Quote of the Week...from Charles Barkley

Sometimes that light at the end of the tunnel is a train.                 ---Charles Barkley

Whenever I'm surfing television...one of my dubious "hobbies" in life...sometimes I'll come across a channel where an interesting person is speaking.  And when that person is the inimitable Charles Barkley, it's time to lay down the remote and focus in on his words.  Not that the great college and pro basketball star is always correct in his assessments: I'll give an example later on where I think he's off track.  But first things first: the above quote of his about the light, tunnel, and train...

If we're in the middle of difficult circumstances, the tendency is to look hopefully at the future when the problem is will be solved/cured/alleviated.  But sometimes what we think at the time are personal storms are just the preliminary to truly difficult times.  That doesn't mean that we shouldn't hope and work positively for a better future, but rather that we need to be centered in the present, in what we are now and not dwell too much either on our perceived misfortunes or on a future time that may or may not be to our liking.  There are people and things even in the midst of our troubles for which we should feel gratitude...and we should always value the notion that we can choose what direction to take our lives in, regardless of our situation...  

And now the other quote from Mr. Barkley:

They’ve always had our votes and they abused our votes. But this is a wake-up call for Democrats to do better for black people and poor white people. 

With all due respects, I think Charles has the proverbial "cart before the horse" with this political comment, made on the heels of Democrat Doug Jones' surprise Senate election victory in Alabama.  It seems to me that the Democratic Party has a strong, progressive agenda that is oriented toward helping exactly the demographic groups that Barkley is emphasizing.  The problem is that, unless Barack Obama was on the ballot...or there are special circumstances like this special election in Alabama, the voter turnout among blacks...and Democratic voters in general...has tended to dramatically drop off, especially in off-year elections.  On the other side, the right-wing "Tea Party" fringe of Republican voters is very faithful with voting in elections whether they are national, statewide, or local...the mainstream Republican politicians know this and cringe with the awareness that one slip-up on their part will mean a strong Tea Party challenger in the next primary election.  It's the voters showing up to cast their ballots who will decide what kind of political leadership and policies prevail in the end.  When Obama was first elected in 2008 the national voter turnout was 68%, but just two years later when the Tea Party...and consequently the Republicans...surged in the polls, it had plunged to just 42%, with too many Obama supporters not bothering to vote.  Don't blame the Democrats for that party's inability to enact its own agenda after they were voted out of power...it's the fault of people who won't consistently get out and vote!