On the Contrary

Well we have been inundated by fat white conservatives from South Carolina (or maybe transplants from the North:  See Don’t Blame Rednecks for Newt’s Win) talking non-stop about how they are going to take back the country, stop the massive government spending, and of course, dismantle Obama care.  And Newt, who they just loved because he got in everybody’s face and put them in their place, got their vote.  But as I watch all of this, I can’t help wondering if this is the last hurrah of people so out of touch with the real America and our needs, that they are tricking themselves to think they are selecting the next president.

I am beginning to wonder if the conventional wisdom is completely wrong about a sitting president with over 8% unemployment getting re-elected or as the conventional wisdom goes, not getting re-elected.  I think the more we see of the these selfish little people, who may I add, Newt represents perfectly, the more Americans will recognize a small mostly white, I got mine, go suck eggs crowd that is so not our future.  Most people are figuring out spending isn’t the issue, tax collection is.  The debt isn’t the problem, jobs are.  And of course on the healthcare thing, most people are just starting to understand what is protected and don’t want to give it up again.

No our country, thank goodness, is not reflective of these fat old white people.  Where we are vibrant, it is a very diverse crowd that cares little about conservative social issues, much less about more transfer of wealth to the wealthy.  They want a place that expands their opportunity, not limits it with small thinking.  I think conservatives are living too much in their own echo chamber while the rest of us are seeing what they are really made up of, selfish little people who are holding on to the past at the expense of our future.  Doesn’t mean Obama has the answers, but he is at least awake and is the only hope for not returning to the 19th century.

So I guess my advice is quit watching the news and despairing as you listen to these mindless creatures.  I think the nation gets it, and the more they debate and campaign the more our fellow Americans figure out exactly who they do represent.  November is in the bag.  We need to focus on the Congressional races, because to make change we will have to upset the filibuster and the control of the House by conservatives.

Oh, and one last thought about Newt taking on the “liberal press”.  His much repeated attack on the press for focusing on his dalliances was loved by the conservatives.  It may be what won him the election.  And you know I would agree with him that I could care less about his sex life or his failure to keep his commitments to his wife.  I care about the economy and what the candidates offer.  But that question wasn’t for me.  It was for all the conservatives who scream family values at us and then want to force their religious beliefs down our throats.  It was highly appropriate in that electorate.  The fact that they don’t care about their “family values” tells you all you will ever need to know about their values.  They are whatever they need to be to get what they want.  Do what ever you want and then repent.  The devil made me do it.

Well last week provided some insights into the human psyche.  I guess I might as well start with John Edwards although his fall was all too predictable.

John boy has been diddling an apparently very nice woman, but that is beside the point.  When oh when will they ever learn they will always get picked off.  What made this so bad was that he was a hypocrite about it.  But for you Christians, he has a strong faith and it will get him through, not to mention get forgiven.  Elizabeth and the children are the ones who will suffer.   I will be the first to tell you that as Jimmy Carter once said, I have lusted in my heart.  Who hasn’t made a trip the grocery store and gone down fantasy lane?  If you haven’t you are not a human.  We evolved to procreate with as many women as possible to keep the species going so the old urges are always there.  But there is a difference between lusting in your heart, and acting on those feelings.  The difference separates the real men from the boys.  The real men know what commitment means and will honor it.  The rest, and that is most of all men, are kids in a candy shop.  If the love has gone out of your marriage and you want to find the “thrill of the chase” elsewhere, be upfront about it and tell them before you do it.  But John didn’t and let his, well you know what think for him, and now the press is having a romp.  Here is my thought:  I think less of him for it, but he is no longer running for office, so let it go.  The people who are getting damaged by the press’s romp are the innocent, his wife and children.  Move on, his political career is over.  We have much more important things to be talking about.

I don’t know how many of you saw the opening of the Olympics in China Friday night, but it was spectacular.  The Chinese put on a little show for the rest of the world about how people cooperating can create something beautiful.  The whole is more important than the one.  Now this thought is pretty much alien to American thinking which is why we are a distinctive culture, and why we face so many troubles.  Americans are having a hard time adjusting as their population increases grasping that their freedoms shrink as their actions impact more and more people.  Little things like rules against burning trash in the backyard is no longer permitted because with so many people burning, it stinks up the whole countryside.  Oh that intrusive government and their stupid rules.  But what made the point that Americans don’t grasp this concept of the whole is more important than the individual was the camera coverage of the ceremonies.  There would be this amazing coordination of hundreds of people moving in unison on the field and where was the camera focused?  On some individual in the crowd while the overall effect was totally ignored.  It is the perfect analogy for the way we think and why the problems we face for the future will be so hard to solve.  The individual will have to sacrifice for the good of the many and that is an idea that is alien to most Americans and antithetical to Republicans.

Finally, just to be as irreverent as possible, I picked up the paper on Sunday morning to find out that the first person to clone her dog has been identified as the woman who followed a young Mormon missionary to England back in the seventies, kidnapped the poor devout boy, and tied him to a bed and made him her sex slave.  I know, I know, I know, this is rape.  But I can’t stop laughing.  Every had those guys at your door?  It is poetic justice.  Besides when I was that age I would have died and gone to heaven if some girl had tied me to the bed and forced me to have sex with her.  I know, I know, I know, it was force sexed and it was humiliating.  So why can’t I stop laughing?