Times are tough. There's no doubt about that.
I've often read about difficult times in history. When people find kinship in their times of despair. The sentiment that "We're all in it now" overtakes the day and all heads are put together in the name of finding solutions for everyone. I've been waiting, hopefully. As they say, history repeats itself.
I'm coming more and more to the conclusion that history has either opted to sit this one out or, more frighteningly yet, that we're encountering something altogether new and unknown.
Sadly, many of my "fellow Americans" seem to have little to no interest in finding solutions for all. Many seem to find no redeeming value in uniting with their fellow countrymen instead wishing to cut them off at the knees and dance while watching them bleed. I've seen heads stomped on, dollar bills literally thrown at a terminally ill man as he sat in peaceful protest and a level of disdain for one another that I cannot recall in my lifetime.
I'm tired of being told I'm not a "true patriot" because I come from a big city on the East Coast and I like books. I'm tired of being told that conservatives are the "Values Voters", as if conservative values are the only values in existence.
I'm tired of the never ending drumbeat of those demanding our president prove he was born in this country. I'm tired of people making Senior Citizens into bandits for cashing the Social Security checks they worked long and hard for, and I'm equally tired of the Senior Citizens who, upon cashing said check, wish to cut off the spigot for the next generation.
I'm tired of hearing about people who want their country back. Exactly which America would they like to go back to? The recurring theme seems to be the America where a grown black man could be called "Boy", a secretary could be smacked in the ass as a sign of a job well done and Woolworth could tell you that they weren't going to serve you a damn thing. The offense that pining for this time in history evokes seems lost on them.
I'm tired of the screaming and howling about the government "take over" of Detroit, all the while ignoring the millions of jobs that single move saved. I'm tired of "progressives" beginning all of their negotiations from a position of compromise. I'm tired of them being weak as water and allowing both their narratives and accomplishments to be perverted and twisted into mockeries of themselves.
I'm tired of intellect and the arts being demonized as if they are a scourge on the face of society while batshit crazy theories are spouted as if their tenants are as concrete as relativity and gravity. I'm tired of hearing the Right Wing wring it's hands in worry and fear. "Attention American People: We have a black Democrat as president. The country will spontaneously burst into flames at any given moment using the bodies of your infant sons and daughters as the fuel. You don't agree with burning babies, do you?!?!?!"
I'm tired of watching politicians tell bold face lies on television and the hosts who allow them to do it. I'm tired of politicians serving their corporate masters instead of the people who actually vote them into and out of office. I'm tired of the spin. I'm tired of the rhetoric. I'm tired of this complete and total breakdown. I'm tired in anticipation of the gridlock or possible impeachment inquiry that is yet to come.
You see, we have no more Statesmen. Long gone are the days when members of Congress argued heartily on the Senate floor by day, only to break bread together by night and come away with a compromise that further's the business of the people. They are far too busy burning the midnight oil devising the best campaign strategy for an election that's 2 years away.
It's a small wonder I'm so damn tired...
