[Bill,
March 13, 2009]
Dare to be Stupid
OK, so I haven't been updating much lately. I think I've made my point clear, and, well, it's not getting anywhere. Truth is, I have battle fatigue, or rather, blog-battle fatigue. It's not that I have nothing to say. It's that I don't think it'll do any good. Maybe I'll change my mind; maybe I won't. Whatever.
You see, something happened in September — Sept 15, in the morning, IIRC, there was a run on the banks, which caused the credit crisis, which threw the election, which launched a demagogue into the White House. At best, I can hope he's incompetent and stupid and lazy. Or tired. Whatever.
The point is not so much whether Obama is in the White House; it's that 52% of the American people can't be trusted to hire a dogcatcher in their neighborhood. The man's political career was launched in an American terrorist's home. He has no executive experience at all. He's never run an organization. It's a sign of lack of discernment.
The only reason to vote for Obama is if you convinced yourself that McCain would be worse — an argument you could make, as long as you don't care about becoming a country of medical cannibals (just happened, btw) and don't care if we continue the abortion holocaust.
Imagine McCain president right now. He has command experience, but no real executive experience, either. Sarah Palin, our second affirmative-action nominee (though a really cool person, apparently), would be a heartbeat away from the White House.
Perhaps if McCain took a lot of long naps and vetoed anything that comes from Congress, we'd be all right in a year or two. Or maybe we would descend into a Mad Max meets the Zombies. I dunno.
Meanwhile, there's this WTF sense from the last six months of the Bush Administration. Massive bailouts ... don't forget the triple-digit billion stimulus tax rebate back in June. And there's that run on the banks, which makes me wonder, for this first time in my life, whether there really is some kind of conspiracy to throw elections ... maybe you got a better answer and I haven't heard it. I certainly don't like to think in terms of grand conspiracies, and don't want to be one of those old men buttonholing people in parking lots with my grand conspiratorial Theory of Everything. If that happens, I trust my friends to give me a bottle of cheap vodka and get me wasted long enough to qualify for rehab.
Meanwhie, my friends on the right are talking about revolution ... stockpiling arms and ammo and just waiting for a spark. More WTF? Are you fucking kidding me? Who, exactly, are we going to shoot? Our neighbors, friends, family? Our police? Well, when you talk about destruction, you can count me out ... if it comes down to a horrible situation that fits Catholic just-war theory, I will defend myself. Otherwise, uh, no.
It seems some on the right are going to be as insane as the left (and many moderates were) in the past eight years. That makes everyone crazy, making me feel like I'm in a Heller novel. Unless everyone else is sane, and I'm crazy, which in a way, would be enormously freeing.
Whatever. For the time being, I'm gonna try not to care. There are three main possibilities for the future:
1. Doom! Obama screws everything up, and we will in a massive, intrusive, politically correct welfare state which slows sucks all the initiative, verve, and moxie out of our fellow humans, until we're all faceless, nameless drones in a poorer, culturally impoverished Chicago machine called Obamaland.
2. Bliss! Obama's strange ad hoc socialistic program works, for all the reasons Democrats say, and we all live happily ever after, though some of us on the right take a friendly ribbing from our more foresighted, but charitable, neighbors who wisely saw something in Obama we didn't see.
3. Muddle. Things get better, but just 'cuz, not 'cuz of anything Obama does or doesn't do. We argue about what that means. We make many arguments and blame each other as stupid for not seeing it. Or things get worse, because of some unforeseen events, and drawing conclusions becomes difficult, and we argue about the interpretation about cause and effect.
Three lesser possibilities:
1. American political violence ... leading to nothing but a few deaths of innocents.
2. Mass resistance. Obama turns out to be a Stalinist monster, or a corporatist shill dressed up as a leftist, and declares martial law ... and we, left and right, fight the power together.
3. Shocking stupidity. We descend into a feral, Hobbesian nightmare world of war of all against all.
Who knows?
