That line from Pink Floyds legendary Dark Side of the Moon album kept popping into my head this weekend as I thought about what I wanted to write about and continually came back to Sarah "Man She's a Hot Republican Babe" Palin and her somewhat off kilter interpretation of the midnight ride of Paul Revere. How someone that addled on a regular basis can be taken seriously as the mayor of a tiny reindeer turd of a place like Wasilla, Alaska is itself a stunning indictment of the intelligence of the American voter. And now she is humping across country in her version of Willie Nelson's stoner bus, stopping randomly here and there to appear at a knot tying contest or a "Most Beautiful Pig" judging, presumably testing the waters for a presidential run in 2012. How loopy is that?
What is it about modern American politics that makes it seem like a casual stroll down the midway of an alien carnival? Where are the dignified statesmen, (or women) - the people who can inspire us to do great things and think of someone other than ourselves? It seems like there are so many things that have changed so fast but the combination of an American public dumbed down and distracted by the cult of celebrity and the massive amount of information washing over us every day - every minute of every day - seems to have created a political class long on sound bites and short on practical, reasonable, cooperative solutions to issues with which we're confronted. It seems they are less and less interested in seriously addressing issues in any kind of problem solving way - most seem more interested in scoring political points to promote themselves and defeat the other party. But to what end?
If perpetuation of power is the aim then there really is no point. In that context, Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachman and Mr. Weiner who seems unnaturally interested in showing off his dick seem like the ultimate expression of this "means to no end"; the logical outcome of 20 years of political madness. Sadly, Weiner showing off his junk seems like the perfect metaphor for what passes for political discourse. Clearly there is a sizable portion of the countr that wants nothing more than to make sure Obama isn't re-elected. You have to wonder what causes that level of antagonism. I heard a serious discussion the other day on the issue of raising the debt ceiling and the fact that the republicans are willing to hold the country for ransom in order to make sure that doesn't happen. They actually are putting forth the proposition that the average person is deeply concerned about this and therefore it it their duty as representatives of the people to act in patriotic rigor to save us from ourselves. What unmitigated horseshit.
The average person wants a job. It reminds me of the kind of blather used to justify various interventionist activities over the last 40 years - you know; the idea that we have to defend and promote democracy because people everywhere are yearning to be free and want to be able to vote and get a cheeseburger. Please...most of the world just wants to eat good food, drink clean water and take a crap somewhere so they don't have to trip over it. They don't give a damn about high minded ideas of democracy and freedom as they are constituted in the foreign policy rhetoric of politicians. They're freakin' hungry.
If you drill down deep, Americans want the same thing. Of course, here it's complicated because this is a damned complicated place. But why are people anti-immigrant? Because they think immigrants take their jobs and use to much of the taxes they pay for health care, etc. That reduces the wealth of those Americans and that's what they don't like. They want to be able to go buy stuff. Palin talks about the second amendment all the time, like she's Jeremiah Johnson's bitch, but to be honest most people don't give a shit about that either. They're pissed at the government because they too use too much of OUR money and for Christ's sake, they give it to the god damn immigrants. Or poor people. Anyway, to sombody not like them so to hell with the government and lets throw some tea over the side and show the bastards.
What is sickening is that there is an enormous political class that seeks to appease and tranquilize these people by playing to these base instincts in the most shallow and disingenuous way. Then they go on the Sunday morning news programs and try to sound high minded; "Well, the country can't" this or "The American people want" that. It's self serving nonsense for the most part. Does a majority of America really consider the Taliban a pressing security issue? Seriously...? How about the Lockheed-Martin propsal for a new advanced strike fighter plane - the one with the price tag of 1 TRILLION-fucking dollars! Last time I checked, the Taliban doesn't have a fighter plane that can threaten our dominance of the skies over southwestern Asia. Hell, they're pratically throwing rocks. They fill an empty Coke bottle with gasoline and wire it to a TV remote and kill American soldiers, all the while hiding in the bushes and giving us their version of the finger. And the big 9 American defense contractors push and shove to see who can grab and hold onto of the choicest teat to suckle in the name of providing for the common defense.
Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid and John Boner and Nancy Pelosi ought to be ashamed of themselves but that presuposses a level of awareness that's yet to be in evidence. "The lunatic is in the hall..."
What is it about modern American politics that makes it seem like a casual stroll down the midway of an alien carnival? Where are the dignified statesmen, (or women) - the people who can inspire us to do great things and think of someone other than ourselves? It seems like there are so many things that have changed so fast but the combination of an American public dumbed down and distracted by the cult of celebrity and the massive amount of information washing over us every day - every minute of every day - seems to have created a political class long on sound bites and short on practical, reasonable, cooperative solutions to issues with which we're confronted. It seems they are less and less interested in seriously addressing issues in any kind of problem solving way - most seem more interested in scoring political points to promote themselves and defeat the other party. But to what end?
If perpetuation of power is the aim then there really is no point. In that context, Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachman and Mr. Weiner who seems unnaturally interested in showing off his dick seem like the ultimate expression of this "means to no end"; the logical outcome of 20 years of political madness. Sadly, Weiner showing off his junk seems like the perfect metaphor for what passes for political discourse. Clearly there is a sizable portion of the countr that wants nothing more than to make sure Obama isn't re-elected. You have to wonder what causes that level of antagonism. I heard a serious discussion the other day on the issue of raising the debt ceiling and the fact that the republicans are willing to hold the country for ransom in order to make sure that doesn't happen. They actually are putting forth the proposition that the average person is deeply concerned about this and therefore it it their duty as representatives of the people to act in patriotic rigor to save us from ourselves. What unmitigated horseshit.
The average person wants a job. It reminds me of the kind of blather used to justify various interventionist activities over the last 40 years - you know; the idea that we have to defend and promote democracy because people everywhere are yearning to be free and want to be able to vote and get a cheeseburger. Please...most of the world just wants to eat good food, drink clean water and take a crap somewhere so they don't have to trip over it. They don't give a damn about high minded ideas of democracy and freedom as they are constituted in the foreign policy rhetoric of politicians. They're freakin' hungry.
If you drill down deep, Americans want the same thing. Of course, here it's complicated because this is a damned complicated place. But why are people anti-immigrant? Because they think immigrants take their jobs and use to much of the taxes they pay for health care, etc. That reduces the wealth of those Americans and that's what they don't like. They want to be able to go buy stuff. Palin talks about the second amendment all the time, like she's Jeremiah Johnson's bitch, but to be honest most people don't give a shit about that either. They're pissed at the government because they too use too much of OUR money and for Christ's sake, they give it to the god damn immigrants. Or poor people. Anyway, to sombody not like them so to hell with the government and lets throw some tea over the side and show the bastards.
What is sickening is that there is an enormous political class that seeks to appease and tranquilize these people by playing to these base instincts in the most shallow and disingenuous way. Then they go on the Sunday morning news programs and try to sound high minded; "Well, the country can't" this or "The American people want" that. It's self serving nonsense for the most part. Does a majority of America really consider the Taliban a pressing security issue? Seriously...? How about the Lockheed-Martin propsal for a new advanced strike fighter plane - the one with the price tag of 1 TRILLION-fucking dollars! Last time I checked, the Taliban doesn't have a fighter plane that can threaten our dominance of the skies over southwestern Asia. Hell, they're pratically throwing rocks. They fill an empty Coke bottle with gasoline and wire it to a TV remote and kill American soldiers, all the while hiding in the bushes and giving us their version of the finger. And the big 9 American defense contractors push and shove to see who can grab and hold onto of the choicest teat to suckle in the name of providing for the common defense.
Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid and John Boner and Nancy Pelosi ought to be ashamed of themselves but that presuposses a level of awareness that's yet to be in evidence. "The lunatic is in the hall..."
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