— Crucial in understanding how things move are Sir Isaac Newton’s Three Laws of Motion. We can start with the concept of Force, a push or pull that may cause an object to change its motion. Force can be measured in Pounds or Newtons (about 0.22 pounds).
Newton’s 1st Law (often called the Law of Inertia) is: If there is no net force on a body, the body’s motion is unchanged. A net force of 0 usually mean that the forces acting on a body cancel out, just as it applies to your body as you read this column either sitting down or standing up. Newton’s 2nd Law is: If there is a net force on a body, the body changes its motion or accelerates.
Acceleration is the rate of changing speed and/or direction. The accompanying formula is Net Force = Mass x Acceleration, where mass is in kilograms or slugs (32 lbs. on Earth’s surface = 1 slug). Acceleration is in meters/(seconds squared) or foot/(seconds squared). Newton’s 3rd Law is: If body A exerts a force on body B, then body B exerts an opposite and equal force on body A.
How do these laws relate to American politics? Naturally, I have to make some substitutions and then it may be clear. Consider Newton’s 1st and 2nd Laws. Inertia in Physics is resistance to change in motion and is given by an object’s mass.
Inertia in Politics is resistance to change, applying to laws, principles, biases, prejudices or just not wanting to think. Anecdotes (stories) told by media figures will engage many against change even though the anecdotes may be not typical of the issue. Fear and anxiety also contributes to political inertia when people are afraid any change will threaten what they already have. As you can tell from looking at the DVD’s in most media stores that horror movies are among the most popular.
So when media figures preach that bad outcomes will occur if there is any change (they don’t like), many Americans likely switch into the fear mode. This resistance to change can be further bolstered by hate statements and posters where elected officials are compared to dictators, mass murderers (which some dictators have been) and loathsome figures in literature or movies.
So when there is much inertia spread across a vocal minority of Americans, any change becomes very difficult even with strong forces, majority support and a prevalence of facts suggesting that change should at least be tried.
Congress tends to mirror the fear, anxiety and uncertainty of those who elected and supported them (may be from out of state); no matter which party, most elected representatives are fearful of offending their constituents, even if they realize these views are not based on reality, but more on emotion and an absence of understanding.
Newton’s 3rd Law in terms of politics goes like this: If some one attacks you, you attack back just as hard. There has been a real alienation of the two parties for years due to this practice. Unfortunately, if an office holder chooses not to play this game, he/she is regarded as lacking character or intestinal fortitude.
Certain columnists reinforce this trend, bashing political figures either for being too forceful in pushing change or being weak and puny (if the changes advocated don’t go far enough). I think that every one of these know it all columnists should trade places with a U.S. senator for a month; they would see how difficult it is to get things done with the kind of bitter partisanship that they have promoted in their columns.
The Frostburg State Planetarium is closed today (spring break) to reopen next Sunday with “Quick Intro to Stars” with showings at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Today you will notice that darkness comes an hour later (about 8:20 p.m.) due to our shift to Daylight Time. The sun also rose an hour later (about 7:30 pm)this morning. In mid week, there is a balance between day time and night time, each being 12 hours in length.
Of course, dawn and dusk are each about an hour long, so the stars are well seen for just 10 hours. The coming Saturday will be the first day of spring. The sun will rise due east and set due west on that day (as well as on the first day of fall on Sept. 22).
Bob Doyle invites reader’s comments; email him at rdoyle@frostburg.edu .
Columns
Newton would have understood our politics
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Somewhere over the rainbow starts here
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Not all grasshoppers wind up like Aesop’s
