There is a growing problem in this country of late and that problem is misplaced focus and an unwavering desire to be absolutely right about everything. To quote Dennis Miller, "everyone has an opinion and everyone is completely unwavering on that opinion." It seems in this country, the people across the board are so hung up on the party to which they belong that they ignore what the issues really are and how they really feel about them. It is this missplaced focus that drags the nation down and keeps congress from functioning in any meaningful way. And this isn't just one party it is all parties.
Looking back over the nation's recent history, the observer can see with relative ease that when one party is in the white house and the other controls congress, shit just doesn't get done. Now nowehere is that more apparent than the closing of the government a few years back because Newt just didn't want to deal with Clinton. This kind of behavior is just ignorant. As it turns out, Newt is not in office anymore and Clinton will be gone after this term( if not sooner) and where did the bickering get anyone anyway? The fact is that the manuever weakened the spirits of an already weary and disappointed nation.
If there is anything that should be done it is to highlight the things people in this country have in common. The gap between peers is getting wider than the Grand Canyon and mule rentals are getting harder to find. It is this author's belief that moderation is the key. As some of you may know, I am a democrat and am often considered a liberal. When I say liberal I know I run the risk of calling myself a dirty word. To hear Republicans in this country talk, liber means the equivalent of 'son of a bitch.' The fact of the matter is that I am really very moderate in my beliefs although they do swing to the left a lot more than they ever do the the right but beyond that I feel that I am a pragmatist in my beliefs. By this I simply mean that I believe that if things work then great but if not, fuck 'em do something else. In this respect I really do play to the Democrat stereotype of being all for bigger government and wanting more legislation, which of course relies on more taxes. Okay I admit that but I think that the country is ready for some change 'cause a lot of things just don't work.
Before diving into my defense of bigger government, I want to talk brefly about the tax situation. First, Democrats are accused of wanting to raise taxes all the time to get in and really mess with people's lives. Well looking back, to the past three administrations, the only two with big taxe hikes occuring were both republican administrations. Now maybe Clinton raised taxes too but the nation is apparently more interested in something else he raised to notice. First, Reaganomics which included the trickle down theory also know as "shit rolling down hill." Reaganomics claimed a tax break for the lower income levels and an increased tax on the rich. Okay that is fine and dandy until you look at the numbers and find that as of 1989 the poorest 20% was paying +15.0% of the taxes and the richest 1% was paying -15.0%. Intitally, Reaganomics appeared to work because the figures included neither constant dollars nor did they inclide payroll taxes(which is where most workers pay their taxes anyway). So in reality Reaganomics broadened the gap between the rich and the poor by 15% in either direction. Of course when 1990 rolled around and Bush leveled his much debated tax hike he was shown to be a liar on the campaign trail( not that that is unique) with his famous "Read my lips" thing. So the point to this is that the track record for Republicans is somewhat bleak on the tax raising issue to so lets just cut the Democrats some slack alright?
Now it is important to mention that I don't think that the government should just pile a lot of new legislation on top of old legislation until we can climb up it to get to heaven. God didn't think that was funny the first time and I don't think we should try it again. What Needs to happen is to crumble that tower of bad government and rebuild a better one. The first way to do this is a reallocation of funds. Now I am sure that the military is important. I know we need a line of defense but for goodness sake we are THE superpower in the world. The only country that is in a position to fuck us is Japan and they won't do it on the battle field. They will do it and are doing it in the classroom. Right now we as a nation are spending more money to make things to blow shit up than we are to educate our children. You know it is a good thing that our missles can find Iraq on a map because our high school graduates sure can't. I want to know why billions of dollars a year goes into making smart bombs and missles that can fix you a double latte when our teachers are some of the most unappreciated and underpaid members of the workforce. just about any job you can think of is more high paying and glamerous than teaching nowadays. There are people out there who would rather give the bathrooms in Grand Central Station the once over with their tongue than be a teacher. And look at the state of the schools themselves. Your average public school looks like downtown Bosnia. The bathroom doors have been removed at most schools...anyone care to know why? Fights, drug use, you name it. The youth in this country has to worry about so much more than education that they can't be expected to focus. If the local gang leader is looking to shoot you in the ass so he can take your girlfriend, you aren't thinking about a math final. Things have gotten out of hand. Perhaps if some money was tossed their way the school system could make our schools more user friendly and less like a scene from 'Pulp Fiction.'
Next thing, I think that programs like wellfare and health care should be rehauled altogether. I very strongly feel that we NEED these programs and we need them to work. With the climate nowadays with less jobs and more unwanted pregnancy, corporate downsizing, horrible schools in underprivalaged neighborhoods it is increasingly important for people to have a little help. It used to be that good old fashioned hard work could get you wherever you wanted to go in this country but it is getting a little tough on people. Now selling crack pays more than good old fashioned hard work and looks like a viable option when you see your contemporaries struggling for 5.25 to feed his or her whole family. It is getting rough and some people are coming from places from which it is really, really tough to get out. So I believe that the government should try to help out. But I believe that it is not working the way that it is supposed to right now and there are people who are milking the system. Perhaps not as many people as the Republicans would have you believe but the system is getting messaged more than drunken frat boys at Club Med on Spring Break. I think that these systems should be completely reworked, and by this I mean as a bi-partisan effort. Of course I am a Democrat so I have no real suggestions for how to do that, I just bitch about how it is now.
The same goes for the Justice system in this country. Our legal system sucks more than new born pigs. The prison system sucks, the courts suck, and law enforcement sucks. First of all, the courts suck because they have become sensationalized and who you are effects your guilt or innocence. To quote Chris Rock "If O.J. had been a bus driver, he wouldn't even be O.J. he'd be Orenthal the bus driving murderer." Can anyone beyond my ex-girlfriend's crazy grandmother believe that this guy got off? No one gets a fair trial and the notion of innocent until proven guilty means about as much as the term "Jumbo Shrimp." The prison system? Christ, what the hell do we even have this for anymore? The only people incarcerated anymore are people who were caught with a doobie in their car, meanwhile murderers and rapists, child molesters and third world drug czars walk free. Evidently the only way that you can get parolled anymore is if you have killed or raped at least 14 people. Law enforcement is facing the same problem, the real threats are being ignored in favor of the smaller fish. Rather than catching the drug dealers, they are catching the drug addicts. I guess I guy all fucked up on weed runs slower, if at all. It seems that the law enforcement community is doing what the early FBI did under Hoover. They catch the small frys and ignore the larger criminals so as to increase volume of arrests. Just another example of the importance of quantity over quality.
The key to all of this, as I said before roasting everyone I could think of, is moderation because moderation leads to compromise. That is what we need is to compromise. We need to look passed our differences politically, racially, and sexually and get to the issues that effect us and do something about them. Listen, we live in the biggest melting pot in the world. There are going to be some differences of opinion. Rather than focusing on these things that make us all different we should look at the problems, some of which I highlighted above and figure out what we can do about it as people, not as Republicans or Democrats, or Liberatarians, or Independents, or Communists or Facist Anarchists. All of the issues facing the nation can be solved but only if we are willing to work together. Otherwise we are just going to end up being Newt and Bill and I really don't think that any of use really want to be that fat.
Well as usual if you liked it or you want to yell at me for the fat joke at the end, drop me a line. I love feedback.
© 1997 bodhili@hotmail.com
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