’re getting low on space, resources and clean water. This is not, repeat not, about Democrats and Republicans and it’s certainly not about Judeo-Christians vs. Islam. It’s about what works, and we’re sick of what doesn’t work. Patriarchy is dying. That’s why it’s fighting so hard for its survival — moving wealth from the middle and working classes to the investor class, and telling us it’s for our own good, so we can be victorious against evildoers who hate our freedom. People of goodwill Al Gore, a sensible, pragmatic guy who wrote a book (“ Earth in the Balance”) about his sensible, balanced vision of the future, actually was elected by us in 2000. And next time, we’ll elect someone pragmatic and sensible — the kind of person you’d want as chair of your cohousing project — if the god of elections will give us what we need, instead of what we deserve. We want leaders who are rational, pragmatic and cheerful people of good will, who know how to listen, discuss, generate ideas and join with others in creating positive solutions that work for everyone. We stand at the point in history where we could be a failed species if we keep making the same mistakes. But we are not going to fail our promise. We are creatures who evolved out of instinctual life in nature, developing reason, communication and the ability to learn, grow, change and adapt. We learned to do the compassionate and caring thing, which happens now to be the one thing that will ensure our survival. John Darling is an Ashland writer. He can be reached at [email protected] . --> Copyright © 2006 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers. All Rights Reserved.