I’m a clairvoyant- so I know that if anyone reads this they will wonder what it has to do with the overall topic. I’m just putting a dot way out here . so I can connect it to others later on.
Since I began this blog topic in May with things we know that may or may not be true (ie. they are difficult to prove) here are a few more:
Smells Fishy: Recently, there was a report that stated that a pregnant woman who eats 12 ounces of fish a week may actually be helping to improve brain growth in fetuses, her own fetus, not some random stranger’s. Unfortunately, I read in an Elizabeth Weise USA Today column that “the group’s work was paid for in part by a $60,000 grant from the National Fisheries Institute.” (That darn rooster in the hen-house again?)
Drink up: Another study reported that a beer was better than water after a strenuous workout. Lazy husbands across the country currently enjoying the NFL this year collectively rejoiced at this news and made every lame joke in the book about how much effort it takes to walk from the recliner to the refrigerator. (FYI- no word yet on whether the Miller Brewing Company or Anheuser-Busch Companies had anything to do with this spectacular news.)
Amputee: Next, we’ll be told that the 2-year-old, formerly 8-limed Indian girl had some of the wrong appendages removed, that some of them were from a parasitic puma carcass with a severe co-dependency issue, and that she has, as an illegal alien, already been allowed the right to procure a driver’s license by any and all democratic presidential candidates except for Hillary Clinton. What’s that- now Hillary is willing to allow that? . . . Huh, now she’s not? . . . She is? . . . Not? . . . Is? Better get used to it- the primary elections are around the corner and we are about to see more waffling from political candidates than from a bus-load of porcine guys forsaking their Over-Eaters Anonymous pledges ordering the big breakfast at IHOP. Might as well take the next step and just refer to the candidates as- waffles.
No Strike: See, it is difficult to prove things. I thought I would remind the negative number of readers about that before continuing. I would also like to remind them that I will forego the writer’s strike and will go on producing largely unread blog columns, until someone pays me $60,000 to stop (see- Smells Fishy above). Altruistically, I cannot let the millions that I would be in line for from residual DVD sales affect my devotion to a cause that literally no one appreciates, except for those would watch Simon and Simon reruns on cable while they get over their bout of pneumonia.
Political Analogies: Ok, so we’ve established that the government and the business industry, to the detriment of the public,* continue to make the kinds of deals that the plunger and the toilet bowl scrubber would make in that dirty world behind the toilet if there were votes to swing, politicians to pay off, kickbacks to hand out, and “free” elections to bastardize. If you haven’t come to realize that fact because it hasn’t been as advertised as the “Bee Movie” then perhaps more digesting of second-hand msnbc articles borrowed from The New York Times and Associated Press is in order.
Political Analogies- the Sequel: Speaking of analogies and movies—my favorite scene from “Planes Trains and Automobiles” where John Candy is goofing around with the electronic seat adjuster, which is very amusing to the audience, only comforting to him, and only after he has found a position that is just good enough given his exhaustion. Candy’s antics are rather annoying to Steve Martin, particularly because once it is Martin’s turn to relax, while Candy drives, the seat is broken. That is how I see politics. We are uncomfortable, annoyed and tired. Someone, kind of, gets their way, in a potentially cozy position and then all hell breaks loose. Keep in mind, that scene ends with Candy driving the wrong way in the dark on a freeway heading right toward a semi-truck or two, and oh yeah, ends up setting the car on fire because his lit cigarette never makes it out of the window. Now, tell me that doesn’t sound like a perfect analogy for the nature of politics, and as I have demonstrated, I’m only just learning about it.
