Once Every 20 Years, Just For Good Measure
Posted by: Fusion 45 in Props and Missives, tags: billy bragg
I haven’t written more than a few sentences about politics since the second Reagan administration. Those who remember those ugly, embarrassing years will understand how that could drive someone to simply not want to talk about it anymore. After all, you can only write about shame and insult so long before becoming ashamed and insulted yourself, beyond willing to be involved. Or, at least that’s the way it was for me at the time, while I was in my mid 20’s.
I’ve been reliving that embarrassment again. I’ve been so deeply repulsed by the lack of humility, the lack of depth, the lack of intelligence, the lack of integrity coming from the White House for the past 8 years that it has made me both sick and embarrassed to be an American. I heard it said that it wasn’t that George Bush wasn’t smart enough to run the country, it was that he couldn’t admit he wasn’t smart enough to run the country. Arrogance once again trumps blind stupidity.
For me, it’s not a partisan thing. I’d just as soon vote Libertarian or Green Party or Space Alien if it were the right person.
Is Barack Obama the right person? It’s easy to think so, just hours after seeing people dance jubilantly in the streets (and, in the case of my house, around the kitchen). It’s easy to think so after watching people tearfully take part in what is truly a historic moment in our history. It’s easy to think so when you watching Obama speak to the American people, likely one of the greatest orators to take the public stage since Martin Luther King.
But already, just hours after the celebration, some people are already pessimistic. This afternoon (yes, this afternoon), a colleague was bemoaning the fact that, in spite of Obama’s election, the Dow Jones average had closed down 400 points. Yes, just one day after his election, he’s already disappointing people (and he’s not even President yet).
My deeper concern is not the Dow Jones average. My concern is that people, like my colleague, haven’t been listening to what Obama has been saying, the real message he’s been preaching the last two years: that no single man can cure what is wrong with America, that it will take the efforts of all of us to create change. It will take all of us driving less and driving smaller. It will take all of us living within our means (and not looking at our home equity like an ATM machine to buy boats and vacations). It will take all of us making sacrifices to make our country stronger.
Living here in the Pacific Northwest, where men with small penises compensate by driving huge pickup trucks, I can see how slowly people have been (and probably will be) to change. Even with gas at $4 a gallon, those guys just kept tooling down the highway.
Even though the electoral college elected Obama by a landslide, there were still 48 million people in America who voted for John McCain. I’m not suggesting that a Republican vote means a person drives a big truck or is financially irresponsible but I’m willing to bet there are more than a few people who will ignore Obama’s calls to action out of ignorance, spite or racism. The question is: can the 52 million people who voted for Obama continue to carry out the initiatives that he will try to enact? We know they won’t change, but will we?
In the meantime, I, like many people, am hopeful. Throughout the campaign, in the face of insults, slander, threats and lies, Barack Obama has held his head high and conducted himself with dignity and integrity. He’s never stooped to the level of his detractors. For that reason alone, I’m hopeful that the future of America, my children’s America, will be brighter than the America we’ve been living with the past 8 years.
Without inferring too much (’cuz, after all, it’s just fun to dance to), here’s our favorite Socialist, Billy Bragg, with some Voodoo.
Feel free to dance around the kitchen (and I’ll talk to you again in 20 years).
Billy Bragg And Wilco - Hoodoo Voodoo
If you’re so inclined, Ezra Klein has written a poignant essay today on The American Prospect entitled The Most Unlikely President.
Photo borrowed from The American Prospect, as well.
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