I haven't been writing much about politics the past few days. I have this convoluted mess of thoughts rolling around in my head and I haven't yet found a way to sort it all out.
I read what is in the newspapers everyday. A few articles in Time. Peruse blogs and read what other people are focusing in on. Browse the latest news on the big media sites and the under reported news on some more independent sites. Trying to ascertain what I want to post about. But I feel overwhelmed and it feels like the Bush administration has provided us with so many things to be outraged about over the past four years that nothing's shocking anymore. I read the news and I think "one more nail in Dubya's coffin" but I barely feel the outrage anymore because more bad news is constantly looming overhead and there's no way to condense it all. There is one thing that still outrages me so deeply that I haven't even found the words to express it or the peace of mind to convey my thoughts clearly. That is how the issues of sexuality, reproduction and morality have become central in American politics and the presidential campaigns. My outrage comes mostly from the fact that these issues are in the political spectrum at all, when they are really religious issues which should be separated by default of the constitution. I will get to that later.
I feel frozen in anticipation of November 2nd. Suddenly paralyzed, feeling like I cannot move on. I feel like what I imagine a pregnant woman feels when she's just so ready to give birth and every day feels like a week and she's just ready to burst. When this election is over, regardless of who the winner be, I will feel a great deal of anticipation and suspense has lifted. That I can breathe again. Of course, if Bush is elected, that feeling will quickly be replaced by something akin to grieving. I will feel loss. I will feel sadness. I will feel doom. And quite honestly, I think it is more than likely that I will cry real tears of anger and frustration.
If Kerry wins, which I believe he will, I imagine I will experience the most phenomenal relief, somewhere in the realm of, oh I don't know...orgasm?
Some people may think it sad that this is how political news and events have come to dominate my headspace and that it means this much to me, but I truly believe in my heart that if Bush is re-elected it will be a severely inauspicious and disturbing signal of the direction this country is choosing to take. And it will be a rude awakening for people like me, to be faced with the ultimate realization that the majority of Americans are in a very unrealistic place in terms of their own priorities and the priorities of our nation.
Posted by Maria at October 18, 2004 08:40 PM | TrackBackTotal agreement.
Posted by: Anne at October 18, 2004 09:37 PMThe time is upon us huh? I know myself I've been kinda antsy lately...just waiting for the chips to fall.
Posted by: sandy at October 19, 2004 03:51 AMI hate to sound narccistic, but perhaps my sumnation may help you out a little. (This has tunerd into a long rant, but I promise if you read it all, it will enlighten you).
It is kind of funny because it is related to a sore subject here with me and you, Maria. And that is this supposed "fixation" with the likes of Geoff/Gordon, Mad Mikey, etc. But a fixation with those people it is not.
You see, in life, we all have a stance on issues. We are either for something, against something, or just not sure. These "things" we have a stance on are normally not tangible, squishable things. They are thoughts, as you put it rather - things inside your headspace. As modern western society, we like things to have dimensions. We like to be able to hold things or at least be able to see something in fron of us. Basically, we want whatever it is to have character. This is why I attack geoff/gordon, mad mikey. They represent most of what I think is wrong with the "right" in this country, whether they are joking or not. Tehy are the dimension and character to the very things I fight against. It is the same thing Bushm does with the war on terror - since the enemy has no face, he had to give it one - Iraq.
What is your dimension and character - you choose the Bush Administration. To me, they are just an idelogoy of something bigger. Corporate America. While I personally can hate them all I want, I look at it is merely hating one of the symptoms of the overall problem. What is the overall problem? Greed (which includes, money and power). Greed is the driving force behind anything any of us do. We all partake in it to a degree. Many of us because we have to. We have all heard the saying about basic needs - and it really doesn't take a whole lot of money to fulfill our basic needs - food, water, shelter clothing. But, remember the society we are in. We live in a capaitalistic society. Is there anythign wrong with that? Is there anythuig wrong with communism? I have come to learn that those are not valid questions because it isn't a matter of right or wrong, it is more about what we value most. And it is aparent, our society - our nation - values greed. It drives every aspect and every level of our lives. Every decision the Bush administartion makes, all is tied into the simple question "what will our return on investment be" - ultimately, that translates into bottm line, money in the pocket.
People like mikey and geoff will say "what is wrong with that?" I say nothing is wrong with that. It is how I live my life to a degree to. We all do. When we cut coupons, when we use the grace periods on bills, when we decide to go on vacation, etc. The problem comes in is when get into excess. That is the downfall and that is where we are at now. The excess. There are people and business in this country now that have so much money, they don't know what do do with it. 313 people in this country are billionaires, the most ever recorded. And their goal is always of "how can we get more." My question is, how much more do they need? How many more yacths can they water ski behind - to take a line from the movie Wall Street. I think that movie and the character Michael Douglas plays personafies what this is all about. There is a scene in that movie where Charlie Sheen asks the questions of Douglas:
"Bud: How much is enough?
Gordon Gekko: It's not a question of enough, pal. It's a zero sum game, somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn't lost or made, it's simply transferred from one perception to another."
This simple statement I think sums it all up. To the rich, to the Halibutons, Enrons, MCI's, the Cheney's, Bushs's, Walkers, Rockerfellers, Lay's, Fastows, Forbes, Kerry's and Heinzes of the country - it is a game. The problem is, in a game, like the quote says, somebody loses. Well, losing to these type of people is not a big deal. The Fastows will go to jail, they will pay a big fine, they will never have credibilty again - but after they get out of jail - they will go settle in their newly built mansion and never have to worry again - while the enron employees who lost their life savings will probably work until they are dead. The "losses" they Douglas talks about matter to most of the country. It matters to you and I and it even matters to people like Mad Mikey. The problem is, they are blinded by the rhetoric that their party has sold them in on. The GOP is playing the religous trump card, they are playing the fear trump card and they are playing the patriotic trump card. They are playing the table scrap trum card in the fact that putting a paltry tax cut back into your check and gave $600 back to most of us and saying it was good (sorry, trickle down is nothing more than table scraps for the dog sitting under the table fo excess). What makes all of this so bad is they are playing every trump card they have all at once, and it is more disgusting than ever.
I know this has been a rant, and I hope you made it this far, but the point I am trying to make to you Maria is to find that character and dimension in order to focus what it is you are feeling. Then, fight it. Take the fight to where YOU can fight it. Be it here, or at the dogsnot's or heterophobic.org's of the Net. Take it to protests, or whevever. But take it somewhere. Because fighter without a match, is no fight at all.
I also suggest you watc the movie wall street - it just paints the perfect picture of where we are at as a society.