Some Perspective On Reagan

This Friday I predicted to my friends that the constant coverage would come to an end this Monday. It has big time (dude – you know who you are – you owe me $20).

Second, for some perspective on Reagan, read Garret Vreeland in this dangerousmeta post. He never posts anything this long, and it’s worth the time to read it.

I was just a kid during the Reagan years, and my own point of view has less to do with what actually happened and much more to do with what entertainment, art, and the media had to say about things.

Garret rightly centers on the centrists. The “Reagan Democrats”. The “Clinton Republicans”. And he warns to watch for them. Witness my previous Howard Stern post.

Ya see, Howard is a centrist. I’m sure that leaves a few of you closed minded folks scratching your heads.

Get this straight: centrist doesn’t mean boring. It doesn’t mean “middle of the road” either.

While almost all of us lean one way or another – we know it’s not about towing the “party line”. We won’t be straight jacketed that way. We don’t accept these simplistic labels so easily. We know it’s all about voting for the best person.

Period.

There are a hell of a lot more of us then you. We’re just too damn silent. And the polarized atmosphere pushes us away.

Read this terrific NYTimes piece. Maybe we’re not so divided after all. Maybe, just maybe, its our ideologues, leaders, and the various other marketers in this world, who in their quest to sell us something, push us farther to the extremes. Push us farther apart. Push us until we grow so cynical we don’t think our singular votes matter.

They do. And hopefully they will this election.

Make a contribution to the Kerry campaign and make sure you are registered to vote.