The Election . . .

I feel an urge to say something about the upcoming election. I’ve tried to control it (God knows, far too much has already been said) . . . but alas. So here goes.

It’s an election between the feckless wonders and the morons. And it sure looks like the morons are going to win. And win big.

I sure hope not. A nation that collectively votes for representatives so obviously unfit to make decisions would seem to have lost whatever fragile grasp on reality it might have once possessed. Any party that sees – or claims to see – politicians like Reid, Obama and Pelosi as some kind of existential threat to the republic has gone off the deep end. That that party might actually take control of the US Congress should not be looked upon with equanimity by anyone with half a brain. That after eight years of a abysmally failed administration (perhaps the worst in our history), the sight of an electorate willing to return to their kind of misgovernment – nay, to something far less intelligent than the leadership given us by those evil incompetents – makes one despair for the future of the American Republic.

Some of the morons are almost beyond belief. Privatize this, privatize that, quit picking on corporations . . . Really? There’s that woman in Nevada talking about “Second Amendment Remedies,” i.e., civil war, and a Texas governor wanting to secede from the union – as if that worked really well back in 1860. A guy in Kentucky who thinks Ayn Rand (who he’s named after) said all that needs be said about government (or philosophy) in the 21st Century, and an ex-witch in Delaware that apparently thinks that stopping masturbation would be the answer to most of our problems. (Actually, I like her the best. It might be nice having a witch, or even ex-witch, in the Senate, better than those pious Christian frauds who believe the only human beings worth caring about are the “un-born.” Did I mention she’s easier to look at?)

Of course, the feckless wonders seem little better. Giving us “Bush-light” or “Clinton II” instead of the “change” a lot of us thought we had voted for. A Senate majority that couldn’t be bothered to change the filibuster rules – ‘fraid it might cost ‘em some power should, God forbid, Republicans make a come-back. A continued bail-out of Wall Street and the Banks, along with meaningless new regulations that most definitely will not prevent a repeat of our continuing economic crisis. A repeat we will probably be unable to afford. A health care bill that bought off medical corporations and drug companies, and shoveled even more business to the insurance industry. One war being continued (like “Friday the 13th”, we can expect a few Iraqi sequels) and another put into higher gear. Granted, some representatives and senators have tried to do better (more representatives than senators, for which I thank Nancy Pelosi, who proved to be one of the great Speakers of the House), but the end result was to feed us gruel and dare call it filet mignon.

“Things are probably no worse than they’ve ever been” is probably little consolation. It sure looks like we are re-living in the “Gilded Age,” when wealth and corporate power reigned. (A big thank you to our Republican dominated Supreme Court – the true Bush legacy.) And when politicians could be purchased rather cheaply – an honorable politician being defined as one who would stay bought. It’s probably too much to expect a majority of our Congress to be more concerned about the success of the American experiment than their own careers, but you’d think that every now and then we’d luck out and get a President more interested in the nation’s future than his own re-election.

It seems not, at least not this time. I come back to the wars. It all seems so hopeless. Elections come, and elections go. Yet nothing even pauses the continuing drive to sustain and advance the American Empire. Or the defense budget. There can be no good end. There will be no victory and no honorable exit. Yet the wars continue, because President after President is bound and determined that the eventual defeat will not happen on his watch. None are willing to bite the bullet. And we citizens cannot be bothered to even pay attention. Much less stop the tragedy being carried out in our name. Our nation seems to lack even the good sense of the Russians, who knew when to say “enough.”

I’ve always wanted to ask Jimmy Carter – who I’ve always believed to be a good and honorable man, and whose life after leaving the Presidency has certainly sustained that belief – what he would do differently if he’d known there would be only one term. I have a feeling I’m going to be wanting to ask that same question of Obama. It's almost a fantasy: a war without gore. At least for 99% of us. No National Service, no taxes paying for it, no sacrifices, no shortages, no need to even pay attention. And we surely don't. We are living in a fools paradise, and now we seem to want to put the morons in charge.

Mercutio, in Romeo and Juliet, says “A plague on both your houses.” I feel much the same way about this election. It’s a pity both sides can’t lose. Or that there was no “none of the above” line on the ballot. I did vote (mail-in), but I’m hardily tired of voting for the lesser evil. I must admit, the possibility of Sarah Palin being a presidential candidate in 2012 exerts a strange fascination. I may not be able to control myself. It might be the perfect opportunity to try the greater evil.