I don’t hate America.
I don’t hate our government.
I don’t hate our government officials.
Many of our elected representatives are probably nice people, even ones who appear to be complete butt heads. I’m sure their families and neighbors think they’re pretty swell.
Maybe we even share some common interests, the same movies and books, or my personal passion for bicycling and hiking, donuts and ice cream, lovely walks on the beach, rainbows and beautiful sunsets.
But it’s irrelevant.
Whether they appear to be good family men and women, look great on television, put up the most wonderful campaign ads, dress sharp, go to church on Sunday, shake hands and kiss babies, root for the home team, is not what’s important.
Their public persona is especially not important now that campaign consultants and handlers can massage and package image so perfectly, that some of the most implausible individuals end up holding office for years, despite their obvious shortcomings for public service. You know who they are.
The only important point we need to consider is that right now the majority of elected officials in Congress and the White House, and their appointed judges of the Supreme Court and throughout our justice system, do not reflect the values of the majority of Americans. They don’t represent us, the way we think, the things we hold dear, or what kind of America we want for ourselves and our children.
America is supposedly a democracy. Our leaders are supposed to be a mirror of those who elect them. Their values and priorities are supposed to agree with those of the majority of Americans.
But they don’t. It’s that simple.
There are vast consensuses which cut across party lines and political ideologies on a number of important issues (see Trust No Incumbent and “Throw The Bums Out!“).
But the job is not getting done. If anything, Congress and the President are heading 180º in the wrong direction on most of the critical issues __ those challenges which literally threaten the survival of a recognizable America.
I say it’s time for some serious house cleaning.
Over the next three election cycles __ starting this year in November! __ we need to seriously think about giving over 500 of our congressman and senators their walking papers. You’ve had your chance guys and gals. You flubbed it.
It’s nothing personal. These folks just cannot continue in public office in any official capacity. They’ve done enough damage already. Time to go bye-bye.
What causes their disconnect? Why have these mostly intelligent, well-educated, certainly well-positioned and well-connected individuals gotten so far off course?
That could be the subject of many volumes. While I’m not sure I even care __ the abysmal record speaks for itself and the explanation is not pertinent __ there are a host of reasons. Many obvious symptoms of their pathological insensitivity to the majority of American citizens immediately come to mind. Here in no particular order are a few:
They’re rich.
They live in a power bubble, completely insulated from being able to hear us, and rendered incapable of talking to us. They talk at us. They talk down to us. They talk and talk and talk but it counts for very little.
They have delusions of grandeur, both about themselves and about our country. There’s no doubt that America is wonderful in many ways. This does not make these men all-knowing and all-powerful, infallible and omniscient. A little humility would go a long way in DC. Less chest-thumping, flag-waving, exceptionalist bullshit might steer them back into something resembling reality. But it won’t happen with the current bunch of megalomaniac blowhards.
They’re misinformed.
First, they don’t listen to the people who elected them. They listen to lobbyists, invested think tanks, play-for-pay academics, every shape and size of expert who are tethered to the enormous financial interests of the rich and powerful. All of these function purely to make the already filthy rich even more wealthy.
Second, they listen to themselves. They spew out all sorts of nonsense, carefully crafted to improve their poll numbers and electability, then start believing their own hollow blather. They think saying the right thing __ what they believe we want to hear __ is the same as getting something done. Mesmerized and infatuated with the sound of their own voices, they ignore what might actually be in the best interests of America. Good speeches and simplistic beatitudes substitute for real leadership and vision.
The President’s recent State of the Union address is a perfect example. Pundits are falling over one another to praise Obama’s noble sentiments, ignoring the fact that we’ve had six years of stratospheric oratory but nothing of substance has been accomplished to address the real challenges. If anything we continue to careen on an unsustainable course of more war, more plundering of the economy by the imperial corporatists, even more destructive wealth inequality, and less of the things which would serve the vast majority of American citizens.
Lastly, as the expression goes . . . follow the money. As I said earlier, giving the benefit of the doubt to all of the pathetic knuckleheads we sent to Washington to do the incredibly daunting job of running the country by assuming they are nice people who sincerely mean well, unfortunately all too often __ 98% of the time __ they can’t in point of fact do the right thing.
That is, the “right thing” as you and I might define it.
Every one of our democratically elected representatives lives from one election cycle to the next, tossing and turning every night at the prospect of losing. But thank the lord on high, there’s one thing that guarantees their job. MONEY! Lots and lots of money. It pours in from big banks, Wall Street, incomprehensibly rich donors, multinational corporations. It rains down on them like manna from the Creator Himself in Heaven. All they have to do is always keep in mind these wonderfully generous folks who sit at the top of mountains of cash, when a vote comes up on the floor of the House or Senate, or that bill comes to the presidential desk for signing. It’s not bribery per se. It’s a camaraderie thing. It’s an attitude of gratitude. It’s backslapping. It’s just taking care of those who take care of you. Gosh! It’s bringing tears to my eyes just thinking about how touching it is to see such beautiful bonds of friendship in action.
Here’s the point. Regardless of how you feel about your elected representative, your senator, your congressman, your president, regardless of how charming and swell this person may personally be, whether the guy is married, Christian, honorary coach of his neighborhood Little League team, and a regular attendee at the Ladies Auxiliary Love Thy Neighbor Meals-On-Wheels Bake-A-Thon and Pie Eating Competition, as the eloquent Mr. George W once said (I love paraphrasing such an articulate and thoughtful man as George) . . .
“They’re either with us or they’re against us.”
And if they’re against us, it’s time for a pink slip. Time to find candidates who will listen to us, then go to our nation’s capital and fight for our interests. Time to vote out the old and vote in the new. There’s no room for sentimentality here. The future of our nation is at stake. The future we create for our children is in peril. It’s up to us to turn this around.
We need to put in office the right individuals, ones who listen to and are accountable to we the people. We need to elect people who will build the country we want.
We need to elect people who will exclusively serve our interests, instead of endlessly pandering to the power elite.
We need to elect people who will put an immediate halt to both the suicidal militarism of our foreign policy and grotesque militarization of our lives in America itself.
We need to elect people with a positive vision of a strong America, which incorporates an informed, educated citizenry, actively participating at all levels in shaping the future for our children and future generations.
We need to elect people who will turn around our misguided and twisted visions of world conquest, military and economic hegemony, delusions of historical preeminence, paranoid and patriotic puffery. American exceptionalism is a dangerous myth. It’s days of chest beating arrogance are numbered __ or America’s days are numbered.
We need to elect people who genuinely embrace equality, opportunity, justice, fairness, so that America can live up to the high-sounding speeches we always hear at election time.
It’s sad that we have to replace some nice people because their not doing the job we elect them to do. But it’s what we have to do.
It’s nothing personal.
