Okay, an arsonist has set your house on fire. You drive up to see it burning and call 911. They say that the fire department is coming but it may take 20 minutes. You become so frustrated about how long it’s taking for them to arrive that you call to cancel them and instead hope the arsonist will put out the fire for you.
You would then be certified as an average U.S. voter in 2010.
The GOP sold out the middle class, conducted the biggest transfer of wealth from the lower 98% of the population to the upper 2%, destroyed the economy, mired us in two unwinnable wars, caused massive job losses and foreclosures, gave our democracy to the wealthy and corporations and have continued to try and destroy the economic and health safety nets for all Americans.
President Obama and the Dems did not reverse all of that in a scant year and a half so of course, the Bizarro thing to do is put even more extremist Republicans back in control.
As Bizarro Superman might say, “Me not like being screwed so me vote for ScrewMe Party!”
It may not be technically classifiable as a form of insanity but insanity has been quoted as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
I understand what’s going on here but I find it as hard to relate to as people intentionally subjecting themselves to watching “Jersey Shore”.
Imagine if these people made all their decisions the way they make their decision to vote. Think about how such people would send Valentines cards to corporations who fired them to snub politicians who hadn’t successfully passed legislation that would’ve stopped the outsourcing of their jobs.
Or giving Xmas presents to insurance companies who jacked up their premiums and slashed their coverage to send a message to politicians that they’re unhappy their rates haven’t been lowered and their coverage has deteriorated.
Frankly, such behavior might be appropriate for a 5 year old that responds to getting a lollipop smaller than the other kids, by throwing it on the ground and smashing it to pieces. But for adults?
Let’s recap, these petulant voters who wanted instant gratification from electing Obama, who expected the worst recession in our lifetime to turn into a booming economy in a year and a half, have instead decided that since they didn’t get what they wanted quickly, they will now wait for Bizarro Superman to save them.
And what a Bizarro set of characters the GOP candidates are this year. Honestly, it is like the cast of a cartoon show. Has there ever been such a collection of ridiculous, wacked out extremists running for office at the same time in the history of our democracy? I don’t think so.
It’s a perfect storm for lunacy.
Sharon Angle could be a Senator? Rand Paul? Joe Miller? Christine O’Donnell won the GOP primary? Carl Paladino too? The Nazi re-enactment guy? Many of these people want to demolish Constitutional Amendments, the EPA, Dept. of Education, VA, Social Security, Medicare, public schools, unemployment insurance, the minimum wage, women’s control over their own bodies, Wall Street regulations, insurance company regulation, freedom of religion (if you’re not Christan), the Civil Rights Act, etc.
I remember when even discussing change to Social Security was the third rail of politics…but in the insanity of the current times, Repub candidates can loudly boast that they want to end Social Security and Seniors who depend on it are readily supporting them. How people can put their own best interests at risk just to be vindictive is beyond me.
Is this the expression of PTSD by society that has been traumatized by too much over the last ten years? A Supreme Court elected president, 9/11, anthrax, Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Mushroom clouds, spying on Americans, terrorists all around us, the drowning of New Orleans and impotency of the government to help, H1N1, the crash of the economy and the loss of retirement funds, widespread job losses and home foreclosures, the mainstreaming of racial and religious hatred, the BP oil spill devastating the Gulf, etc.
Is the American electorate simply having a nervous breakdown? Do we need to ask Starbucks to begin offering a Prozacaccino? Maybe our tax refunds could come with a sample of Zoloft?
Until Americans snap out of this self-defeating, knee jerk way of voting, America will stagnate and/or decline.
It’s lunacy to want progress so much in this nation that not getting it quickly enough means voting for gridlock and empowering in those who want to reverse progress.
As Bizarro Superman might say, “Me want things better so me voting for people who make things bad. Hello!”
I’m gonna go out on a limb here, so keep anything that resembles a saw out of my hands…
I’m gonna ask a controversial question that — as a woman — I hope I have the street cred to be able to ask. WTF is wrong with women in America?
