Waiting On the World to Change, by Martha Thomases – Brilliant Disguise

July 2, 2011 Martha Thomases 6 Comments

It’s been a disconcerting week for me.  I find myself admiring people with whom I disagree.  I find myself giving credit to people who do things I don’t like.

Am I an old softie?  Am I abandoning my principles?  What will become of me?

Example Number One:  The New York State Legislature ended its session by passing a number of important bills.  You probably heard about Marriage Equality, but they also extended rent control and capped property taxes.  Governor Cuomo’s popularity is at an all-time high.

I don’t like the deal he made to do this, just as I’m not thrilled with the details of the deals that were made to pass Marriage Equality.  But, you know, Cuomo promised to get things done in Albany, and most people thought he was just as likely to be able to change the tides.  But he did what he said he’d do, and I kind of like that.

In the same way, I get that Barack Obama, when he makes compromises I think go too far, gets things done.  The list is long:  health care, financial reform, ending Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, troop withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan.  I get the feeling he has a list of the promises he made on the campaign in 2008, and he’s ticking them off as his term goes by.

Both these guys made promises, and they’re trying to live up to what they promised as best they can.

If only Obama didn’t start negotiating like this.

Example Number Two:  The compromises I don’t like in the Marriage Equality law, the religious exemptions that allow churches and religious non-profit groups to discriminate, were put in to persuade conservative Republicans to compromise and pass the bill, which polls show is supported by the majority of New Yorkers.  Unlike their counter-parts in the federal government, some Republicans actually looked at the bill, looked at their positions, discussed it with their constituents, and changed their minds.

If I were such a person, raised Catholic in a conservative upstate town, what would it take for me to consider these other perspectives?  I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know it would take more than the opportunity to get a pat on the head from Mike Bloomberg.

Maybe I like this because I’m working on my novel again (Secret Identities: A Novel with Super Powers, feel free to contact me if you’d like to publish it).  Characters who know what they think are boring.  Characters who evolve over the course of events, as a result of their actions, are interesting.

Interesting characters take actions that cause change in other characters.

And so, in the summer of 2011, with more than a year until the election, I want to commend these folks who do things I don’t do.  Don’t get too comfortable, though.  There’s another campaign season coming up, and I intend to insist you listen to extremists like me.

Join us!  It’s fun!

Martha Thomases, Media Goddess, has never passed any kind of purity test.