The Incomprehensible

Korean “Happiness preacher”
and husband found dead
of joint suicides in motel room.

I hope it is clear to anyone who stumbles across this blog that I do not presume to speak for others of any kind, not the everyone of “everyone knows,” not the people of “the American people,” not the voters of “the voters say,” or even for the “left,” “progressives,” democrats, or whoever. I speak only for myself. I have been a lifelong Democrat, that is, until the past few years when things have become so awful I now consider myself a “democratic socialist.” That being said I will continue my ranting, raving, and frothing at the mouth.

It seems to me that in the past few years, and particularly in the past two years, at least, part of the American political scene has passed through three phases: the ridiculous, the idiotic, and now the incomprehensible. The first phase, when the Tea Party chose their candidates and upset the wishes of the more traditional Republican Party, I view as ridiculous, as the candidates were largely ridiculous. Take Palin, Angle, and O’Donnell as perhaps the best examples. None of these candidates can reasonably be considered prepared for holding high office in our nation. Neither Angle nor O’Donnell have had much of anything in the way of experience although they seem to have tried often for office and failed, Palin’s qualifications are not really much better, a failed governor of a small population state where many of the independent citizens don’t pay much attention to government in the first place. The idiotic phase began when these candidates began opening their mouths in public and on television, and idiocy poured forth like molten lava from an erupting volcano. This began at first with Sarah Palin who claimed to have foreign policy expertise because she could see Russia from her front porch, insisted there were going to be “death panels,” and continued to grow worse and worse the more she spoke. This was mild, however, compared to the idiocy that has spewed forth from the likes of Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell: “we may have to resort to our 2nd amendment plan,” “scientists have created mice with fully developed human brains,” “I was never a witch,” “I am privy to secret information about the Chinese plan to take over America,” and so on. Many of these statements, made on video, are so idiotic they should have rendered the candidates complete laughingstocks.

This is where the incomprehensible phase kicks in. The polls suggest that all of these candidates may have a chance to win, a situation I find incomprehensible. Either there is something wrong with the polls, something wrong with voters in Nevada, Delaware, and the U.S. in general, or something wrong with me (perhaps all three are relevant). I have always believed the affairs of the U.S. Government were important, even in some cases vitally important, so how can candidates so ill-prepared and unsuited for office be doing so well? I confess I do not understand it. For me, even if I had inside information that Harry Reid was the devil himself, I would not be able to bring myself to vote for Sharron Angle. I feel exactly the same about O’Donnell and Palin. Add some already existing Congresspersons like Michele Backmann and reflect on what our country might be like when such persons are in positions of power and influence. I find this possibility frightening almost beyond belief.

Lest I be branded a sexist, let me be quick to point out that some of the male candidates are just as bad and perhaps in some cases even worse. Rand Paul, Joe Miller, Ken Buck, and Art Robinson are great examples, but there are others as well. These candidates are so extreme as to make you wonder about where they have actually spent their lives (like, maybe, on other planets). Most of these candidates, as those mentioned above, tend to believe abortion should not be allowed, even in cases of rape and incest. They apparently also believe that if you are careless enough to forget to pay a special $75 fee, you deserve to have your house burned to the ground while the Fire Departments just stands by to observe. Similarly, they believe the minimum wage is unconstitutional, Gay marriage is an abomination, the rich should get even more tax breaks, the poor and unemployed are just lazy, Social Security should be privatized, and on and on. And there are plenty of already elected male Congresspersons who are so ridiculous they should never have been elected in the first place, Jim DeMint, Louie Gohmert, James Inhofe, Tom Coburn come easily to mind, but there are others as well.

LKBIQ:
The essence of American journalism is vulgarity divested of truth.
Sir Winston Churchill

TILT:
Chief Joseph’s Indian name can be translated as “Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain.”