Who are among the meanest of the mean and the craziest of the crazy? O’Donnell, Fiorina, Whitman, Angle, Palin, Brewer. And we all know what they have in common, besides ignorance.
And, closer to my home. Who is the bully who dominates every conversation at church events? Interrupts repeatedly? Tells jokes in poor taste at the expense of Democrats? Campaigns relentlessly for the Tea Party? The church RW dominatrix. Who in my family are the conversational bullies? Again with the interrupting? The RW fundie women, with their (godly, long) hair on fire and their preacher-supplied scripts in hand.
There’s even an online chat session that coincides with the TV broadcast of a local news/entertainment program. Who dominates the online discussion every day? Some self-appointed RW chick who’s decided she’s Mother Superior and scolds every one who doesn’t support (Nazi dressup boy) Rich Iott in public. When I finally posted some anti-Iott stuff out of sheer frustration, you’d have thought I blew up the set of Sister Act III. Then, slowly, out of the wood work came the Marcy Kaptur supporters who’d been too intimidated to speak up before.
I told the church RW bully-woman that I was a Socialist just to get a moment’s silence and to watch her face get red at the same time. Maybe it’s past time for everyone else to take off the gloves as well. These women are presuming on everyone’s (a) good nature and/or (b) sense of chivalry. Fuggeddaboudit!! They are about as delicate as a Canadian hockey team, and not nearly as charming. (Tip o’ the hat to Pepe.)
The Republicans have done what the utility companies, oil companies, the banks and the insurance companies have done for years. They have female (and sometimes minority — better yet, both)front “men” and spokespersons because they think that maybe no one will have the nerve to punch a woman in the face, to put it bluntly!
The female spokespeople feel (delusionally) “empowered,” even though, needless to say, the Republican party hardly represents women’s interests! They either don’t know or don’t care about that. What they do know is that they are in the spotlight in a way that hasn’t happened since they indulged in a little “pageant walkin'” way back when in old Wasilla.
As for Rand Paul…well, he’s a whole other story…
Well done kes, and nail on the head. What do you expect from a bunch of Repub male politicians who think that the guy who dressed up in Pampers when with a prostitute is ok to remain in his position. Arnold would call them a bunch of “girly men” and that would be the right term for this bunch of lily-livered creeps in Congress right now.
Oh, and you are being far too kind by calling them women, where I come from they would be known as a gaggle of mentally incapacitated ball busters.
😆
Oh danke schoen, dear Kalima! The minute I hit the “send” button, I was a bit worried that I had come on a bit heavy-handed!
Thanks for the back-up, girlfriend!
Now dear kes, tell us how you really feel. 😆
When individuals like you mentioned above are the issue, I as a woman, back you every inch of the way. I’m not even American, but seeing that lot in action makes me want to vomit all over their shoes.
I even have a theory that their anger could stem from some form of sexual frustration. We should maybe send them each a present for those lonely nights when their guys are out at strip joints. 😉
EDIT:
Batteries not included of course. 🙂
😆 😆 😆
Five stars and a thumbs up on that one, Kalima!
Ms. O’Donnell would be tsk-tsking at the mere thought of any Republican entertaining him/herself!! 🙄
Ms. O’Donnell is no “Vestal Virgin” herself I believe kes.
Unlike your Repubs and the RR, I’m not at all interested what she does in her bedroom or wherever she does what she says we/you all shouldn’t do. Hypocrites, one and all.
Kalima and Kes,
I think you are on to something.
How about a send Christine a sex toy campaign? All from China of course.
Pasty, that sounds like a brilliant idea. I would love to watch her reaction when she opens it. Priceless I’m sure. She could either scream and throw it out, or buy batteries and rush to the nearest restroom. 😆
She will need some batteries too!
If she has really been practicing abstinence, she had better buy everything they have in stock. 🙂
Do you mean a “personal massager”
Patsy? 😉
Well I don’t think she would go for the public or personal version. Oh and by the way I saw a bit of her debate last night. Total lunacy!
