TEAMWORK

This is a wonderful concept. I just wish it was as wonderful in practice as it is in theory. There are places that it seems to work better though like professional sports. At least the impression is that it does. Whether in the locker room they actually are as united as they like to convey on the field I can’t say.

Outside of professional sports though team work is still a very worthwhile concept, but it just seem kind of hard to make work. And politics is a real example unfortunately. It starts generally with the difficulty of having two opposing groups as in liberals and conservatives who are suppose to work together. Um I think team is hardly the way that works from all the comments that get made where one group is complaining about the other.

About the only real time that they end up working together is if they have some really big threat from outside. Then they do seem to manage to stop fighting in order to fight another enemy.

What truly cracks me up is an election year. I’m speaking mainly for the big brass ring, the Presidency. During the period before the convention the presidential candidates for a given party will spend the time basically ragging on their opponents. I prefer to think of this as name calling with class.

And the basic rule seems to be whatever you can say and get away with is fair. So we see all this happening as a political spectacle. I can’t say I would call it beautiful, but it sure does take place very predictably.

Now the fun part begins during the convention. That is when the opponents in a given party are supposed to kiss and make up. Right, like that really happens other than on the surface. You can’t convince me that when they have been biting at each other for several months and saying all kinds of ugly things about each other that suddenly they are going to be pals.

But that seems to be one they want us to belief. And I just smile because I know behind those contrived smiles the loser is really gritting his teeth and probably thinking, “wait till the next time, then I’ll show you!”

However after all of that changing of faces and pretending they are united then the go over the other party’s candidate and the whole process starts all over. Eventually when the last candidate is left standing by the voters we get a new administration and the political version of team work. Which is naturally related to illusion, lies and making it look good despite what goes on when we aren’t looking.

Some might call this insanity. I call it just another wonderful past time in the arena of social games we call democracy. And if we are really lucky the people sometime win when the opponents actually luck upon some emergency long enough to honestly act like a real team!