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L'Etat C'est Moi
Aug. 7th, 2010 02:45 pmIt's funny, really, how the combination of watching the government and the histrionics of "the people," coupled with the insider experience of working for two large organizations doing work with the public (where a horde of shrieking whiners will attack every action you take, no matter what it is), has made me feel pretty relaxed about the state of the state.
Every year, the government will do stupid things. It will do smart things. Sometimes, twenty years of orbiting through a cloud of stupid will make you want to give up hope, then things will change around. Or not. Or maybe. What year is it again? But, heck, the country never ever got really bad, and unfair, and messed up, and then got better again, right?
Regardless of what the government does, some group will say "Hitler," fascism, communism, evil, handbasket, or something. Another group will defend their hypocritical gasbag leader on every unethical, idiotic, or inexplicable thing they do, while the opposing group will claim every move the gasbag leader makes is aimed at putting us all in death camps.
The other side is always wrecking the whole world, whereas our side is fighting the good fight. Direct democracy is the only answer...until the masses vote against your right to get married, or against your green policy, or for imposing religion on the people. Direct democracy is the only answer...until the masses vote for healthcare, or against your war, or for taxes to pay for services we need or want.
The president can only be a magical wizard or a devil. Never mind that the Executive Branch is only a third of our government, and not even a particularly dynamic or important third. When our party is in power, it's scandalous how the rest of the government runs over our president like a steamroller, stopping them from fighting the good fight. When their party is in power, we are headed for THE END OF EVERYTHING THAT WAS EVER GOOD ABOUT AMERICA!!!
Our party likes posters that show off our president in stylized color, looking boldly into the future. Their party likes pictures that show their president pretending to be a crusading warrior on an aircraft carrier, because they're wicked, jingoistic monsters. We're about HOPE and UNITING and AMERICA and THE PEOPLE. They're about TAKING AWAY OUR RIGHTS!!!
There is no middle ground.
You can only be liberal OR conservative, unless you're a libertarian, in which case you're still a conservative, or green, in which case you're still a liberal. There's no chance that some problems in our country call for liberal solutions, while some call for conservative solutions. That's not how it works, okay? You have to join every piece of wood using a screwdriver, whether you're using screws, nails, mortise & tenon, or glue. You may only have one tool in your political toolbox, and it must work perfectly for all problems. Besides, you're not ideological. You'd vote for someone from that other party. You haven't ever voted for someone from that other party, but you would, you know, and it's just because you haven't ever had the right candidate come along. You are smarter, politically, than almost anyone you know.
It all about identity, isn't it?
You cannot be a gay person and own a gun. You cannot believe that Jesus was the light of the world and your personal savior and still support government-supplied healthcare for all people. You cannot own a successful business and believe that taxes are important to provide for the infrastructure needed to run your business.
Consensus is impossible these days.
It only really happened in the good old days. My good old days were the brief stretch between when they added "God" to the Pledge of Allegiance and when social experimenters ruined the country with integration. Your good old days were the brief stretch between when FDR was elected and when Truman dropped the bomb. I hate to say that the world's getting worse, but just look at kids these days. You hate to say the world's getting worse, but look at parents these days.
You're broken-hearted that your president is failing to live up to the things you thought he or she was saying or promising back when you hated the other guy so much you chose not to pay attention to what he or she was actually saying and doing. You're sad that kids today won't have the kind of life you had, growing up. You're angry that people just won't see see the forest for the trees. When did everyone get so dumb?
It'll all end in tears. You just know it. The world will end with global warming. The world will end with a trumpet and a horseman. The world will end with a tilted Statue of Liberty stuck in the sand, or if Christopher Walken doesn't shoot that crazy warmonger.
Nothing will ever get any better. We should all just give up. It's all our fault. It's THAT guy's fault. It's the banking industry. It's the unions. It's the corporate media. It's lazy welfare mothers. It's oil companies. It's the Kyoto Protocol. It's those undereducated idiots. It's those overeducated flakes. It's because people have forgotten to love each other. It's because people aren't patriotic any more.
It's all hopeless. We're all gonna die.
