I Miss Georgia Sometimes

There's this Simpsons episode where Ranier Wolfcastle, an ego-centric Germanic actor who is basically Ahnold, fights with a group of "Commie-Nazis," the joke, of course, being that these groups are only linked really in the American conciousness. Fascism, of course, is quite different from Communism or Marxism. However, because we went directly from fighting one group to not fighting the other, they are forever linked in the American mind, especially if you're mentally challenged in some way.

One of these mentally challenged people is Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA), who represents North East Georgia, including parts of Clarke County. He seems to think that Barack Obama, who is the most Right-Wing Marxist I've ever heard of, will start a Gestapo-like force to promote his "Marxist or fascist dictatorship" upon the American people, depending on which way the Chicago White Sox 2009-2012 seasons go.

Obama's "Commie-Nazi"-ism aside, I personally am enjoying the new rhetoric by which the Right is attacking the Left and the new President that 62M+ Americans seem to like. Rep. Peter King (R-NY) implies that while the campaign was going on, America was simply hitting an economic slump. Now that Barack Obama has been elected, however, we're in a full-on recession. As my Dad used to say, "When your neighbor loses his job, it's a recession. When you lose your job, it's a depression."

The goal of this Gestapo, of course, will be to force people into homosexual marriages and force abortions on any non-mutt people (high fives all around). Gun-owners will be forced to spend an extra $.50 on trigger locks and reperations will be forced out of White Americans, especially those who had nothing to do with slavery.

If You Can't Say Something Nice, Now You Know How I Feel

Having spent the last eight years as an "other," I'm really not sure what to do today. Jennifer and I have spent most of the last eight years being told we hated America and that we were Un-American and that we were terrorists for disagreeing with George Bush and his plans (or lack there of).

For the last eight years, Republicans have been throwing around the word "mandate," which supposedly meant they had the right to do whatever they want with the country and constitution. What we saw last night was the American people saying enough- no more will we continue to allow a President to run wild through the world with false information. No more will we allow an administration to terrorize us into doing their bidding and believe their "patriotic" mantras.

But Facebook today is filled with those that wish a Socialist America well with our Socialist President. "I can't believe it!" says one person, going on to say just how sad they are that America would allow a big goverment to get bigger under Obama. Somehow, they've forgotten that it was a Republican that made it larger over the last eight years.

My wife says I should be kind- I should be above the partisanship that has been going on in this country that the Republicans have basically been waving at all of us. She's quite right: I should manage to be better than them, be the bigger person- the better person.

And while I really want to be, I feel that the Left has endured so much crap over the last eight years that perhaps the Right deserves a little of its own medicine, splashed back in their faces with a hearty laugh. Perhaps the Right should hear that if they don't support President Obama, they are Un-American and hate America and want to see the terrorists take over. Perhaps the Right ought to hear that by saying no to health care (which the last few months has pretty much wiped out- so thanks for that, George & Co.!) that THEY hate America and that we, the Left, are the bearers now of all things American and that Progressivism is the mandate this country has asked for.

But maybe I don't have to. With a seven million vote buffer in the popular vote, perhaps Americans are just plain tired of the same Republican games. Maybe Americans have decided for themselves what they consider American. Maybe the this election was a referendum, not of President Bush, but of the McCarthy-esque calls for "Communist!" Maybe America is moving into the 21st century.

But how can we not? Look around: Europe is coming back big. China and the East are our saviors in this financial crisis. We as Americans are falling behind. We're blowing all kinds of money on things, but still cannot manage to help with the basic necessities in life (health, education, etc.). And in this, the Republicans have been holding us back.

The last eight years, it seems, are the final pulses of 20th Century America. We can finally say that America no longer needs to lead with bombs and guns- we can lead with influence and not bullets. We can move on to the next phase of being Americans, and while I believe we're no longer a Super Power, that doesn't mean the world can't look to us as a beacon for freedom and a model for justice. 

During the last eight years, we lost that, but hopefully President Obama can help us with our world standing. And while some parts of America claim they could care less for how others feel about us, many on the Left believe this is the first step towards combating global terrorism. Instead of bombing people into not hating us, maybe we can start giving people a reason to like us. Maybe if terrorists had a reason to like us, they would stop trying to hurt us.

I actually spent a few minutes today feeling bad for Barack Obama: he's fighting an uphill battle due to the ditch that the Republicans have been digging for the last eight years, and the six before that as they controlled Congress. President Obama is starting off in a position of losing in that there's pretty much no way he can succeed with all the things he wants to do because he is starting a half mile back from the starting line. And instead of being aware of this, the Republicans will attempt to take advantage of it in 2010 and 2012. They will say he's done nothing in his four years as President, but he's been given nothing to work with. George Bush and the Republicans have all but destroyed America. Not physically, but in pretty much every other way, America has regressed or been stalled from moving forward. Obama's going to have a hard road for the next four, and God-willing, eight years.

But we ought to be gracious. The past is just that. George Bush, in 70-some odd days will be put out to pasture. Rather than blaming him for all our modern ills, we should forget them and move forward. 

He was, after all, sooo last century (or close enough).

Two Americas

Bill Maher is right: there are two Americas.

