Rarely do I write about politics on this blog. I see it as a kind of refuge, I guess: a place where I can post pics and some text about things that matter to me in my isolated, somewhat atypical life and might be of interest to a few folks who can at least sympathize with that kind of lifestyle. But politics will not be denied. They poke and prod and first thing you know, there they are between the cereal bowl and the coffee cup and staring up at you with a yellow-toothed grin.
I wrote on another blog that I sometimes visit that I felt we were a republic in "End-Game." I would love to be proved wrong, and hope that I am. But there is so much Bad Stuff in the air right now that I do not think I will have to eat those words, much as I would like to.
We have a president who really doesn't like America very much as far as I can tell, and who achieved the highest office in the land without any discernable accomplishments to his credit. Oh, I take that back: he has two 'inspiring' autobiographies, a gift of gab, and a talent for surrounding himself with people who can raise lots and lots of money, mostly on the internet. He also has a fetish for Europe and for apologizing at the drop of a hat for— well, whatever America has done in the past, he's sorry about it. He also nominates for the Supreme Court an amazingly under-qualified candidate who wants to judge issues on "feelings." (Cue the violins.)
We have a population that is probably the most ignorant we have ever had about those things that an electorate should be fluent in.
We are inundated with illegal immigrants who will probably receive from our president all the benefits that a Santa-list could hold. Some of the newest of those immigrants may have recently resided in Gitmo.
Our economy is in tatters; we are in hock to the Chinese up to our eyes; our industrial base is almost completely defunct; the government now owns our automobile industry, and the Received Wisdom is that the military sucks. In addition, the media follows the party line and lies to us daily about what is going on and how well everything is going.
No, I don't think I will have to recant my pessimism, unfortunately. But if we recover, if we become "America again," no one would be happier to say "I was wrong! Kick me! Kick me hard!" Pray God that it be so.
I guess some could respond "No! Wait! Things are changing. America will be better, new, fresh— changed! Remember: hope and change!"
Well, I wouldn't be surprised. All I can say is I don't want to live in a country that is "changed" in the way some of these folks envision.
Sic transit gloria? I hope not. But I have fears. Lots of them.
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11 comments:
You said everything I feel but am afraid to say out loud. There are folks in my end of the world who have lost their jobs for criticizing "the one" publicly. I am my only source of survival and I have parents to look after. So I can't speak freely. Sad, isn't it?
Thank you for summing it up in a way that any American would understand.
Wish I could argue with you, I surely do. I'd give much to just refute even a few points... but I can't.
Dig in, dig deep, and hang on.
I agree about one's blog being a refuge from politics. I avoid the topic on mine for the same reason. I, too, do not wish to live in the kind of change "these folks envision."
I have read that a nation gets the government it deserves. If that's so, then we are a mess.
Believe me, most of the people I know would agree completely with what you say. The vast majority are not any longer giving thought to what they can do about the country. That's essentially a lost cause. Now they wonder what they should do about themselves and their families.
I have politics on my blog. Maybe too much but it's one of the few places I feel like I have a chance to talk back.
Every nation will fall sooner or later. Maybe if we face this now then our grandchildren won't have to.
One of the reasons I read so many USA blogs is the hope I get from seeing there are still a large number who understand and are prepared to talk.
Reality TV and all the other mind numbing rubbish that passes for society in the Western world today has not infected all with its evil.
We stood up to an oil co and got battered about, but given the chance we would do it again, perhaps a tad smarter, but we would still do it again.
My wife is from the USA and we watch from afar as the country sinks into the abyss. Thanks for speaking out.
Blogs are an interesting beast.
I use mine to scream at the top of my lungs, and hopefully open a couple of eyes.
I appreciate blogs such as yours so that I have a refuge to take my brain and let it rest a bit.
I hope you're wrong as well, but I don't think so.
Like Brigid, who writes my all-time favorite blog, I have a job where I am must guard my speech. You wrote perfectly the uneasiness about the coming storm.
I agree with Carteach - time to dig in. Knowing you folks are out there seeing the same dark clouds is at least a small comfort. We will dig in together.
Your blog and wonderful photos are a refuge I look forward to at the end of my day. Thank you!
Rio...you have said what your mind tells you and your heart feels!
But not all is lost amigo, for while we who can identify the enemy are prepared to do something about it, our enemy has to be wary of our intent!
And while our enemy is wary, he is bound to make mistakes!
And making mistakes can lose wars, so let us keep our enemy wary!
Late to this one Rio, lot on my plate at the moment.
I'm disgusted that I'm forced to admit I'm a tale-end Boomer, among the youngest of the most narcissistic, nihilistic, greedy, grabby, selfish, self-centered and self-regarding generation ever to come down the pike in this country.
Whether in trying to assuage our own self-loathing guilt (limousine Liberals) or from a more cynical attempt to move an essentially immoveable voting bloc (compassionate Conservatives), we've managed to mortgage our granchildrens' birthright without regard to the quality of what we've built with it -- a house of cards on a foundation of sand.
We've been more concerned with material wealth than with spiritual depth, with acquisition rather than with lasting accomplishment, with "we" instead of "all of us", with our rights but without respect to their concommitant responsibilities anchoring us to the social contract.
I'm deeply ashamed of most of my generation. Now that we've got political power we've accelerated the rot that started a lifetime and more ago -- FDR? Woodrow Wilson? Earlier yet?
I see this train heading over a cliff and I don't know that we can put the brakes on in time to keep it from happening. I want off before it does -- if it does -- but I don't know where Galt's Gulch is.
What have we wrought?
'Berg
You are not alone. It got even worse in the next few months after your post. At lease the reaction is coming in 2010. The bs we were sold in 08 is clearly seen as...bs by pretty much everybody now.
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