Stupid Selfish People...

From Jim: I am, of course, referring to politicians. The longer they're in office and the more seniority they accrue, the more they become isolated and ego-centered. Makes me sick! Our system-pork for my district-lobbyists-special interests-and so on drives us ever onward toward a catastrophic breakdown. Our republic has become schismatic. There is literally no middle ground, no dialogue, not a hint of compromise or accommodation. Only rancor and dyspeptic arguing, partisanship and divisiveness. The authors of the Federalist papers, our founding fathers, never ever envisioned this level of intransigence. The tone of the political discourse is now equivalent to that which occurred just prior to our civil war. A Republican wingnut called for the assassination of the president of the nation. The right wing media-Limbaugh and Fox news, etc. are as seditious as it gets. The so-called speaker of the house can't get anything done-With His Own Party! What the hell? I listen to the guy at the hardware store or in occasional social settings and the I'm overwhelmed by the ignorance of historical fact, the pervasiveness of demagoguery, the complete lack of sweet reason. Nihilism is the tone that comes through loud and clear. Let's just let the thing crash and burn because it's beyond fixing. A position like that is hard to engage in a meaningful way. So many of our country's issues are now wedge issues-sum zero contests-ideological hills to die on. Pledges and oaths are taken to battle to the bitter end, no matter what the cost or consequences. If the nation fails, so be it! Better dead than the way it is or can ever be. "Those" other guys are pure evil-the Antichrist, "They" are not of the body! History is replete with examples of where this leads. The notion that somehow it will turn out OK, because we're America is naive and dangerous. The risks are very real and the outcome may be something nightmarish beyond the ditto-heads' imagination. Can you say "Brave New World"? The "Tea Party" can't even get their historical namesake's facts right. Revisionism is the name of the game. "Well, If it wasn't that way, It should have been"! Huh? What do you do with that kind of moronic babble? Check out the Republican Party's candidates. Wow, I am so unimpressed. Not that our current "leader" has shown me much. The next election should be a peach.