If You Drink Too Much Kool-Aid You WILL Get a Pimple on Your Ass
I've tried several times to comment on a post written by the ever Omnipotent Poobah about our political culture of corruption. Actually he takes it further than the typical kneejerk squealing I usually hear about all those naughty politicians which is probably why he is one of my favorite bloggers, he tends to do that.
I ended up not commenting but not because I disagree. I agree completely and it's central to what has been giving me a huge case of too-numb-to-write a coherent sentence and increasingly less than enthusiastic and hopeful about the '08 election.
I haven't written very much at all about either Bush or Cheney. Actually I haven't written anything at all about a lot of people and events that have captured media and blogging interest. It isn't because I don't notice it, it's more a case of all of it looking much like different versions of the same story to me.
Certainly Bush, Cheney and all their minions are a problem. They are not the problem, Americans are. They did not stage a military coup and wrestle control of the country from us by force, Americans handed it to them. Fox network did not use a secret mind-control weapon to force Americans to slavishly follow Bill O'Reilly who I am convinced is the direct descendant of the very first snake oil salesman. Nope, Americans did that voluntarily. We have insane fools like Inhofe attempting to legislate based on his interpretation of biblical verses because....oops...Americans voted him into office. Yes, even after this, "Inhofe outraged some federal employees on the day of the Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building by stating on national television that there probably weren't very many casualties because federal employees wouldn't be at their desks at 9 a.m. and that they would instead be off having coffee somewhere." Oklahomans still voted him right back in. Lookee here Oklahoma, don't call me the next time one of them thar tornaders wipes half your state off of the map, m'kay. My cup of empathy is running low.
All of the above people and more are just symptoms of the problem.
I'm looking forward to '08 because in all seriousness, nearly any change will be welcome but I'm not overly optimistic. I can't get past the fact that the same voters who got us all into our current predicament will be the people deciding our fate in '08. That's not very encouraging.
There is an old Native American story I recall that says something along the lines of if your brother falls behind you should wait for him to catch up. If he falls behind again, you should help him carry his load and wait for him. If he still falls behind you should leave him because he is not your brother.
I'm seeing a lot of Americans who are not my brothers.
14 comments:
The truth contained in your old Native American story overwhelms me with profundity such that I will have to link it to an on-going conversation.
In the meantime, let me offer an extensive Kool-Aid menu for those of your readers who have that kind of taste.
NYM, would you please stop by my blog? There's a surprise for you in my top post today that I don't want you to miss. I'll be back.
You raise a valid point, NYM. The information is out there. Americans seem to lazy to dig in out, and most of the time, they're too busy with with superficial things to care.
The ignorance of the American voter is a fundamental problem. Couple ignorance with gullibility and indifference and you have the prescription for poor government.
Additionally, I might add, a minority of American voters who are eligible to vote do vote. That results in a rather small segment of Amercians who determine who is going to run the government.
The ability of the American voter to pick their elected representatives isn't very good either.
I don't really know if we'd be better off allowing the few who vote to continue on or whether expanding the small group to include many more uninformed, gullible voters is the answer or not. It just might make the hole we're in deeper.
I'm exhausted from hoping and yet I think I have a little bit left.
I just watched bush speak on tv saying he will veto the house bill that passed today. Behind him for a backdrop he had military families and military members. He plain and simple used these people. I am so mad I can't think straight.
The problem is one of indoctrination. For years, Americans have been fed the "Power of Pride"; "Best nation on earth"; "Everyone wants to be an American, is jealous of Americans" - the power of "the Flag" has been all that matters. None of it is real. It's a fallacy fed to the gullible. Anyone who spouts enough of this guff can get elected. In America, politicians aren't elected on real issues, they're like film stars reliant on persona, glamor, and above all, money. None of which has anything to do with being a real politician.
Its hard to be optimistic. With the new electronic voting machines and the possibility of fraud....its a continuing worry. Even if the voters do screw up, we should at least put in office the candidate that won. We know Gore won Florida in 2000, the failure was with the voting process and machinery. All electronic voting machines must have a paper audit trail.
Today we need experience and leadership, not star power. Lets hope the Bush and Clinton royal dynasty ends with W. We can do better.
That quote at the end of the post, speaks the whole damn truth of it. I'm glad someone out there is blogging about the truth...no politician put us in this situation, we put ourselves in this situation, by not caring enough to find out who we were actually voting for.
Vigilante: suffering the same difficulty writing or even feeling it matters.
Featheriver: I wish I knew the answer. What scares me is the thought that this is not a uniquely "american" problem but in truth a "human" problem. We just have the biggest opportunity to showcase this talent at this moment in history.
pissed off patricia: so many thoughts on that, none good.
RJ Adams: I don't think we are unique in the area of indoctrination but being bigger and having bigger toys it has made us more dangerous than most other nations. Toss in our geographical isolation from most other countries, recipe for disaster.
Rick: I wonder, can we really?
astrocoz: that saying has always stuck in my head. Truth is many Native American stories and legends strike a chord with me.
As for truth telling, every commentor here is a truth teller in their own right. Sometimes we may disagree over particulars but we're all striving for much the same results. Hopefully our numbers will grow.
If this is not the way it's working today then why did so many people vote for a President that very obviously had screwed up?
Rah Rah Ya'll lets support the stupid fundie assmonkey who purports to take his orders from god.
Yes I am speaking of our fearless leader George Bush.
Why would anyone with an IQ above 60 continue to believe the crap spewed from this man and his associates?
The monumental lack of any rational thought on the part of the voting populace is simply frightening.
We the people put these individuals in power. We have only ourselves to blame.
By the same token only we can rectify the problem.
JTM
*sigh* I've got so many thoughts on the military still supporting this insanity cause I've seen the evidence up close and personal... the best I can do in a short comment is tell you that either they are young and unwilling to look at the proof around them for a variety of reasons, they are carreer driven folks who know that dissent will be the end of their careers, or they've been ordered by superiors to go stand behind Captain Crazy...
And yes, the American populationis lazy, but the problem is actually worse than that. There was a report that came out about a year or so ago stating that over 60% ( it might have been a bit higher) of college seniors who were tested for higher level critical thinking skills FAILED to pass the test... we're not just lazy... we're becoming incapable. The $60,000 question is, how did this happen?????
ethel
Love your conclusion with the Native American story---a special fondness of mine is Native American literature--Louise Erdich, Scott Momaday, Leslie Marmon Silko, etc..
Women on the Verge: there it is, no critical thinking. Our schools are part of it but I kinda think there's also an element of us just being so used to getting our own way that we have trouble separating what we'd *like* reality to be from what *really* exists.
myrnatheminx: lot we could learn from them, I agree. Shame we only appreciate a culture after we've destroyed it :(.
BTW, follow your blog but I'm one of the readers who is also unable to post comments but I'm there.
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