Friday, August 20, 2010

Stupification of America-Oyasuminasai Jeff Greene

Over the course of the 56 years I have lived on this planet I believe I have witnessed the ever-so-gradual "stupification" of America. I am pretty sure that I do not have Alzheimer's yet. Anyway, recent polls suggest that a surprising number of Americans believe that our sitting president is a Muslim and at the same time believe that he attended Reverend Wright's Christian Church for 20 years. I do not consider myself an exceptionally intelligent man, but somehow this does not compute. As much as I detest Dick Cheney, I did not give credence to the testimony that he is the product of a secret sperm donation from Goebbels' father. Nor can they convince me that Glenn Beck is a distant relative of Himmler.

One of the things that I learned as a child is that it requires a great deal of self-discipline to live well in a free society. The teachers and adults in my life inculcated me with this notion. And I think somewhere this notion has been lost. Perhaps, over time, teachers and adults have given up. We better realize soon, that without the discipline and investments in ourselves, we will lose the freedom. The recent success of the Reactionary and  Tea Party Movements is evidence that con games work extremely well when they are based on the flattery of the victims and the victims are neither open-minded nor informed.

I would like to apologize to the dozen or so people that have visited this blog for my endorsement of  Jeff Greene. Though I am a student of government, I am by no means a tactician and there will be no future endorsements, only discussion of critical issues. Ted Kennedy, Jr.  attended the college I graduated from. Though I personally found him aloof, and there were many "questions" surrounding how Joe Kennedy had amassed the family fortune,  I was taken by the family's decades of commitment and service to the "average" American, something that separates our country from all others.

I don't think Jeff's drop in the polls can be attributed to the "colorful" people he associates with. I don't think voters who prefer the WWF hold it against him for associating with socialites. I know that I would rather associate with Kim Kardashian then say, Hulk Hogan. I don't think voters hold it against him because he ran as a Republican in California. For honest decent people, wisdom comes with age and experience. And also, remember Joe Lieberman ran for Vice President as a Democrat and then won the senate seat in Connecticut as an independent and supported McCain. Though he essentially changed parties, his philosophy and politics shifted only slightly.

Finally, any thoughtful, discerning person could not hold it against Jeff  for recognizing that the adjustable rate mortgage boom was a Ponzi scheme. Isn't it American, to protect your business, and to make money, especially as contrarian, acting against the insanity of the "herd"? The predatory mortgage brokers and the regulators and the Cons in the White House were the true perpetrators. In the Republican primary, Rick Scott isn't apologizing for ripping off Medicaid and Medicare. And he is ahead in the polls. Greene did nothing illegal, committed no fraud, and is running, not to enrich special interests and pick the taxpayers' pockets, but to improve the quality of life for Floridians, help the middle class and small businesses, and make a difference. Alas, he may be guilty of lofty ideals and goals.

The old adage is that "politics is the art of the possible."  I recently read an article stating that low paying call center jobs in India are being moved to the US. India doesn't need/want the jobs? I hope we have not passed the turning point.