It isn't fun anymore

It was said, if I recall it correctly, that when George Sanders committed suicide at age 65 he left a note that said: "life just isn't fun anymore." Perhaps you don't remember George Sanders, who was a suave, handsome, cynical actor who starred as "The Saint" (you might not remember that character either), in movies like The Moon and Sixpence and The Picture of Dorian Gray. In any case, that is how I feel about politics at the moment.

I know it doesn't really make sense to say that politics used to be fun. But in a strange sort of way it was, at least it was a hell of lot more fun than it is now. When Dewey ran against Roosevelt people on both sides felt strongly about their candidate, but no one worried that if Dewey won American democracy might fail, or that he would destroy the environment or the economy. Nor was global warming a problem to worry about. Similarly, even when Kennedy ran against Nixon, no one thought the winner would destroy our country. In those days, in a kind of perverse way, we all knew that both parties were more or less the same and that neither one of them had in mind the destruction of our country and democracy. That, unfortunately, is no longer true.

Probably starting with Goldwater who announced that "extremism in the pursuit of freedom (or something or other) is no vice," and then with Reagan who convinced many that government per se was evil, and certainly during the Clinton administration, the Republican party changed our politics from good clean fun into a struggle of life and death. Witness the absolutely unprincipled and illegal ways they employed to attack Clinton (which really had little to do with Monica). Witness the kinds of dirty tricks they have attempted since then (McCain's black child, his mental problems as a result of having been a prisoner of war, the totally false accusation against Kerry and his war record, and many, many more such below the belt tactics). They actually take pride in this and boast about the cleverness of Rove in thinking up these despicable tactics. And Republicans have apparently come to accept these tactics as legitimate (remember McCain commenting on what they did to him, "politics isn't beanbags."

Politics isn't a game of beanbags. But it shouldn't be a battle of life and death. It would be nice to know that both parties had the best interest of the citizens in mind, rather than simply corporate profits at any cost. It apparently has been completely forgotten, or at least overlooked by Republicans, that there is more to life than business and profits. Margaret Halsey wrote a book many years ago called The Pseudo Ethic in which she argued that the U.S. was a one institution society and that institution was business. She could not have imagined how true (and bad) it has finally become. Just today the Senate turned down a bill that would have raised the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour ($5.15!!). Ted Kennedy pointed out that a single parent with two children working full time would make $10,700 a year. This would leave them $4,500 below the poverty line!! The Republican controlled Senate turned the request for $6.25 an hour spread over an 18 month period. They cited their usual objection: it might hurt small business's. I guess it wouldn't hurt some small business's like Wal Mart, Halliburton, etc. Furthermore it could well be argued that if business's can't afford to pay living wages perhaps they shouldn't be in business. This is simply outrageous. A majority of our elected officials in Washington D.C. are no more than toadies for bloodsucking corporations and business interests in general. They are determined to take us back to the 1800's when a few had everything and the rest were simply peasants and serfs. They seem to be equally determined to force us into the streets as they did in the 1920's and 30's. When land and labor are considered merely commodities to be traded on the market just like potatoes and pork chops you can be sure there will be neither a healthy environment or a comfortable and content populace.