US Politics

In response to a post on a different blog, by my friend Dan.


I just read the Carter speech entitled "Crisis of Confidence" (thank you thank you PBS), and I agree that many of his words during that energy crisis are like *Doh* that's so true!! Carter said a lot of things that ring true today.

But.. Carter. ..Seems like a different time. I'd only ever seen clips of Carter in news on TV, or rather, impersonations of Carter. Certainly an interesting President, but ... not really effective--more a reaction to Watergate. If we look back, his conservation policies didn't play out--stability came by increasing production and foreign imports. (Dan says history is repeating itself, but I'm not so sure.)

I also recently watched the Ken Burns documentary on Thomas Jefferson. (... which, aside from occasionally agonizing voice-overs by one historian that I didn't like, seemed to do a good job at portraying Jefferson and his mysteriousness.. ) I wonder what Jefferson would be like if he were born today. If he were President, would he be like GW Bush or Clinton? It seems more likely to me that he was thrust into politics by chance. That his version of politics would anonymously, on a blog--if he even considered politics at all.

Maybe my interest in old presidents is because I'm creeping towards a career change. Or thinking practically about my future. Am I looking for guidance? Or maybe it's due to my perspective, as an American looking in from the outside? Or maybe it's because I'm pondering a return to Western culture, seeking some identity..

Whatever the case, this is a "Tokyo blog." I can comment on how politics seems to work here in Asia: Politics are for politicians. Most people just don't care, and couldn't bother. Things change only when it's obvious that they should change--when the situation grows pathetic--at which point they jump several steps all at once. They take their best stab at fixing it (and perhaps, if the non-political public is lucky, also consider what the future problem will be). ... and it stays that way. Until the situation grows pathetic again.

Perhaps it really is the Buddhist mindset: you have a fate. And sometimes your fate sucks. Deal. This is the only reason I can muster for why people can put up with so much crap here. Japanese people can truly deal with anything.

I have no doubt they could manage an energy crisis better than Americans.

Not because they'll find an alternative--Western mentality is much better-suited for that. It's simply that Japanese know how to cope.


... Americans have freedom, Asia has history. And the more I think about it.. Europe seems to have both. I just wish it wasn't so far away from friends and family..