Friday, February 26, 2016

CLUSTERF**K

The term has a new meaning for me, following this latest series of cluster headaches that has been plaguing me. The good news is that there was no attack last night, and no attack this morning. The shadow lurks on...

Otherwise, the old meaning of the word: I watched a part of the Republican debate last night. Such a vapid, meaningless squabble over the usual clichés. It seemed more like a competition to see who could appear more petulant, truculent and mean-spirited than a presidential debate. I also watched a few minutes of the Chris Matthews one-on-one with Bernie Sanders where real issues were raised and addressed--though I did note some evasion on the Senator's part when it came to providing the answers as to how he plans to realize his ideals in the practical world of politics.

I note my skepticism about Sanders with some sorrow, because I have long been proclaiming, to myself and anyone who would listen, that what's needed is a real revolution if we're to set this country back on course. As I wrote in these pages just the other day--and as Sanders consistently repeats--it will take vast numbers of the disaffected to stand up and demand the equality of economic opportunity and the equal justice he aspires to.  This is not something "Washington" will willingly concede: it has been bought and paid for by the wealth of corporations and their vested interests. It must come from vast armies of Americans voting for those who will listen to them and act to serve their interests. If the consensus of the people were to be the standard--to cite but one example--we would have no trouble enacting sensible regulation of firearms.

Trouble is, the revolution is stirring on the other side, as well: one of the needed armies of the disaffected has been manipulated into a powerful force that militates, ironically, against its own interests.  Where to find common ground amongst these legions, left and right, who are finally rising up against a system increasingly corrupted and paralyzed, these past several decades, by an oligarchy of the super-wealthy?  That's the question that interests me. So many have been persuaded to believe that government is the enemy; how to persuade them to believe in it as their potential ally, in the cause for which they fight?

It's a conundrum.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I look at the coming election with so much fear and trepidation. Trump's popularity among the crazy right-wing fascist element in our country takes my breath away. I am a Sanders supporter, and I wish he were more confident in his responses. Still, our country is in need of a huge sweeping change, and I want what Bernie wants. Trump looms on the horizon like a giant helium balloon of insanity in the Republican lunacy parade.