And yet, the world keeps on spinning, and the government does stupid things. The sun rises every morning, and the government does smart things. The moon hangs heavy over the horizon, and the day gets started, and people remember that they're still angry, and still unsatisfied, and still frustrated, and that's the way it goes.
Meanwhile...
Every year, the government will do stupid things. It will do smart things. Sometimes, twenty years of orbiting through a cloud of stupid will make you want to give up hope, then things will change around. Or not. Or maybe. What year is it again? But, heck, the country never ever got really bad, and unfair, and messed up, and then got better again, right?
Regardless of what the government does, some group will say "Hitler," fascism, communism, evil, handbasket, or something. Another group will defend their hypocritical gasbag leader on every unethical, idiotic, or inexplicable thing they do, while the opposing group will claim every move the gasbag leader makes is aimed at putting us all in death camps.
The other side is always wrecking the whole world, whereas our side is fighting the good fight. Direct democracy is the only answer...until the masses vote against your right to get married, or against your green policy, or for imposing religion on the people. Direct democracy is the only answer...until the masses vote for healthcare, or against your war, or for taxes to pay for services we need or want.
The president can only be a magical wizard or a devil. Never mind that the Executive Branch is only a third of our government, and not even a particularly dynamic or important third. When our party is in power, it's scandalous how the rest of the government runs over our president like a steamroller, stopping them from fighting the good fight. When their party is in power, we are headed for THE END OF EVERYTHING THAT WAS EVER GOOD ABOUT AMERICA!!!
Our party likes posters that show off our president in stylized color, looking boldly into the future. Their party likes pictures that show their president pretending to be a crusading warrior on an aircraft carrier, because they're wicked, jingoistic monsters. We're about HOPE and UNITING and AMERICA and THE PEOPLE. They're about TAKING AWAY OUR RIGHTS!!!
There is no middle ground.
You can only be liberal OR conservative, unless you're a libertarian, in which case you're still a conservative, or green, in which case you're still a liberal. There's no chance that some problems in our country call for liberal solutions, while some call for conservative solutions. That's not how it works, okay? You have to join every piece of wood using a screwdriver, whether you're using screws, nails, mortise & tenon, or glue. You may only have one tool in your political toolbox, and it must work perfectly for all problems. Besides, you're not ideological. You'd vote for someone from that other party. You haven't ever voted for someone from that other party, but you would, you know, and it's just because you haven't ever had the right candidate come along. You are smarter, politically, than almost anyone you know.
It all about identity, isn't it?
You cannot be a gay person and own a gun. You cannot believe that Jesus was the light of the world and your personal savior and still support government-supplied healthcare for all people. You cannot own a successful business and believe that taxes are important to provide for the infrastructure needed to run your business.
Consensus is impossible these days.
It only really happened in the good old days. My good old days were the brief stretch between when they added "God" to the Pledge of Allegiance and when social experimenters ruined the country with integration. Your good old days were the brief stretch between when FDR was elected and when Truman dropped the bomb. I hate to say that the world's getting worse, but just look at kids these days. You hate to say the world's getting worse, but look at parents these days.
You're broken-hearted that your president is failing to live up to the things you thought he or she was saying or promising back when you hated the other guy so much you chose not to pay attention to what he or she was actually saying and doing. You're sad that kids today won't have the kind of life you had, growing up. You're angry that people just won't see see the forest for the trees. When did everyone get so dumb?
It'll all end in tears. You just know it. The world will end with global warming. The world will end with a trumpet and a horseman. The world will end with a tilted Statue of Liberty stuck in the sand, or if Christopher Walken doesn't shoot that crazy warmonger.
Nothing will ever get any better. We should all just give up. It's all our fault. It's THAT guy's fault. It's the banking industry. It's the unions. It's the corporate media. It's lazy welfare mothers. It's oil companies. It's the Kyoto Protocol. It's those undereducated idiots. It's those overeducated flakes. It's because people have forgotten to love each other. It's because people aren't patriotic any more.
It's all hopeless. We're all gonna die.
And yet, the world keeps on spinning, and the government does stupid things. The sun rises every morning, and the government does smart things. The moon hangs heavy over the horizon, and the day gets started, and people remember that they're still angry, and still unsatisfied, and still frustrated, and that's the way it goes.
Meanwhile...
