My fellow Americans, I come before you today to deliver an unauthorized and unrequested "State of the Union." It follows no set format. Anyone seeking a logical flow will be frustrated. It's my blog & I'll wander if I want to.
It may seem that our government officials were scraped from the underside of the barrel, but a little historical perspective may help. Throughout our short history, we've elected some of the dumbest, larcenous, and venal people to national, state, and local offices. They've robbed us blind, destroyed our infrastructures, ignored serious issues, squeezed more swine into barrels, sent young people off to die in stupid wars, allowed outrageous levels of poverty, despair, and hopelessness.
So, don't feel too bad. It could be worse. Wait a minute! Maybe it is worse. So what, you'd rather live somewhere else?
Have Americans ever understood what citizenship means? John Kennedy (speaking of sleazebags who have been reincarnated into heroes) at least had the good sense to proclaim, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." Silly boy. Ask rich old people to even consider sharing some of their social security welfare with others & they grow apoplectic.
A good friend of mine (conservative Republican) who's one of the most decent people I've ever met recently said to me, "there's nothing anyone can do to fix the mess this country & world is in, so I'm just going to worry about me & my family & friends." Out of a sense of hopelessness, she's spun a cocoon around her & hopes to emerge as a butterfly someday and not a gypsy moth.
And everyone hates us! Well, not everyone. Tony Blair thinks we're pretty cool. It's not a new phenomenon although Bush & Co. have taken the hatred to levels never before imagined. And the weird thing is that I really do believe that Bush believes that spreading democracy is a good thing (Christian democracy, of course. Muslims, Hindus, Janes, Jews, et. al need not apply.) But I wouldn't make the same claim about some of the people around him. For a time when we were dumping billions on the Egyptians (mid- to late 90s), they loved Americans. Well, except for the terrorists. They don't love us anymore.
Article comments
1 - gonzo marx
/golfclap
nice one , my friend
howabout the union of the state?
everybody forgets about flipping the script on that one
but i digress....
Excelsior!
2 - Mark Schannon
Very interesting, Gonzo, old salt. "The union of the state." Are we red and blue? Or are we bluish-red & reddish-blue & doesn't that both equal purple, the color of royalty.
I will have to give this one deep thought...but it's not time for my Jameson's yet.
In Jameson's Veritas.
3 - Mark Sahm
As you described it in your post, there are several spots of brown on the red & blue of that 'union of the state' color scheme. If only Oxy Clean made an America-safe detergent.
4 - Matt
Gonzo's back? Wahoo!
5 - Mark Schannon
Not brown, purple. I'd be concerned about applying any detegergent to America--no matter how color safe. It may just be that it's the dirt and grime that holding the whole place together--clean it off and we all collapse into little piles of protoplasm, rocks, metals, and cockroaches.