Saturday, September 10, 2016 3:01 PM
I am a bitter, angry old man. Have you ever wondered what an angry old man does with his time? Well, here’s how my day usually goes:
I get angry at the media for forcing a fifth-grade reading-level on public debate—and for lunging at any wisp of sensation. But then I tell myself that the media aren’t the problem, Trump is.
So then I get angry at Trump for trashing our global image, for sowing ignorance and fear, and shredding any solemnity we still felt towards our quadrennial ritual of choosing the Leader of the Free World. The gravitas of holding the fate of the globe, of humanity, in the palm of a single hand—is totally lost on this grubby con-man. But then I tell myself that Trump isn’t the problem, the Republicans are.
So then I get furious with the Republicans for choking the breath out of our government. Their obligation to lead their constituency is forfeited, for craven pandering to the most vocal, extreme, ignorant minority, for fear of being criticized by a mob of besotted malcontents, who hate the USA as it is, and yearn for a ‘return’ to some fantasy, fascist past.
Blocking appointees to vital offices and judgeships, strangling our economy with a sequester that punishes Democrats for the crash the Republicans made—and keeps that crash lingering, well… I could go on, ad infinitum, about the neglect and cynical sabotage the Republicans call ‘service’, but we all have things to do. So, anyway, I get mad. But then I tell myself that the Republicans aren’t the problem, the voters are.
And then I realize that calling half of American voters gullible, clueless, and deluded is not going to make me any friends—neither will it change anyone’s mind. Then I get mad at humanity in general, for its propensity towards destructive and lazy ideas—ideas that contain more inertial persistence than our rare insights into love, and all the work it entails. I get mad at the super-rich for toying with the whole of humanity, absent of any ethics and overcome with selfishness. I get made at the NRA, the arms-makers, and the arms-dealers for profiting on death. I am enraged at the injustice of seven billion mostly good people, used and misled by a mere handful of greedy, hateful pigs.
Then I go lie down and try to get my pulse back to normal. So what’s your day like?
I totally relate. Recently there was a vote for Zika. Of course you know what happened next; the Republicans added a “stop funding Planned Parenthood” amendment. I fired off an email to Senator Richard Burr, who is up for reelection as well as our bathroom Governor, who is not doing well in the polls . I told Burr how this is how they get in trouble in the first place and stop it, NOW. (and I asked for a response I may receive by Nov. 10th. I said if I see him in any pix with McConnell he will lose my vote. I never planned to vote for him, but he is the Comm. Chair of Intelligence, oh big LOL. At least I let him know and he doesn’t placate me with his responses which are basically, screw you. Angry old lady I am until I got Netflix and now I am binging on “Orange is the new Black”. I watched my Sunday stuff and if I am awake for Morning Joe, I will watch. I will watch Chuck Todd’s daily “Meet the Press” and that is all I can handle. It gets me ill.
Yes, I think I mentioned the Zika-funding game-playing in a prior post–naked, shameless partisanship, ironic to the point of nausea when we consider that the Zika-infected and pregnant are going to be very tempted to abort, and try again!
I’m the same about MSNBC–but my one show is Rachel Maddow–not a Todd fan.