There was probably a specific point in time, maybe in ancient Greece or perhaps the day after it was even a thing, when the idea of politics, being a gathering of well-meaning, smarty pantsers with ideas for making the lives of the citizenry more organized, productive, and beneficial, went off the rails and never got righted.  Since then, the posturing and the bullshit have so outweighed the noble work of the original mandate that it is hard to imagine how anything works at all.  Subtext, misdirection, Green Eggs and Ham have all insinuated themselves into the legislative norm but pale behind greed, corruption and the self-fulfillment of legislators.  Historically, eventually enough becomes enough and the tired-of-never-getting-their-fair-share, (or any share, for that matter), common folk rise up in often-successful revolt.  What a redundant load of crap!

We Americans, (and consequently, most of the civilized, [huh], world), are at a true tipping point.  The fragile, frayed filament of democratic self-rule could likely snap at any time.  We are crazily and hopelessly divided on the critical and fundamental issue of equality.  I’ve always held to the thesis that our salvation would only come from a common, existential threat.  I usually envisioned alien invasion, wherein present-day smarty pantsers would have to forego racial, cultural and caste differences in order to vanquish the Klingons and, if successful, the ensuing period of jubilation could, for a time anyway, blur the lines of our divisiveness.  But…that happened, the aliens were actually viruses and our response, our continuing response, was/is polar opposite to uniting to save mankind.  Raise your hand if you think we suck.

So, this is where I usually get much darker and direr and glass-nearly-emptyer, but not today, because we are two or three fucktard politicians away from taking a giant step in the right direction.  Of course, the media and those two or three grandstanders are spouting the wrong message based on cost numbers that no one can understand…trillions, gazillions…who gives a fuck!?  Lots of shit is broken…certainly, the roads, bridges, the power and water grids, etc., etc., etc.  Mostly, the “Dream” is broken by ever widening income inequality, the abandonment of millions of homeless, the shameful treatment of our veterans, a failure in public health and education and our basic understanding that EQUALITY, by definition, is not a tiered or categorized concept.  Well, along come these give-a-crap politicos, (because given a roomful of monkeys with typewriters…), let’s call them progressives because progress isn’t a bad thing, right?  They suddenly find themselves sorta, kinda, almost in a position to do the right thing because it’s, well…right.  By most pollsters’ show-of-hands, their recently labeled crazed, socialist agenda seems pretty, pretty Christmas-like to a significant majority.  It’s hard to argue when you’re being gifted a sleigh-full of stuff to make your life much, much better…and this could actually happen.  If you’re from West Virginia or Arizona, make a call…now!

Lest you think I’d conclude in overly cuddly fashion…if the BIF and BBB pass…if trillions, (they look like this…$1,000,000,000), are allocated to all of these beneficial programs, shit-for-brains politicians may be the ones delegated to administer them…we’ll have to cross that newly refurbished bridge when we come to it, while trying to stave off the elimination of voting rights, women’s health, environmental disaster…oh…and the alien in our midst.  Baby Giant steps.