I haven't jumped into the fray in a long time. I haven't really been reading the news or watching the news or keeping abreast of the news in any but the most cursory of ways and have thought that it would be nice to live in France during an election year because I'm told political candidates aren't allowed to campaign until two months before the election. And even though President Obama cruised through my neighborhood the other day, stopping at a local restaurant and wowing the good folks inside (I would have loved being at that Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles when The Man came in), I'm as repulsed by the amount of money changing hands for the Dems as I am by the Repubs.
It all repels me.
But I do have some random thoughts that I'm going to get off my chest in no order whatsoever.
1. Herman Cain? Really? The man seems like a character from a Simpsons episode. He's the freaking front runner of the Republican party, running on some kind of bullshit "authentic populism" stand --
2. Mitt Romney? Really? Why not just let a corporation run for president?
3. When all the government employees are let go and laid off, because government is bad, you know, where are those people going to work?
4. When all the soldiers come home from the colossal disasters that we called freedom on the march, where are they going to work?
5. How much longer are we going to have to listen to sentences like this, uttered by Linda Wall, the conservative Virginia House of Delegates candidate who recently admitted to a lesbian affair with a minor: I've never tried to hide that I was in homosexuality. It's amazing how irked I feel at just that word in.
6. In fact, I'm just going to come out and say it: Is our country really going to be slowly but inexorably ruled by a bunch of damn illiterate fools? I'm feeling almost reactionary about all of this, thinking that it might be a good idea to require each candidate to have a working knowledge of philosophy, to have read the Greek classics, to have a formidable grasp of world history but most of all to know their ass from their ---
Oh, well. Enough.
I swear- the Republican slogan should be: "I am ain't smart but my puppetmasters are!"
ReplyDeleteI don't watch TV, don't listen to the news, have completely unplugged from politics (except for voting, and I always vote for the Democrats, even if I feel like I'm choosing the lesser of two evils). And I have long thought that everyone in this country should be grounded in the humanities, especially politicians and doctors. They should read the Greeks, study literature (Machiavelli, anyone?), discuss ethics (which means they would have to know what ethics are), and have a clue about the wider world, there actually BEING one. Today I was listening to an interview on Fresh Air, and the interviewee kept talking about men, as in "Men are inclined toward this" and "Men do that." And I send this thought to him, "Pull your head out of your generalizations, mister!" Solipsism, anyone?
ReplyDeleteI love your take on the world, Elizabeth, and not just because it agrees with mine. Hah!
These three scare me most--Michele Bachman, Rick Perry and Herman Cain. But the worst is that our US Senate and House, the supposedly governing bodies for our country, brought us to a national crisis over quibbles more than once this year, and THEY WERE ELECTED BY A MAJORITY OF VOTERS.
ReplyDeleteWhat does that say about the majority of voters? And those who don't vote? What happened to critical thinking skills in this country???
I'd consider moving to Bermuda if my family weren't in Texas and I wasn't afraid of hurricanes.
Olde Herman Cain couldn't even pull off making a "fair" pizza; and my former governor, Mitt, switches positions as often as people change underwear. Is "in homosexuality" with a minor like "in jail"?
ReplyDeleteNo, NOT enough.
ReplyDeleteCheck this out. My hair is still standing on end.
http://prospect.org/article/moment-conception
I have huge fears for this coming presidential election...not happy with any of it.
ReplyDeleteDenise and Elizabeth, I'm curious if you have watched 180. It's the single most manipulative thing I've ever seen. http://180movie.com/
ReplyDeleteIf you don't want to watch it, it basically relates abortion to the Holocaust and says, well if you think it was wrong for all those people to be murdered by the Nazis, then you must stand up against abortion.
Ms. Moon makes me smile today. You do too.
ReplyDeleteCrazy old world we live in.
xo
I have a friend here in Edmonton who loves American politic and follows it quite closely. He likes it so much because he says "it's a blood sport".
ReplyDeleteI think Herman Cain is an attempt by the Republican party to fight black with black. That's just my personal opinion and no I'm not racist. My friend is a black man.
In Canada, when an election is called, the politicians have only six weeks to campaign and then it's over. Much cheaper and much more civilized.
I jump up in the air and clap for this post.
ReplyDeleteMy weekly e-mail requests for money that have been in my inbox since '08 have become almost daily requests. That irks me. It's going to be a long year and a half. One bright spot: we can no longer afford tv. It's nice to be unplugged.
ReplyDeleteThe dumbing down of America definitely crosses all party lines. Believe me, I have witnessed enough on both sides to go around the world a couple of thousand times. The democrats are no smarter than the republicans of which I affiliate with neither, by the way. So sad...
ReplyDelete"in". seriously.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I loved Dan Savage's retort to Herman Cain's assertion that homosexuality is a choice - he dared him to go ahead and choose it, then, to prove his point.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I think that normal Americans are more and more disregarding politicians altogether and going about their business. As sad as that may seem, it shows me that it is all too much BS and we are able to do what we need when we need it as long as we stick together in practicality and ignore the crap.
What Kario said sounds like the situation here in Canada.
ReplyDeleteWe had the lowest voting turnout ever last provincial election. Including myself. I could use the excuse that I was at a hospital all day. But it would be an excuse.
I am ashamed. But honestly. I am honest.