And the joint Congress and American public go, “Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.”
Sad.
But the sadness…disinterest…malaise…or just plain, “What the fuck ever”, feeling is not without an understandable reason.
Tonight, during the State of the Union Address President Obama will say in some form or fashion as all President’s before him have said…
“The State of the Union is strong.”
Well, in my opinion, the State of the Union is far from strong, in fact, it sucks. And, I’m not talking about our economy, or our stature in the eyes of the world. I’m talking about us.
I’m talking about us as a nation of people who over the years have defeated an empire, have come together like none other, and now, after nearly 236 years of this great nation’s existence…
We argue over whether a woman has private and personal control over her own body, if a spouse has the right to let his spouse die in a dignified way, or if we should attack a country such as Iran whose military prowess is along the lines of the paper tiger that was Hussein’s Iraq.
Our nation has so many problems…from our debt, to reliance on foreign oil, to unemployment, to trying to find our markets and international place in the 21st Century.
And yet, when looking for a President and leader in our 2012 election cycle, what do many Americans look toward to guide their choice?American History? The Constitution? Or perhaps, Common Sense? Noooooooo…
Many Americans find their safe harbors via the lighthouse of the media beacons that are MSNBC, FOX News, and some whacked out manchicks named Rachel Maddow and/or Sean Hannity among others.
Unfortunately, they seem to be the catalytic minority, and…they are what fuel the misfiring engine that is the do nothing government that we seem to have these days. Politicians want one thing, and that one thing is not to help America, it is to get reelected.
And in order to secure that end game, legislators agree with tiny minded folks, and no matter what, feed the electorate with what they want to hear in order to accomplish their unending, monetarily satisfying tenure within the once great halls of Congress.
Seriously, Mr. and/or Mrs. American Voter…you suck.
Choosing a President, taking the ten minutes it takes to vote, and actually researching who and why you want to vote for him or her has become such a chore. Because? Thinking takes time.
Millions of Americans listen to Limbaugh, Hannity, Maddow, and Olbermann because they would rather not think for themselves. They are too busy ordering pizza , texting a friend about how their spouse hates them, or playing Farmville on Facebook as they experience the virtual birth of a calf…
In 1800 and 1804, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson went head to head in the Presidential election, and in 2012..?
We will have either Romney or Gingrich up against Obama.
Adams and Jefferson debated over the future course this country would take in order to make our then nascent nation more successful, and 200 and some years later?
No matter who the GOP picks to represent their party, the General Election debate will center on not who will make this country greater, but rather who will make this nation less than it already has become.
Ironically, it is our forefathers who set us upon this path with the birth of herd mentality political parties. However...
While they saw political parties merely as schools of thought, Americans today see them as political Cliff Notes, and comfortable, totalitarian schools of non-thought.
Americans today don’t have time to read the entire virtual biography that a candidate may put forth; they merely want to gaze, and listen to it briefly upon 24/7 cable news, and then like Pavlov’s dogs, obediently nod their heads, and wag their tails to what they know, and agree…or bark at the screen when they don’t.
After all, thinking takes time, and there are X-Box games to be played, spouses to cheat upon, and other who are unlike you and I to mock.
I wonder about our country, and when I do , I wonder about Ben Franklin.
He drank…He loooved the ladies…He smoked…He, like an idiot, stood out in the lightning…He hung out with pigeons as he trained them, and today?
Because of all of that, he couldn’t get elected as a City Commissioner of Bagwine, Ohio.
Americans today do not like thinkers…they do not like great people…Americans like a world that is homogenous…that thinks as they do…that is uncomplicated.
And that is exactly why America, the former bastion of innovation and great ideas, is becoming second-rate as a nation, and a nation whose State of the Union is not strong.
Matt-Man
Email: neshobadude@yahoo.com
Twitter: @mattmaniws
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