One America wants to be a socially progressive, European state and the other America wants to be an uptight, backwards society where people don't have to pay taxes to a government that allows all the guns you want and barges into your bed room to make sure you're having sex with a member of the opposite gender. That government has every right to your body and no rights to your money or arsenal.

One America wants to make it so that Americans can prosper by taking care of each person's basic needs (like healthcare). The other America wants to make it so that if you're not pulling yourself up by the bootstraps, you're being trampled at the bottom by those richer than you.

One America thinks it's ok to scare people by saying Gays will take over the country if allowed to marry, and the other America thinks that two people, regardless of gender, should be allowed to enter into a marital contract with another person.

One America wants to scare people into hating Gays.

Can you guess which America that is?

A Defense of Obama and Liberalism to Fence-Sitting Undecided Voters Who Will Probably Vote McCain Regardless

I believe the term "Maverick," which McCain certainly earned the right to call himself until 2004, implies a certain loneliness. You're not with a group if you're working against them, as McCain claims to have been doing his entire career/life.

That said, if the Maverick, and not the awesome Jim Garner version, becomes President, I believe he will still remain alone because the implication is that no one else thinks like he does, which means that he'll have to fill the rest of the White House, etc. with current Bush cronies and other Republican bureaucrats. So what you're really getting when voting for McCain is a President who has people under him who don't care what he says because he's "The Other" in his own White House. The mainstream Republicans who you yourself annexed from will continue to run the White House and the government.

Regardless of experience, because that issue has now been negated by McCain's own choice of running mate, I believe what it takes to run a government is not bringing in the people from the last administration but a vision, however murky, for the future. Vision's a tricky thing: you can't clearly state anything because you have no idea what kind of situation you're going to inherit. All the Republicans complaining about Obama not having a plan are quite naive: George W. Bush is the only person who can move forward with the same ideology regardless of reality. Any decent human being would adjust to fit the circumstances, which is why experience, sadly enough, isn't the greatest factor for success as President. I believe strongly that it's about having an idea of what you want America to be and finding the way there, versus forcing the square peg into the round hole.

I believe Obama has this proper vision of the future, at least in that he and I share a similar hope for what America can be. I believe McCain, in a very un-Maverick-like manner, wants to take America back to some golden age that never really existed except for those that were so sheltered from reality in the first place.

Now, the real issue, I believe, is that it comes down to what you believe the basic function of government to be, an argument my brother and I get into all the time. I argue that it is the job of government to do what individuals cannot on their own. That does mean helping the least among us in society through government and through taxes because there's nothing the uber-wealthy won't be able to do as a result of paying a slightly higher tax. I believe that "providing for the common defense" doesn't just mean bombing the hell out of anyone that looks at us cross-eyed. I believe it means strengthening education and health care and making sure that even the least among us in society is still better off than others around the world- our own brand of patriotism. It's not just exporting arms and armies, it's exporting the example of what a modern society can do when they create a government together of ideas.

If you believe that government is in charge of making sure people don't attack us, but that everything else is up to you, then I guess you're better off voting for the Republican. I heard a thing on the radio this morning wondering where all this money that the banks are losing is coming from. Basically, the person explained, it's all about promises. Say I tell you I have a million dollars to give you and you go to the bank and say you've got a millions dollars so they give you a million dollar loan. When you come to me and I don't actually have a million, the bank is now out two million dollars. However, people are still owed money, so banks dip into that massive pile of money- our money. So the $85 billion AIG got this morning isn't from anywhere other than our pockets.

It's nice to know that after 70 years, the Republicans finally embraced the New Deal. I know it was hard for them, but I'm glad they've seen the error of their ways. Unfortunately, as you well know, the New Deal was considered a Socialist tactic- a way for us to lean to the Left in order for us not to fall head first to the Right in a period where another formerly strong government that had fallen on incredibly tough times due to debt ended up embracing a far Right leader. But now, the Republicans have turned it into the most Capitalist act of making sure their friends still get their $26 million dollar golden parachutes while the people at the bottom, who got up and went to work everyday like we all do, get to go home and explain that they won't be getting to retire or do any of the things that they were promised by their bosses.

You know, when my Dad voted Bush (hissssss) in 2000, he wanted to change the culture in Washington- the Clinton "Every body's a Victim" culture- that he really hated. Maybe you're not fed up with how the country's been doing in the last eight years, but I sure am. We're falling behind other countries, especially the juggernaut that is the European Union. Everything America had been able to be to the world for the last 90 years is what the European Union is quickly turning into. Soon, the "third world" won't need America anymore. And I believe that begins with this election.

Immediately, regardless of what the rest of the world knows about us, they'll look at the election of another Republican as a sign that America has no interest in moving forward or changing. The ideals will be as they have been for the last eight years, and that's not something the world wants to deal with. America will be written off as lost- a once great nation that used to stand as a beacon of freedom- now a husk, a shell of a nation that is so crushed under the weight of it's own bloated systems that it's of no use to anyone, even itself.

And saying that McCain is a Maverick won't matter then. Slapping a toupee, a tie, boots, and suspenders on a pig still makes it a pig.

It's just a pig that looks like Newt Gingrich.