I tend to think in metaphors. For instance, I think about where we are today, socially, economically, and politically, in terms of "supersaturated solutions."
If just mentioning this term doesn't "precipitate" out the idea to which I am alluding, I invite you to click the link provided, to get an explanation of that "supersaturated solution" metaphor, when considered in a political context.
"Tightrope walking" is another metaphor that speaks to me, when I think about the basic topic to which my various blog postings are directed. If we do live, as I suggest, in a "political world," then we may well be living on a "tightrope." Our ability to survive, without a major fall, even if we should happen to have a safety cable attached, will depend on our ability to "balance" in the middle of a pretty narrow line in which we can continue to make progress.
It does seem to me that politics is a lot like that.
And... here is another factor: We need to displace from our immediate attention and to disregard what is, surely, a justifiable fear of falling and failing. We need to have, as a basic article of faith, that we will be able to walk that tightrope right to the end, to the goal we see ahead, to that place where things are secure, to the place we know we need to get to.
Of course, I am taking for granted, in offering up this "tightrope" metaphor as a way of thinking about our political life, especially at times like the ones in which we are now living, that we understand that this metaphor is powerful only to the extent that we see ourselves (individually and collectively) as the tightrope walker.
Politics is not, really, a "spectator sport." So, that "tightrope walker" metaphor is not a call to pull out the binoculars and watch what happens to the tightrope walker.
This blog posting is a call to get out on the wire ourselves!
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