General Truth: Last time I nailed the government in terms of how much money they waste on the military. I am not advocating isolationism from a military or an economic perspective because there is too much money to make globally in a capitalistic society. But what sense does it make to be imperialists militarily if a good piece of the money we make economically is spent on wars we should want no part of, at least not anymore. The federal budget is weighted too much in one direction and another, which doesn’t satisfy anyone in the middle caught between the republicans and the democrats. Who is in the middle but a growing number of independents who are members of the middle class. Case in point: from, I don’t know, part 4 or 5 of this blog epic, I revealed that the two biggest recipients of federal money are the military (21%) and major social aid programs such as Medicare and Medicaid (28%). Well, generally, the biggest backers of an unreasonably strong military are republicans, and the biggest backers of a completely broken, corrupt and abused Medicare system are the democrats. I could trot out a number of Time or Newsweek articles and newspaper and internet columns that back this point and I may do so, but for now, trust me on this—it is very provable. The military annex of the federal government named its preliminary Iraqi offensive- “shock and awe.” At this point, since we are still there well over four years later, perhaps it should be renamed “awe shucks,” for it has had a Devin Hester opening kickoff of the Super Bowl returned for a touchdown kind of effect. The Colts still beat the Bears by 12 points.
Change: Problem is, while I’m convinced that the disgust and frustration is growing among people who may be naturally inclined to vote for an independent/populist type candidate, many of them in the political middle simply aren’t secure enough in the knowledge that they are probably going to have to “waste” their vote on political candidates for a party that doesn’t control the executive, legislative, or judicial parts of our government. To me, this is not a wasted or a protest vote. Someone I know voted against every incumbent in the last election because they wanted- change. However, political change in this country isn’t about voting in a democrat when we are dissatisfied with a republican. Change is- voting them both out. Unfortunately, short of a peaceful, well-organized, well-financed revolt, the only way to do it is through a decades long, systematic, impassioned voting strategy where all the people who complain about the way things are, actually do something about it. Besides, no revolt of the masses would ever happen- for two reasons:
1) the politicians, by letting in all the immigrants, are turning this country into one massive Tower of Babel. I decided to go with a biblical reference—Tower of Babel, see god makes everyone speak a different language in order to stop them from working together in their building of a very structurally unsound edifice that would reach into the heavens, allegorically anyway. My allusion is as much literal, as figurative, for Mexicans, Hmong, Haitians, and all the rest, are causing the unrest of the more naturalized citizens, because of their disregard for our country’s language, customs, and oh yeah, our laws (by coming here illegally, among other things). Hey, we have enough Americans breaking laws, we don't need ringers in the game of law-breaking. It is hard to be a unified populace if, to continue the Babel analogy, all groups want different social, economic, and political gains;
2) money. Ironically, the government is stripping this from everyone anyway with the heavy taxes it is imposing, so we wouldn't have enough money to finance a peaceful uprising, which begins with a vote.
Your Vote: Trust me; I would have earned at least a C in every political science class I took pass-fail since I swore off attempting to obtain my GED. Change is going to take: writing in Mickey Mouse, Harry Truman, Ralph Nader, “Not You” or simply voting for the independent, populist, or green party candidate whose name appears on the ballot and doing so en masse (that means everyone so inclined should go ahead and do so). One gubernatorial election will not be enough, and voting for Giuliani or Edwards and voting for an independent for your district’s state house of representative’s seat isn’t enough. This has to be a carte blanche (across the board) vote against the democrats and republicans and a vote for a la carte politics- taking the best aspects of both, such as they are. Just complaining isn’t enough anymore. Politicians should have to pay, by losing their jobs, for being more loyal to the resurrection of an antiquated, marginally appreciated historical site, toward which they throw a million dollars, than to the citizens they are supposed to dutifully represent? The governed certainly have not given their consent for congress or the president, or their state legislators to send $2.2 billion and $1.3 billion to Israel and Egypt respectively, while ignoring domestic issues such as pathetic emissions standards affecting the environment, street crimes, and any of a number of other economic issues that might cause a recession. We did not authorize them to allow corporations to skate as it pertains to how much tax they pay because the politician wants to secure the campaign finance support from those tax-protected businesses. No candidate should be in favor of allowing an illegal immigrant a driver’s license when the illegal shouldn’t even be in this country to begin with! We want an immigration bill—as Steve Martin from the same movie I reference above states in a scene where he was left stranded in a massive parking lot full of rental cars, except for the one he was supposed to have rented- “right f------ now!” We want one even if it isn’t the perfect law, because it is better than nothing. I look forward to the day when congress is equally populated with democrats, republicans and independents. I look forward to that day slightly more than I do to 3M window insulation weekend. And, I might be dead before I see it . . . never mind.