And I must say, Bad Hair!
Kalima stole my line. Well said, k’es. Bravo! Impressive and perfect perception.
YGM
Oops! We can share the line bito, I’m not greedy. 🙂
Hey, you’ve got a Gravatar, congrats, and nice to see you at last bito.
Danke, danke to you as well, b’ito. Now to check my mail and then wrap up this day!
Good night then kes, sweet dreams. Take care and be safe.
How vain and pompous is it to reply to your own posts? I dunno. But I’m about to find out.
On the issue of the women on the right: Bill Maher — I can’t deny it — wrote a very funny column. It started as a commentary about Brett Favre, the football player, sending pictures of his “equipment” (or “Little Brett,” as Maher called it) to some girl he was trying to impress.
Maher felt that this might be a symptom of what he dubbed a more general “cluelessness” on the part of white males in America, and their angst about no longer being the in-charge fellas who control everything. Then he adds:
I wonder if he’s on to something?
Not pompous at all kes, take it from someone who often talks to themselves because no one else is around to listen. 😳
Funny, that would fit in with my description below, when I called them ” a gaggle of mentally incapacitated ball busters” emphasis on the last two words don’t you think?
😆 That’s one of the reasons I posted Maher’s comment, Kalima! It seemed to fit so well with yours!
And it’s nice to see you here on our Saturday evening. (I was able to escape work a bit early; so I can put my feet up and skim the Planet…ahhhh!) Hope your Sunday is going well.
Thanks kes, we all know women like that, right?
Great to hear that you are home and relaxing a bit.
We are fine, just trying to gather some energy so that I can start ” lnch, lynch, larch, or launch.” 😆 Over here that would be “Runch” because the Japanese have probs with their “r’s” and “l’s.” 🙂
I could be really ‘Amelican’ and speculate as to whether you might be having “river and onions, rima beans and rettuce” for runch, but you know I would never do such a thing! 😀
kes 😆
No I’m making pasta sauce with onions, mushlooms, eggprants, tomatoes and zucchinis.
Rater we might have some flied lice. 😆
Sounds absorootry rovery! Enjoy!
First I will have to prop myself up to cook it, or as the Japanese would say, “Cock it.”
This is for you, although it is the other way around, and should be titled, “I say Goodbye, and you say Hello.”
Must cook/cock. Take care and see you rater.
He is totally onto something and you are spot on.
It makes me sick to see women regressing at such a rapid pace. I don’t even know where to start, but Bill pretty much nailed it. Everyone is regressing… not just women.
It’s so good to see you here, Helen!
And — yes — what they’re cynically trying to sell as “progress” and “liberation” for women is anything but!
What has happened to our brains? Are we becoming a “blonde nation”?
That was part of his show this Friday, and he totally nailed it (I say as a white male).
What made it better was he said it within reach of a bagger spokesmodel panelist.
Excellent, Khirad! I hope she “got it.” (Not holding my breath on that one; although I’m convinced that some of those women aren’t as dim as they pretend to be.)
Definitely not her, she seemed more cynically using the baggers for corporatist Freedomworks type interests.
But, I think a few have learned how to dumb it down and use their wiles instead of their smarts.
In her case, she was clearly chosen for her looks by the Tea Party to be their media liaison. And, to call Bill out a little on his (self-aware) hypocrisy, I think he had her on the show for that reason, too.
I’m still trying to replace the lid back onto my steaming head. Put so eloquently AdLib, and all in the same piece, I realize that I’m hopping mad. I’ve been hopping mad since the first murmurs of dissatisfaction after your President’s inauguration, maybe even since the primaries when as a nominee for the Dem party, people were already complaining or suggesting what then Sen. Obama should be doing or not doing.
