Monday, November 5, 2012

thoughts on the eve of the election

This election season has been a nasty one.  The "party of Lincoln" has been hijacked by right-wing extremists who are fond of calling themselves "conservative" but who are actually nothing of the kind.  A more accurate descriptor would be "devolutionist."

The goals of the republican party are to the benefit of only the monied.  I can only conclude that the working-class supporters of these power-seekers are as deluded as were the working-class supporters of the confederacy during the American civil war -- sold a bill of goods by the only people who had anything to gain from the continuation of the "peculiar institution" called slavery.  The lower and middle classes BELIEVED they were fighting for "states' rights" ... but what did that in actual EXPERIENCE mean to THEM?  Absolutely nothing beyond sounding words.  We must keep "outsiders" from telling us what to do!  ...Is it really better to have INSIDERS dictating to you?  'Cause that's the only choice there is.  It's not as though the latter give a shit about YOU, any more than the other guy does.  The difference is, the "other guy" isn't able to PROFIT from your cooperation, the way the mega-corporation down the road does.

The current situation is absolutely analogous.  Ignorant Bubbas and Bubbettes are being sweet-talked by candidates pretending to share their values.  Their fears and inferiority complexes are being USED to seduce their support for a coup that will, in the long run, burden them and their children in ways they cannot fathom.  They think they're promoting the good ol' days of 1950, whereas they're a thousand years off.  Serfdom, anyone?

Frankly, if this election turns out badly, it isn't going to hurt ME.  I'm middle-aged and comfortable.  It's the young and the old who have the potential to get their feet knocked out from under them.  If they vote in a way that will injure themselves in the long term, they will have earned the hard knocks they end up receiving -- but i'll still feel some compassion for them.  The ones i'd really feel bad for are the ones who saw the light, but had it cut off by all those stupid, selfish OTHERS.

3 comments:

  1. If the worst happens, Ive got a big bottle of black aged crown, and some makings for bacon/maple flavoring lattes for the rough mornings. ?........or mayhap bacon martinis would be the best way to kill the pain of the endgame of.the great american experiment? All good things come to an end I suppose , even empires.

    ReplyDelete
  2. :-) cheers, X! (wish you had a more "personal" nickname....) we went out and voted a little bit ago, and i was sitting down with a good book and a calvados cocktail to soothe my nerves. this drink is potent and contains a hefty dose of orange bitters -- a bitter-sweet cocktail suits the situation, doesn't it?

    btw, have you tried the bacon-flavored vodka that came out not long ago? so far i've only used it in a bloody mary, but it might be very interesting in a chocolate mixture, too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. How about a bacon, choco, coffee tini???? Breakfast of champions. Speaking of gluttonous decadence, did you hear anthony bourdain is moving to cnn from the travel channel? LOLOL can you imagine him and wolf blitzer on the amazon together? Thatsa lotsa matza....lol!

    ReplyDelete