As Usual...

Man arrested for possessing
pornographic picture of man
having intercourse with dead squid.

As usual…I don’t get it. There is all this talk about how the Democrats are liable to lose their majorities in the 2010 election year. Even more interesting is the claim that voters are going to turn to Republicans. That is what I truly don’t “get.” It is not hard to understand why Democrats are going to lose some seats, after all, the country is not in such great shape, what with unemployment, national debt, ongoing “wars,” oil spills, natural disasters, and on and on. But why, I ask, would that lead voters to turn to Republicans? Republicans under Bush/Cheney virtually destroyed our country during their eight nightmare years in office, lying to start an unnecessary, illegal, and immoral “war” with a country that was not a threat to us. They instituted torture, participated in massive war profiteering, ran up the national debt, and were, in short, disastrous as an administration.

What have Republicans done since the election of President Obama? On the positive side you have to admit they have done nothing, absolutely nothing. On the negative side they have boasted of being the party of “no,” and have succeeded overwhelmingly in being just that. They have been exposed repeatedly of the most blatant, even ridiculous hypocrisy. They have put forward no ideas whatsoever as to what they would do to bring our country back to anywhere approaching what we might think of as normal. They have simply proven themselves to be useless, lying hypocrites who should not even have been allowed to draw their salaries (why should they be paid to do nothing). And yet, they seem to believe they are going to make a dramatic comeback in 2010. And apparently others believe this as well. How this can possibly be is a complete mystery to me. I think, however, that after 80 years of being usually wrong about most everything political, I may have figured out why. I guess it’s because I have always assumed that American voters would act at least more or less rationally, and that has proven wrong time after time.

In the coming election I predict there will be a potential “blood bath” when it comes to incumbents. And this, I think, is as it should be. They have, after all, proven themselves to a person to be far more interested in getting re-elected, and getting financial gifts from corporations, than in governing the country in the best interest of its citizens. They have allowed corporations to grow so huge as to be unmanageable at the same time their greed has become insatiable. It is, alas, true, banks and corporations “own” our Congress and therefore even dictate who will be allowed to run for office and how they should vote after being elected. This will certainly not change no matter how many Republicans might be elected, indeed, it will almost certainly get worse. In the period since Obama’s election Republicans have demonstrated their almost complete uselessness, so why should they be elected? I guess they will be elected because they are not Democrats, and there is no viable third party. Thus I guess it is that American voters will legitimately punish Democrats by voting for Republicans who are known to be hopelessly worse. It’s the American way!

American free-enterprise, free-market capitalism, as it has been allowed to flourish in recent years has proven to be a disaster. This was as predictable as the sun rising in the east. Corporations have grown so huge and so powerful as to dictate how it is the country is to be managed, wealth has increasingly accumulated in the hands of a very few, ordinary citizens have no voice and are being systematically reduced to serfdom, and collapse is just around the corner. Nothing can be done to improve the lot of middle or lower class citizens because, of course, that would be “socialism,” a fate we have been led to believe, worse than death. Greed seems to have become the prominent American value, so drill, baby, drill, and keep on until the last ounce of every natural resource has been consumed and the planet made uninhabitable. Remember, “Progress is our most important product,” “What’s good for General Motors is good for the country,” “My country right or wrong,” “Full speed ahead,” “If you’ve seen one Redwood you’ve seen ‘em all,” “Let the coming generations shift for themselves,” “Shop until you drop” (you can always rent still another storage unit), and “God wants us to be rich.” Whee! We’re on a roll!

LKBIQ:
One of the weaknesses of our age is our apparent inability to distinguish our need from our greed.
Author Unknown

TILT:
The Bechuanaland Protectorate, established in 1885, became the Republic of Botswana in 1966.