Meanwhile, it's a Friday in Lent, which means tonight I'm gonna try to think more about God being in charge and then tomorrow I'm gonna have to cheeseburgers wrapped in bacon and stuffed in turkey sausage for breakfast. Have a good one.
You see, something happened in September — Sept 15, in the morning, IIRC, there was a run on the banks, which caused the credit crisis, which threw the election, which launched a demagogue into the White House. At best, I can hope he's incompetent and stupid and lazy. Or tired. Whatever.
The point is not so much whether Obama is in the White House; it's that 52% of the American people can't be trusted to hire a dogcatcher in their neighborhood. The man's political career was launched in an American terrorist's home. He has no executive experience at all. He's never run an organization. It's a sign of lack of discernment.
The only reason to vote for Obama is if you convinced yourself that McCain would be worse — an argument you could make, as long as you don't care about becoming a country of medical cannibals (just happened, btw) and don't care if we continue the abortion holocaust.
Imagine McCain president right now. He has command experience, but no real executive experience, either. Sarah Palin, our second affirmative-action nominee (though a really cool person, apparently), would be a heartbeat away from the White House.
Perhaps if McCain took a lot of long naps and vetoed anything that comes from Congress, we'd be all right in a year or two. Or maybe we would descend into a Mad Max meets the Zombies. I dunno.
Meanwhile, there's this WTF sense from the last six months of the Bush Administration. Massive bailouts ... don't forget the triple-digit billion stimulus tax rebate back in June. And there's that run on the banks, which makes me wonder, for this first time in my life, whether there really is some kind of conspiracy to throw elections ... maybe you got a better answer and I haven't heard it. I certainly don't like to think in terms of grand conspiracies, and don't want to be one of those old men buttonholing people in parking lots with my grand conspiratorial Theory of Everything. If that happens, I trust my friends to give me a bottle of cheap vodka and get me wasted long enough to qualify for rehab.
Meanwhie, my friends on the right are talking about revolution ... stockpiling arms and ammo and just waiting for a spark. More WTF? Are you fucking kidding me? Who, exactly, are we going to shoot? Our neighbors, friends, family? Our police? Well, when you talk about destruction, you can count me out ... if it comes down to a horrible situation that fits Catholic just-war theory, I will defend myself. Otherwise, uh, no.
It seems some on the right are going to be as insane as the left (and many moderates were) in the past eight years. That makes everyone crazy, making me feel like I'm in a Heller novel. Unless everyone else is sane, and I'm crazy, which in a way, would be enormously freeing.
Whatever. For the time being, I'm gonna try not to care. There are three main possibilities for the future:
1. Doom! Obama screws everything up, and we will in a massive, intrusive, politically correct welfare state which slows sucks all the initiative, verve, and moxie out of our fellow humans, until we're all faceless, nameless drones in a poorer, culturally impoverished Chicago machine called Obamaland.
2. Bliss! Obama's strange ad hoc socialistic program works, for all the reasons Democrats say, and we all live happily ever after, though some of us on the right take a friendly ribbing from our more foresighted, but charitable, neighbors who wisely saw something in Obama we didn't see.
3. Muddle. Things get better, but just 'cuz, not 'cuz of anything Obama does or doesn't do. We argue about what that means. We make many arguments and blame each other as stupid for not seeing it. Or things get worse, because of some unforeseen events, and drawing conclusions becomes difficult, and we argue about the interpretation about cause and effect.
Three lesser possibilities:
1. American political violence ... leading to nothing but a few deaths of innocents.
2. Mass resistance. Obama turns out to be a Stalinist monster, or a corporatist shill dressed up as a leftist, and declares martial law ... and we, left and right, fight the power together.
3. Shocking stupidity. We descend into a feral, Hobbesian nightmare world of war of all against all.
Who knows?
Meanwhile, it's a Friday in Lent, which means tonight I'm gonna try to think more about God being in charge and then tomorrow I'm gonna have to cheeseburgers wrapped in bacon and stuffed in turkey sausage for breakfast. Have a good one.