found image TarBaby woke me up early this morning. I meant to get up early, but not that early, so I went back to sleep after feeding him and woke about when I wanted to. I turned the radio on and it was Car Talk. Though one part of my mind knew it was Saturday, the part that turned the radio on expected to hear the news, like M-F. I like Car Talk, it's just that it threw me to hear them talking. Expectation again. Unconscious expectation. I've been tired of expectation for several years, but it lingers. It runs deep.
I wondered how I'd do about getting up in the morning after the time spent with Jr. My natural inclination seems to be awake all night, get a lot done and sleep during the day. Night shift. But there is too much going on during the day I need to attend to, bank, post office, drugstore, Dr appointment, Farmers Hardware, Dollar General, lunch with a friend, this and that. Every morning at Jr's I woke early by my standard. No reason to stay up late, so I evolved going to sleep early and getting up early. The earlier I get up, the more daylight hours I have in the day. I like daylight for whatever project I'm working on. Rising early with coffee and a book in the first hour isn't bad.
The news came on when Car Talk was over, 2 really intelligent brothers with quick, retentive minds, good educations, brilliant guys who came up with a comedy routine that's informative as well. Suddenly, from good humor guys with brilliant minds to the news, reminders of the Jane's Addiction song of around 1990, Idiots Rule. I remembered talking with my friend Jim Winfield three days ago after he returned from a 3month trip to SE Asia. He asked if I think this country can come to terms with its overwhelming issues and remain whole, a Democracy, or at least as much a Democracy as can be. My answer without hesitation was, "No. Not without divine intervention."
Evidently half of the population thought having an intelligent man in the White House might be a good breather after Bozo the Clown in the tradition of Ronald McDonald. I ask myself if we've had any intelligent presidents in my lifetime. The names that came to mind were Carter, a degree in nuclear physics, Clinton, a Rhodes Scholar, Obama, Harvard Law School. These are brilliant minds. They are people with ethical standards too, at least a degree of altruism, at least some concern for the multitude instead of disdain. Every one was a good mind with a good ethical foundation, and every one of them was rendered powerless and defeated by ignorance. The great defeat delivered into Obama's lap by the Supremes 5 of unlimited corporate spending on elections came out of intelligence missing ethics, civility, concern for the multitude. I see it a venal attitude toward the multitude, which I and you are digits in.
I wondered on and off for years how it is that somebody with a good education, who did well in school, has a quick mind, high IQ, can be found out a moron ethically. I don't mean like having mistresses, I mean like being on the take from lobbyists who represent corporations that pay to have legislation work for them, against us. By now, the corporate take over of our government is secure. All the laws are in place. Good bye American people. Get a job. If you can find one. Hey, sweatshop pay is better than no pay, right? The American government is not here for its people anymore, if it ever was, but for their money.
When I look as far into it as I can see, I come back seeing its roots in the American disdain for education that is American tradition from beginning to present. It's not just American. It's Russian, French, Welch, anyplace inhabited by humans. Though Obama may be held powerless politically by the forces of ignorance, the John Wayne brigade, or John Birch, same difference, he has already inspired a generation of black school kids to value education. It can't help all, but it will be an assist to many. A light of hope where there was none. One step at a time.
A pattern I've seen in the last half century of awareness of the news, ignorance trumps intelligence over and over. Yesterday I saw the movie, Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift. The young American guy's dad told him a Japanese saying, The nail that sticks up gets hammered. That is a perfect description of American politics. Somebody rises above the rest in intelligence gets slapped down. Like the old American saying of don't get above your raisin. It's a good philosophy for humility, but not necessarily for education or career.
Sarah Palin's appeal is the bimbo Barbie dumb blond. She's not blond yet, but I'll bet she'd bleach it for Rupert Murdoch. After the Jokers Reagan, BushI, BushII, McCain, I wonder what happened with Dan Quayle. He was rejected for being an incurable air head. But I don't believe that's why. I believe it's because he was a Ken doll. Barbie's real mate is GI Joe. There was no effort by the American public to help Al Gore when it was so obvious a coup by anti-Democracy forces was taking place; W's billing was a GI Joe doll. Even little girls don't like the Ken doll very much.
This is a brief of what I've learned in the course of my adult life from paying cursory attention to politics, more the observer than the participant. I always vote, because I see it a vote for Democracy every time. In the act of voting I say, I want Democracy. No one can have confidence in voting after the Supreme 5 gave power to the loser. They don't care. It's a sham any way you look at it. It's called playing the game. The American people are now known and have been known for some several years to have short attention spans, which gets used against us continually in law making. By this time in my life I've come to the place where it means no more to me than a serial soap opera for men where they advertise soap for shaving with a new episode every day. I lost any hope where politics was concerned when I was 26. Since then, all I've seen, in a nutshell, is idiots rule. Thank you, Perry Farrell. You said it loud, you said it proud.
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