Evil Ways of the Election process: Voters in every election choose, or are fooled into voting, for the lesser of two evils. One candidate may appear more youthful and the other more experienced; one may feel a bit more touched by the pleading of a destitute farmer, and one less unnerved by a foreign threat. Or, we vote for them because we just like their smile. After all- “one may smile, and smile and be a villain.” –spoken by Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The difference between the two candidates in terms of quality (how effectively they might govern) is negligible (that is, there is little difference). If you feel differently, and are as narrow-minded as some people’s aunts, who have lived such stubbornly-sheltered lives they haven’t even realized it yet, and vote for political candidates based on their stance on abortion, then I pity you. One candidate may be deliberately evil in one way, and the other is over-sexed. Where one would give the rich tax breaks incommensurate with what is objectively just, the other would allow massive amounts of illegals into the country, and make the middle class foot the bill for their health care. Either way, to put it bluntly, the taxpayers are screwed, and not because we have chosen one candidate over the other, but because we have chosen either of them. The metaphorical fork in the road that leads in one direction to voting for a democrat and the other toward a republican, has a third way- voting for an independent because we can. Choosing this way means we start out on a bumpy dirt road in a jalopy, but ends in our voice being heard loud in clear.
Be Governed: One caveat here, the first response of a defender of the status quo, an opinion akin to apathy, or the political climate’s equivalent of religious agnosticism, is to blame the voters. The voters who are disgruntled by the amount of tax they are paying say and write such things as this line paraphrased from the Declaration of Independence- “this country is not run with the ‘consent of the governed.’ ” The contrarian-revisionists who oppose this stance say and write such things as- “well, you people who are complaining about what the government (presidents, legislators, congressman, governors, state representatives, even city council men and women) are the ones who voted for the people misspending your money- so it is your (the voter’s) fault.” Let me set something straight- the second group of people is speaking complete nonsense. How does a man who can barely keep his son from stealing mystery meat chunks and jarred green bean nuggets from his daughter’s tray decide this? Because it is a much easier task to determine who should be blamed for placing which politicians in office than to be determined to halt any food ownership disputes involving a toddler and an infant.
Opinion pages: I have read columnists and letters to the editor that espouse that view, that cite the fact that certain politicians are put into office because we voted for them. That is as much because the collective majority liked the other person the least, not because the winning candidate’s skill set was above reproach. One letter to the editor writer, shortly after the 35W bridge collapse, under the heading- “Voters must bear blame” came up with this quaint story about who is to blame for our current situation- “one of my teachers used to say that when we point the blame finger at others, three are still pointing at ourselves.” Are you kidding me! After how politicians misspend the money that they already have, we are to blame? The letter writer concludes: “It’s time that we all act more prudently when we elect (or reelect) politicians to office.” Do you think this sheep-man actually voted for anyone willing to upset the apple cart? I would have concluded the letter with Howard Beale’s famous line from the movie “Network” after he has implored that all of the viewers go to the window, open it, stick their heads out, and yell- “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!” Ah, irony- the Network bosses keep Beale on the air because his insane tirades are great for ratings- (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Beale). The ironic part, during one of his tirades “he exposes business links between the corporation that owns the network and Saudi Arabia,” which is where, in real life, America had received the majority of its oil supply until the late 1990’s. Now, is that life imitating art or art imitating life? One thing is for sure- that’s like the fox pedophiliac running the henhouse daycare . . . or something.
