Most of the honest forward motion in American history has been instigated, if not accomplished, by liberal thinking.
Most of the resistance to said forward motion has come from conservative thinking.
Personally, I'm thinking that's why the call it conservative thinking.
But that might be an overly liberal simplification.
For those already tsk tsk-ing, grunting and/or offering up the cream of their four letter word vocabularies in this direction, let me paint a little "what if" picture for you.
"What if"....Ferdinand and Isabella had been dedicated, Fox News fanatic, rabid right wingers who believed that the best way to keep the kingdom happy was to keep the rich rich and the middle class middlin' (as for the poor, let em eat cake, baby, to add a little Antoinette to the gumbo).
Enter liberal Mr. Hey I Got An Idea About A New World Out There But I Need One Hellatious Pile of Pesos To Buy Three Sweet Little Ships I Got My Eye On."
We all know which direction Ferd and Izzy sent their thumbs re' Chris' grant request.
And presto!. Columbus and Company sailed off to discover a land upon which God could shed his grace.
Even if, lately, we haven't been all that good at crowning with brotherhood.
Had Mr. and Mrs. Madrid line item vetoed that voyage of discovery in the interest of kingdom coffer preservation disguised as fiscal responsiblity, though, we might never have known the joys of American ingenuity, American cheese, American Bandstand or American Idol.
And Spanish Harlem wouldn't have been in NYC, USA. It would have been....
...well, in Spain.
All of this, incidentally and evidence to the contrary, is not yet another predictable manifesto on the merits of the liberal, as opposed to the conservative, mentality.
Rants from the extreme left or right being an unfortunate, if inevitable, byproduct of a free society, the next to impossible to refute fact of the matter is that in an ideal situation, moderation (read: the center) is where all the sensible, practical and ultimately healthy solutions are to be found.
And like it or not, that should be our ultimate goal.
("...Clowns to the left of me / jokers to the right / here I am / stuck in the middle with you...")
Gerry Rafferty. Politically astute. Who'da thunk it?
Meanwhile, here's the way all this shakes out as regards the coming election.
Mitt Romney has, by all appearances, indications and/or interpretations from any and all observers of any and all party stripe, made it clear with his choice of Paul Ryan that his pitch for taking away Barack Obama's White House swimming pool keypad privileges is going to laser in on the American economy and his well documented belief that the key to healing the American economy is to put, or keep, in play the time tested philosophy of letting American business grow, American business owners succeed and get rich and, accordingly, provide more jobs for those in need of them.
I call it Rockefellernomics.
Get filthy rich by building an empire, taking advantage of every crack, quirk and/or loophole in the tax system, but creating, as a by product with jobs and good pay and benefits and business expansion (and did I mention good pay and benefits?) , a healthy and robust middle class grateful to have a gig and/or be able to pay their bills.
And just as history tells us, so what if John D and/or John D. Jr. and/or Nelson got filthy rich?
The middle class was healthy and robust and grateful to have a gig and/or be able to pay their bills.
The Rockefellers, among others, were most assuredly primarily profiteers.
But they were also philanthropists.
Fast forward 2012.
Here's the rub, Yorickmeister.
Romeny's success at "restoring America to greatness" (or whatever other bumper sticker worthy turn of phrase the turn of phrase masters conjure up) hinges on today's super sleek, super slick generation of filthy richers being ready and willing to honor both P's of the process.
The philanthropy.
As well as the profiteering.
The Republican Convention is set for September in Minneapolis.
But it might just as well be held in Vegas.
Because Romney/Ryan are about to bet it all that greatness and greed can still be doled out in the equal measure that has kept America in business for a lot of years.
Given the behavior of corporations and CEO's of corporations over the past few years, not to mention the complicity of politicians and cronies who barely have time to shake voter's hands because their own are too busy trading checks and perks with each other, here's a sure thing.
It's a hell of a gamble.
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