I’ve been having the hardest time getting back to writing. Every time I sit down in front of the computer, I start thinking of what I want to write about, which leads me to start thinking about what’s going on in our country, and I get discouraged.
It would be easy for me to knock off a post about the spectacular fall color this year; peak color will occur in the next few days. I could tell you about some of the traveling we’ve done in the past month and I probably will. Things are changing at the Farmers Market, an old restaurant has opened in a new location with a new name, there are lots of fun free things to do on the weekends, and the growing season is coming to a close. I have any number of subjects to choose from, but before I can get to any of them, there are a few things I need to get off my chest.
Like it or not, the presidential election campaign of 2012 is well underway. On the one hand, we have a president who talks the talk, but doesn’t walk the walk. On the other hand, we have a racist and a group of buffoons masquerading as candidates for leader of the free world.
Monday Night Football fired Hank, Jr, because he compared President Obama to Hitler. Ol’ Bocephus, who is not known as the sharpest knife in the drawer, has made a career out of being a redneck good ol’ boy, so what did they expect? Another dull blade who has done the same thing career-wise is Texas Governor Rick Perry, whose family leases a hunting lodge that, until the late 1990s, was called Niggerhead Ranch. The name was painted in large letters on a rock by the entrance. In the two decades that he has served as an elected official, Perry has hosted numerous politicians at the lodge, including George W. Bush. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want a president who has even stepped foot on a place with such a name, much less one who leases it. Yet Perry is still considered one of the Republican front runners. As a white, Southern male, I’m not only offended, I’m damn tired of assholes like him.
Last Friday at the right wing Values Voter summit, Dr. Robert Jeffress, the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas introduced and endorsed Perry. Jeffress, who is a major voice in the evangelical Christian movement, later referred to Mormonism, the religion of two of the candidates, front runner Mitt Romney, and former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, as a non-Christian cult. Perry didn’t immediately repudiated Jeffress (and still hasn’t,) and Jeffress has spent the last few days trying to explain that the term “cult” doesn’t really mean cult. How stupid do these people think we are? You can bet your ass that Perry’s campaign team vetted every single word Jeffress uttered. Perry used a stalking horse to get his bigoted message out. The damage is done, and he has plausible deniability.
Folks, it’s time for our politicians and elected officials to come to Jesus. There are things in this country that are broken and need fixing. In the last few years, American corporations have eliminated 2.9 million jobs in this country. These jobs are gone for good because, at the same time, these same corporations have created 2.4 million jobs outside the country. These same corporations have 1.7 trillion dollars in cash reserves, yet they can’t pay any more taxes because the economy is unstable and they might need to some day on an odd Thursday when the moon is in the right congress use the money to create an actual job in this country.
Banks have 1.3 trillion dollars on deposit with the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve (i.e., we the taxpayers) pays them tens of billions of dollars in interest on the deposit, but the banks aren’t loaning any money because the economy is unstable. WTF? Discouraging isn’t it?
Just once, I’d like to see a candidate stand up for the middle class. Just once, I’d like to see a candidate who believes in the strength of their own convictions and doesn’t pander to every batshit crazy who comes out of the woodwork. I never thought I could ever support someone like Hillary Clinton until now.