Two Separate Worlds

Grandma sentenced for inaction while
daughter pours rum over daughters head,
sets her on fire to “cast out demons.”

We live in two completely separate words, conservatives and I. This became obvious to me (although I have actually realized it for a very long time) when I went this morning for a haircut. There aren’t many barbers here where I live. As far as I can determine they are all basically “right-wingers.” In fact, as far as I can remember, all barbers tend to be rather extreme conservatives (this might not be fair to some barbers who are liberal but I personally have never encountered one). In any case, when I went for my occasionally haircut there were two others in front of me. I had to wait. While waiting I had to endure listening to none other than Rush Limbaugh himself (he has two hours every day on our local radio station). I do not ordinarily listen to talk radio. But here where I now live it is virtually impossible not to hear this loudmouth know-nothing bloviating druggy wherever you are, the barber shop, the county courthouse, even the health food store. As he went on with one outrageous lie after another, blubbering and pontificating, it became obvious to me that I live in a completely different world from conservatives.

I have to give Rush credit for one thing, he did try to explain to one woman who called in that President Obama probably really was an American, born in Hawaii. She obviously did not believe this and was determined to claim that no one, not even Rush himself, was paying enough attention to this outrageous falsehood. Of course while Rush was defending Obama’s birth, at the very same time he was repeating over and over again that he wished someone would prove something or other about Obama that would destroy him, and boasting about having been the first to publicly hope he would fail. It was really quite amazing as the others waiting for haircuts were obviously enjoying this unbelievably ridiculous tirade. I began to wonder if Limbaugh actually had a functioning brain.

Having successfully achieved my goal of a haircut I returned home to learn that Donald Trump was now considered the favorite candidate for President for the Tea Party crowd. Donald Trump for President of the U.S., can you believe it? I can’t, I can’t even believe that the MSM pays any attention to this obvious miserable braggart with no intention of running for President. Sarah Palin is still also in the running, according to the poll numbers I saw reported, as is Newt Gingrich. Huckabee seems to be slowly losing ground as a prospective candidate, while Bachmann is still considered a possible candidate. I find this so unbelievably strange I can only assume the Republican Party has gone completely bonkers. That anyone in their right mind would vote for any of the above is an idea so bizarre to me I can only assume they do not inhabit the same world I do. But so far there has emerged no candidate I can believe is even credible. I don’t understand what Republicans are thinking, and I wonder if, indeed, they think.

I also heard that the Tea Party, that now apparently controls the Republican Party, will not vote for a budget unless they get riders that will abolish the EPA and funding for Planned Parenthood. Why they think anyone would agree to this, or even consider it at all, indicates to me they are quite likely insane. Of course, as they have already managed to get Democrats to agree to other cuts equally damaging to national affairs, why not try? Not content to demand impossibly damaging cuts to this year’s budget, they are now touting Ryan’s ten year plan that is so far-fetched, so absurd, so patently designed to transfer even more money from the pockets of the middle class to the obscenely wealthy, I, again, wonder about their sanity. I cannot take seriously anything Republicans now propose. Their behavior over the past twenty years (at least) has been so obviously designed for no other purpose than to destroy democracy as we (think) we have known it, as to indicate to me they (1) are deliberately trying to establish a Fascist state, or (2) have no idea what the hell they are doing. I cannot understand it. They do not have the Black vote. They do not have the Hispanic vote. They are now mounting an all-out attack on women and the elderly, as well as unions and collective bargaining. They seem also to be determined to continue endless “wars” to no obvious purpose. Just who do they think is going to vote for them in the next election? Will a minority of White, racist, ignorant fundamentalist “Christians” be enough to bring them the Presidency? I can’t see it, but that is where I begin to doubt I inhabit the same world they do, because it appears that Obama may have trouble getting re-elected. Polls (however strange) seem to indicate that Obama has no more than a 50-50 chance of being re-elected. However much one might not be enthusiastic about Obama, how could it possibly be the case that some Republican candidate (any Republican candidate) could possibly be considered more desirable? Where in the world does any support at all, other than a small minority of Tea Party fools, exist for a Republican candidate, and if it does exist, why? I find it impossible to believe that virtually anyone at all could now possibly vote Republican, especially after their current attacks on virtually everything that would benefit ordinary voters. But if there is somehow still enough support for Republicans as to make the coming elections a contest I clearly inhabit another world entirely.

LKBIQ:
Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for somebody.
Franklin P. Adams

TILT:
One Asian species of earthworm is known to climb trees.