Civic Issues Blog Meet Me Halfway

02 / 13 / 2015

My weekly inspiration:
My original excuse for not working in politics had a lot to do with not wanting to get
involved with the slow moving bureaucratic nightmare that is the US government. I
justified it using Zenos paradox -claiming that between where we are right now,
and the end goal, there are an infinite number of half-ways. In other words, it is
impossible to get to the end goal. My point was that if the government continues to
step toward perfection by going half the distance or compromising, each time, it will
be impossible to reach perfection because there are an infinite number of half-ways,
an infinite number of compromises between where we are now, and perfection. And,
I want perfection; not half-ways.
But then I realized two things:
1. That the slow-moving bureaucratic nightmare is my government too.
And,
2. That slow-moving is better than stopped.
I heard this great story the other day about Zenos paradox:
There was a king, a philosopher, a mathematician, and the kings daughter, in a
room one day and the king said to the other two men, You can have my eldest
daughter to marry if you can get to her, but you may only walk half the distance to
her each time So the mathematician replies very politely, your highness, this is
pointless, there are an infinite number of half-ways between me and your daughter,
I will never get there, and the Philosopher replies it doesnt matter if you ever get
there, what matters is how close you come,

There may be an infinite number of half-ways between our government and the
perfect country. But, that infinity is finite and it doesnt really matter anyway. What
matters is how close to perfection we come. We can move mountains with half-ways
and the founding fathers knew this. The two parties get us halfway with compromise
and debate, and while it may seem like a slow-moving bureaucratic nightmare, well,
thats because it is slow-moving and bureaucratic. But, I assure you, our
government is no nightmare.
So, I leave you with three pieces of consultation:
1. Mount Rushmore moves one inch every 10,000 years.
2. Slow Cooker sales are up 55% in the last two years.
3. Rome wasnt built in a day.

4. Your / My / Our government is pretty damn close to perfection, and still going
halfway.

So we beat on boats against the current

Until next time, have a good weekend.