Generally, I tend to lean toward social liberalism and economic conservatism — basically, the government should provide services where profits should be irrelevant (like defense, infrastructure, healthcare, or education), but should do so appropriately within a balanced budget.  I also like the idea of citizens paying a reasonable overall cost (taxes + private fees) for these services and getting some actual value for them.

What does that mean in this political climate?  It means that I support what the president has said so far and am waiting for the results of his plans (frankly, it’s too soon to tell).  It means that I’m leery of Congress, who can’t seem to get over themselves and their special interests and get something done to benefit their constituents.  For instance, the stimulus package and the budget process both irritate me — at what point will they actually change from the quid pro quo style of bill-writing that causes so much of the bloat and deficits in the first place?  I know – the president spearheads some of these initiatives and signs off at the end, but the devil’s in the details where Congress does the writing.

What I don’t understand is how intense the hate has become.  The Obama administration has been in place for fewer than five months — have they had time to earn the invective already?  I didn’t like GWB when he was elected, but what he had done in his first five months wouldn’t have warranted the reaction Obama gets.  The Sotomayor nomination alone has brought racism out of the woodwork, while seemingly 0.0000001% of the discussion of her nomination has anything to do with her legal credentials or published judicial history.  I understand if someone doesn’t like her decisions or even things she says in public, but why the leap to racist slurs (albeit bafflingly confused slurs)?

National Review - Sotomayor

Ultimately, I don’t think most Americans have this hatred in them without lots of outside nudging and prodding.  It makes me wonder what would happen if the haters (not to be necessarily confused with committed) on both sides were silenced for a while and allowed people to debate again.  Maybe we’d let the best ideas (not the loudest shouters) win.

At this point, I’m pretty sure that I live in the best city (for me) in the United States – Chicago.  It has the right blend of food, music, culture, business, and attitude.  Plus, the winter weather doesn’t make me want to run screaming most of the time.  But the city I always want to go back to is London.  In addition to making dedicated trips, we make a point of stopping there any time we travel to Europe for a day or so just to enjoy and relax.

The last time I was in London was about a month ago, for a night and a day.  We found out early that our flight would be delayed leaving London for home, so we had a few more hours to spend there before getting on the Tube for Heathrow.  After stopping off in a pub near our Russell Square hotel for some food and something to drink, we headed down Tottenham Court Road (which turns into Charing Cross), down Shaftesbury, and across to Leicester Square to check out the half-price theater options.  The square has at least three such ticket brokers as well as two movie theaters and many imprints of the hands of movie stars.  We got our tickets, had another quick drink, and headed to the show.

The next morning, we were greeted by the rain.  I think part of my enjoyment in London is that although the weather isn’t good, it is better than Chicago’s (especially in winter).  After a good breakfast in the hotel, we headed out toward Oxford Street, stopping off in various Caffe Nero locations to get an espresso and warm up for the next leg.  The first location we stopped in was next to a Starbucks – the Starbucks was empty, while Nero was going strong for a Sunday morning.  We walked down Oxford, doing some window shopping, till we got to Marble Arch.  We then wandered across Hyde Park, watching some pick-up soccer as we went, over to Knightsbridge.  Lunch at Wagamama (which really should be brought to Chicago) preceded some wandering around, both on the street and in Harrod’s.  Finally, we headed back to the hotel, picked up our bags, and went to the airport.

I recognize that nothing I’ve written above is extraordinary or game-changing.  London just feels both comfortable and exciting to me, a mix of old and new.  Even though we’ve been there many times, there’s still more to check out — for us, the East End is still an unknown.  Also, I found a whole street of guitar stores just off Charing Cross in Soho.  We’ll have to check them out next time.