My slogan for the 2008 presidential election was “Anyone
But Hillary.” I got my wish there, but I should have been more specific.
I am no fan of our current
president, nor was I too pleased with the one before him, or especially the one
before that. Like you, I’m tired of all the mudslinging and acrimony in
politics. It’s all just posturing, at best, but mostly it’s just a bunch of
lies, spread by an all too willing, lazy, uninspired media. Both parties are
out of touch with Americans, so as far as our day-to-day lives go, there is
little difference between a Democrat or a Republican in the White House.
Which is exactly how they and Congress want it. Our
politicians, especially at the national level, learned a long time ago that if
they can keep common people like us bickering between ourselves over relatively
minor issues, they can do as they please. “They keep us doped with religion and
sex and TV” is how John Lennon described it. That Chick-Fil-A spectacle is a
perfect example. While we fight about that, we forget about or have no energy
left for the real issues that are dooming us as a country, like rising unemployment and a multi-trillion-dollar debt.
Which is exactly how they
want it. Infighting prevents us from remembering that this is our country, not
theirs, and this is our government, not theirs. Petty bickering stops us from
uniting, stops us from fighting the bigger issues, together, stops us from
being good citizens.
Both parties are as guilty as the other, just as
corrupt as the other, but we as citizens, we as voters, have to take the blame.
Whichever party wins the presidency in November, little will change because
both parties do what is best for themselves, not what is best for the country,
not what is best for we the people.
In the photo, I’m wearing a
1972 “Archie Bunker For President” t-shirt. I’m old enough to remember Pat
Paulsen’s 1968 bid for the presidency on the Smothers Brothers show. As I see
it, we wouldn’t be any worse off electing them.
The Bunker image came from here, and the Paulsen from here. You might check Youtube for some Paulsen videos. The guy was funny.
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