I had already been blogging at HP for more than a year before your GE in November, it was a truly exciting time to be part of the change we believed with all our hearts to be on the way. Then I saw it happen, it was glorious, it was the beginning of salvation after the consistent destruction of your morale, the blatant trashing of your constitution, the go-it-alone war in Iraq, the pandering to big oil and the corporations and the gradual economic downfall of America. At last there would be a man in your WH who cared, who wanted to repair the damage caused by Bush and his cronies. He asked for the people’s help, the people became distracted, they began to think only in terms of themselves, forgetting the most important thing about being a President, is that he President to ALL of the people, whether they like it or not.
So as I see the contorted faces, hear the loud noise on cable TV, read the endless blogs filled with complaints and dissatisfaction about this and that, I’m becoming disillusioned with voters wanting the same dream I thought I shared with the majority of Americans at the time, and wonder why it’s so hard for the Dems to be organized at a time when so much is at stake in both the House and the Senate. If it wasn’t for my American friends, and the people who feel as I do, I would pack my suitcase, I would leave blogging behind me, maybe take up knitting tiny sweaters for my furry friends or slip slowly into my twilight years without another thought. I can’t do that because I care too much, I want America to prosper again, and as I think about it more and more, I hear your President’s words in a recent speech, he said something like this, “Come on, it’s not even been two years yet, if we had accomplished everything in 20 months, what would I be doing for the next 2 years.” It made the audience laugh, but watching it, I felt his frustration with not being able to advance his agenda because of the Repub obstructionism. It was there, it was raw, if you payed attention, it was right there in his eyes.
I suppose that what I’m really trying to say is, that it were not for the Planet, I would not be inclined to continue blogging, I’m tired of reading and hearing about the negative everywhere else, in fact I’m exhausted.
So to all of you out there that are willing to sit this election out by not bothering to vote, I say change parties, you might just as well, because by not voting, the people you like to make fun of, the crazy TP candidates might just get in, then what, no seriously then what?
It can no longer be denied that those against your President are solely against either the colour of his skin, or are only for the rich corporations making even more money by trampling on the poor and the struggling middle class. Voting to do the right thing should be as easy as breathing, it amazes me that it’s not.
If you thought it was bad before, once these dimwits are elected, you can kiss your freedoms and liberty goodbye, open your arms wide and say, “Welcome to the madhouse” or even more to the point, “Welcome to Hell!”
Come on America, I really want to support you, but finding it harder to do with every day that passes.
JUST VOTE!
In the old days (pre 2000) most people voted party without being truly educated about issues. They were too busy to read the NYT.
Now, people vote their party and ignore the issues. They’re too busy avoiding the reality that their former apathy may have contributed to the H-bomb of economic disaster in the history of the nation.
I am told by a certain brilliant daughter, that the party concept is outdated and a contributing factor to dysfunction of government, “We need to elect intellegent people regardless of their party”.
Can I have a Prozacaccino now? Make mine a double.
The only thing is, only about 35% of the nation identify themselves as Republican so their advantage in the polls means it is those who are not in their party that are supporting them.
At the same time, I completely agree that these people are not voting the issues. As much as they may bleat about jobs and the economy, the Repubs have offered ZERO specifics on how they would fix anything and in general, their radical positions on issues are not supported by most Americans.
This is about not using reason, it’s zero sum, binary thinking. “If things are bad under Democrats, they will be better under Republicans.”
My golden retriever used to think like that…until she grew up.
Hiya HITO,
Those kids can really cut thru the bull, hun?
That give me hope for this country.
Great to see you, hope all is well with you and yours.
Let me know how that Pozacaccino goes down.
😉
I blame MTV!
Seriously, can you imagine FDR dealing with the Depression or WW II in today’s political climate?
We would still be in The Great Depression if Americans back then voted the Dems out after the first 2 years of FDR’s first term.
Being turned by corporate America and the MSM into short attention span consumers who have think that anything worth having has to be immediately available has sabotaged our democracy.
These nitwits can’t remember just two scant years ago what the GOP philosophy did to the country? WTF?!