Ronald Reagan had it. Certainly, many powerful figures throughout history had it. But now, through virtually instant access by nearly anyone to hoards of starving, cross-pollinated social media junkies, the ability to seem like you have something to say has trumped, (pun intended), the once tacit requirement of actually having something to say. The resultant blur of jabbering, (‘talking’ seems too genteel, don’t you think?), heads, growing exponentially on TV and radio, on the WEB and now, in relentless debate in my head, has usurped the need for reason, logic and intellectual debate.
This atmosphere has bred the likes of Stepford husband, Paul Ryan, whose faith based approach to governance, (and its budgeting), is to give subservient, religious trust to the wealthiest among us. He believes that, in their benevolent fashion, they will bestow jobs and creature comforts upon their unquestioning, (aka poor), disciples as soon as the devil government stops interfering, by requiring them to act in a safe, fair a responsible manner. The mantra of this ultra-conservative, nonsensical movement is that by not embracing austerity in this generation, and most likely the next, that we are stealing our children’s future. (I’ve tried to work this circular equation out with pencil and paper, an abacus, the ask-me-a-question 8-Ball thingy and an old Ouija board but the mental gymnastics only result in images reminiscent of M. C. Escher). And then there’s the newest goodoleboy from Texas, Ted Cruz, who will speak to any subject as if he possesses the only official manual on the matter. It seems of no concern to him or his growing posse of admirers that the very loud and irrational stands that he takes are, (aside from being rooted in baseless, fact-lite provenance), directly in opposition to the welfare of the people he is sworn to represent. Good smile, trendy haircut, snarky, Iknowsumshitthatyoudon’t attitude, but an empty suit and an emptier hat-supporting orb.
The most dangerous demeanor is not the likes of the Rodman-loving, “I will Nuke you!” Kim Jung Un, but that of the collective parade of political leaders(?), commentators, bloggers, (this is me, raising my hand), and uninformed and/or misinformed people on the street who spout opinion as fact and emotional response as heavenly wisdom. We are dead in the water, unable to stop posturing long enough to accept the universal truths that really shouldn’t need debate:
• Polluting the planet, making it less livable, is the most important threat to our children’s future. We should be leading this fight and remove economics as the primary procrastinating factor.
• We should be all-in on building a future that provides education, energy and water supply, food production, housing, transportation and 100% employment using the radical left-wing concepts of fairness and equality that will once again make most of the world admire us rather than want to fuck with us.
• Gun crap. Can we agree that the Constitution is not a perfect document? But it’s got nothing to do with gun “safety”. We can surely agree that less innocent people being killed or wounded by firearms is a good thing, right? Let’s work on that part!
I am no longer a glass half full or empty guy…I’m drinking right out of the bottle. But, if I were to weigh in on the likelihood of sanity prevailing…(refer to Can Detroit be Saved?).