I am an amateur history buff, and an amateur philosopher. I am really not in a class with so many of my favorite bloggers, but I am bitchy and big-mouthed and will harangue away with the best of my betters, all the same. Right now, from my lower middle class, no retirement savings, no liquid assets, gonna-be-screwed-if-the-economy-really-tanks vantage point I look at the coming election and my beloved country and it seems like a coin toss devised in a bad B-movie. You know the type, where the hero is in a rigged game, but he is the sort who will always try to get between the rock and the hard place un-smashed?
America isn’t really looking much like James T. Kirk or even Indy Jones, though. I worry about the “tails” in that toss…that side of the coin seems terribly weighted to me:
~ The Democrats are tearing themselves to bits. And that is bad enough of itself, but the WAY they do it bothers me even more. Clinton’s past, we are told by her supporters, is just that—in the past. So, her work for Walmart and the union busting law firm don’t mean she doesn’t love the common working stiffs of America. But Obama’s past, well, now here is some good smearing, not only is he panned for being black and accused of being a secret Muslim (wtf is this, the American freaking Inquisition??), but he is called an elite sort who doesn’t care about the common man? Wow, how does anyone DO that, hit both sides of it? This is what kills me, you are sexist if you bring up Clinton’s past; but you are not racist if you bring up a largely fabricated past and glue it to Obama? This is a big weight heading for tails, folks. If you can build in a nice secretive, never shows its face racism, accuse the guy of lack of experience; and likewise claim a woman who worked against the interests of the very voters she wants most never did so and not get called on bullshit….well, hey, war is peace, dudes.
~Another tails weight I see is that it HAS come down to whether it is about racism or sexism. Wouldn’t it be nice if all candidates were unmarked boxes on the political shelf, with their IMPORTANT “ingredients” truthfully listed—stuff like voting records, job resume, maybe a polygraph on where they stand on this, that, and the other? Of course, all that “stuff” is available if one looks deeper than media sound-bites. Americans seem sadly unready for the rigors of researching out the truth—even in the age of the internet when it is so much easier to do.
~Another tail thing is Americans make lousy existentialists. What do I mean by that? We like to jolly ourselves along in completely unrealistic ways; the GOP talks about trickle down economics and a lot of very poor folks believe it. Come on, everyone, ANYbody knows that the only thing that reliably rolls downhill is more shit, different day. The GOP sells the “American Dream” but they don’t mention that only about 5% of the population can afford the price. WAKE UP, stop believing the folks that tell you it will all work out. Nothing works out without blood, sweat, and tears. Stop protecting yourselves from the real horrors facing America with statements like “Well, whoever wins in November won’t get much done, so it doesn’t matter who it is; the candidate in 2012 is the one to watch!” How long do you really think economic disaster can be deferred? Get real!
~We like fish too well. This is logic 101, folks. An awful lot of Americans, when faced with a problem will accept anything as the cause of the problem. So when the economy is doing lousy because corporations have shipped jobs overseas, and the government is pumping every tax dime into a war that really only benefits big companies and undertakers, there are lots of asshats out there saying that isn’t really the problem. No, it is those pesky immigrants…legal and un! THEY are taking your jobs, by gawd. Really? You worked in a restaurant kitchen for minimum wage or below and now you are out of work? This is a red herring dragged across the trail of American rhetoric, and because it stinks and is ripe with hidden racism, too many folks follow this trail instead of watching where the money goes.
~ We progressive/liberal sorts are too good hearted. Yes, this is a tails leaning factor right now. In fear that the Democrats are eating their own, we fear McCain will win. So, some of us tell ourselves he will be “reasonable.” You know, even I, back in 2000 said of George Bush, “Well, maybe he will rise to the task at hand—I mean, my Gods, they can’t let him fail, can they?” Boy oh boyoboy—what that a statement of pure shit. And yes, it rapidly rolled down hill! Stop giving the fuckers the benefit of the doubt!!
I could go on all day. But can’t bore everyone to death; so are there any signs the beautiful American coin might come up heads? Some. And let me say, even if it does, it doesn’t mean things are rosy, ok? It just means we get another chance to pull our spoiled heads out of our own asses!
+ People are sick of the war. A very paltry number still think our “freedom” is what it is about. So the GOP has its own little splitsville brewing as some of their tried and true members look to Libertarian candidates.
+ Even though a lot of our Congress critters vote in ways generally guaranteed to fill their financial portfolios, some are waking up to realize that money might not be enough if the house of cards falls down. And a few of them might be afraid to live abroad after the crash—after all, we aren’t real popular overseas just now. So, this would be a good time to tell them exactly how you feel, and to my mind, with as many expletives UNdeleted as possible. (Example: Senator Venal-ass? Yes, I just am calling to remind you that you are supposed to be working for ME, you fucktard, NOT for Exxon-Mobil. So goddamn you, find out why even Mexico has cheaper gasoline, and BEFORE the cost of heating this dump I live in puts me on the street!)
+McCain keeps talking how good a veteran he is, what a brave POW he was. But he votes nastily for other vets, and some of them are catching on and being quite noisy about it. The Webb GI Bill PASSED (break out the GOOD beer!), and now Bush and McCain are all on about how the volunteers shouldn’t get it because they haven’t been …what…..drafted? Like WWII troops often were? Because they haven’t stayed military serfs in substandard quarters for enough years? The GOP is not really the party of that supports the military, they just play that party on television. And badly. They are the party of the contractors, undertakers, and oilmen. And there are more and more veterans catching on to this fact.
+I see some signs that ordinary day to day Americans might be getting the clue that the Religious Right is not necessarily right about many things—they may have screwed the pooch and shown their nasty controlling, lets show those Spanish Papist bastards how to do a REAL Inquisition hand a bit too plainly. This is the only place where Americans being spoiled into thinking they CAN TOO always have their way might prove beneficial—cause the Religious Right absolutely wants it done THEIR way or not at all. Them losing some political power can only be a good thing.
+Nobody likes being scared all the time. The constant fear-mongering is losing its grip. It is like the health alerts we get, where after a while EVERYdamnedTHING you put in your mouth causes cancer (grapefruit, for Gods’sake??!): you finally decide to say “Fuck it” and eat like a normal person instead of obsessing. So, finally, Americans are getting sick of looking over their shoulders for “terr’ists” all the time, and they will be tired soon of the restrictions on their civil rights. (I am a bit afraid this heads-weight might be counter balanced by the government having gotten so accustomed to having their way that it could take a while to roll back the power to squash. But I am supposed to be positive here, right?)
+ And last, but I hope not least, Americans really CAN be tough and reasonable at the same time. If this war really WAS like WWII, as Bush keeps falsely telling us, we could cut a lot of shit out of our lives to focus on what really counts. We could stop living like spoiled brats and focus on security of home and job harder. And when things get bad enough, as I fear they will, then we will have to do this. We won a Revolution, against all odds. We need a new internal revolution in thinking now, and I am sure we are capable of it, although we are less well educated (over all) than our Founding Fathers and a bit too certain of our country’s place on the world stage. This IS the existential crisis of America at the end of her period of hegemony. We WILL find a new place of balance and survival in the world because we must. But it won’t be comfortable and we may not like much of it.
Brace yourselves, that coin is spinning. It is up to all of us to see which side gets the most weight.