Time to pay: Let me assure you, I will not: “ ‘have the courage to say to the American people, ‘We are sending our soldiers, would you please help me pay for this?’ ” This was spoken by the democratic senator from North Dakota- (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21774226/.) If the senator from my state said this, do you think I would vote for them, if they were against abortion? I care about the soldiers but not to the tune of funding wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the tune of $3.5 trillion through 2017, according to the same msnbc article referenced above. I would rather try “awe shucks” again and spare their lives by avoiding a futile protracted occupation in a country that has historically been a mess. An Associated Press article (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21766479) estimates that a middle class family of four can expect the wars to cost them $20,900. I don’t want to be an alarmist, but I have a family of four. This affects me. So, I am inclined to be concerned about it. I’m concerned about families, or individuals who are financially affected by an over-funded war. We may not have lost a son on a battlefield in a foreign country, such as Cindy Sheehan had, but we are losing all kinds of ground on the myriad of domestic issues we can’t focus on due to our continued “telescopic philanthropy,” to quote Charles Dickens. Telescopic philanthropy is our sometimes unnecessary involvment in entangling alliances or the proliferation of ego-centric foreign policies for reasons like oil. Domestic issues, such as immigration, health care reform, social security, taxation, campaign finance reform, big business kickbacks, necessary cost items price increases, and attending to defaulted mortgagees are much more worthy of resolutions. Domestic issues that should concern us should not be restricted to the mediation of cuisine brouhahas where one tries to keep his daughter’s more mobile brother from pilfering her banana puffs. There are far too many domestic issues on our plates, so to speak.
Don’t Worry = Be Happy?: I’m considered as being the gloom and doom, chicken little, glass is half empty guy, and am only considered as such by people who don’t know any better, who see their life as pretty darn good, but not perfect, as it is never going to be. I admitted in part 1 or 2, (hey, I am cross promoting my other blog entries on this topic) that my life is pretty darn good. Nevertheless, I began this whole expansive, apparently immortal blog harangue by clearly stating that I was concerned about the next generation and those after it. I would only be seeing the state of this country through rose-colored glasses if I were completely oblivious to economic trends (increasing prices of necessary cost items [parts 6-8] coupled with the amount of taxes we pay [still upcoming subtopic] ) or an egocentric, apathetic person who has never wondered why Americans preferred the German version of 99-Luft Balloons, (or just an egocentric, apathetic person.) I know people who are only concerned about how something affects them, and I know this because they told me: “unless something affects me, why would I worry about it?” Thing is—it does affect you, you just haven’t realized it yet, or you undervalue the futures of your middle class kids. So, not worrying about anyone but yourself is the way to go? I’m as against that as I am against shorter paragraphs, car accidents, snow still on the ground in April, coughing, and burying pet snakes in a marked grave in the back yard that died of the dreaded combination of acute gingivitis, brought on by fetal alcohol syndrome.
* See the USA today August 6, 2007 front page of the Life Section- “Science vs. Politics Gets Down and Dirty” article. Looks like there are issues with the FDA about “ignoring its science advisers and being influenced by political ideology,” that “the chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, a former oil industry lawyer, had altered climate reports to soften scientific findings showing that fossil-fuel use and deforestation triggered global warming” and also that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service “reconsidered” an Endangered Species Act which made eight species less than endangered- “Questions have been raised about the integrity and legality of the decisions, which were overseen by a political appointee.” I wonder why they would do such a thing. They wouldn’t want to alarm any members of the public and have them connect the dots concerning what species’ natural habitat might be affected next, or possibly lose the financial support of major businesses, with the government’s allowance, that would be most responsible for the endangeradeness- (yeah, that’s not a word, but I went with it)- for as you can see, the government alters more than just the English language with its inner-workings.
Next Time: The nature of being well-balanced people, peanut farmers, Walt Whitman and Political synthesis.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment