Playing us like a fiddle...
Excuse me, what bipartisanship?
The song of bipartisanship being fiddled to fool the American public by the Democrats and Republicans is music for the tone deaf. We all know that when it gets down to the nitty gritty of deal-making for legislation or any kind of action, neither side will harmonize. Fiddle strings will screech and snap.
Obama and the Democrats are still talking misty-eyed idealistic dreams that the United States will "out-innovate, out-educate and outbuild the rest of the world" in our "Sputnik moment." First we need to educate several generations of what Sputnik was and why it once motivated and inspired us to do better. That costs a lot of money we don't have and the Republicans stated concern is about America's trillions of dollars of debt.
The fiddle strings that screech and snap will be to the tune of high unemployment, low to no GDP and soaring inflation. That s-p-e-l-l-s no more government spending and debt, a subject the Republicans talk about but are just as guilty of doing as Democrats. They just like to spend it on different things.
The truth is "we ain't got no money."
The bottom line is Americans will have to dig themselves out of this hole, first by somehow turning the government spigot off, then by innovating and building our own America back again. The political, bureaucratic and business class has no interest in doing that, we really do have to do it ourselves. Oh and yes, we can...double dare ya.
The first place I found the phrase "Sputnik Moment" was in this post about 10 hours ago...I've seen and discussed it several times since then, but I heard of it here. Credit where credit is due.
ReplyDeleteMy first reaction to that phrase was my usual first reaction to anything anyone elected says: are they kidding or are they really that stupid? Because-seriously-it's impossible to NOT wonder how a TOTALLY socialist anti-American Socialist leftist creep could possibly invoke SPUTNIK as an example of something he wanted his country to try to better. If he doesn't see the irony in that he is an idiot. If he does, well, he's a conniving idiot.
His genius is in the fact that I wonder. His Achilles' heel is that neither prospect is acceptable.
And the idiot bit players (Congress, playing all lovy-dovey)sitting near each other on the stage is ridiculous. I didn't see it but I heard about it from reliable sources. I'm not a member of the press, so you can believe me (and them) when I state that. :)
We live in a country which at least once based the deaths of 52,000+ of its citizens on something called the domino theory. We also live in a country which has made Muslim radicals its major target then refused to acknowledge that they exist. And I know little of Tunisia and almost less of Egypt, nowhere near enough to say their populations are mostly Islamic or not. But either way, an awful lot of people in those countries seem pretty pissed off at their governments. When you set yourself on fire...well, I think you're debasing the value of life and defeating your own purpose, but I get the sincerity. It's all enough to make me wonder something I never clearly wondered before: is everybody everywhere getting screwed by the country they live in, then being told it's because of religion so that they don't storm the gates of the palaces? I'm not a betting man but I think I'd go with YES on that one.
I think it has gotten interesting.
Awesome post, comrade, er, JR! :)
I was listening to Obama's address (until I had to turn it off) on a live feed and doing something else on the internet. When he got to the "Sputnik moment" it just seemed to out of time and a wasted metaphor as well as sadly ironic.
ReplyDeleteI think Tunisia was just the beginning and now Egypt is raging and I don't think it will stop. Since Jordan also has uprisings, I'm having visions of 1973 and the Yom Kippur war between Egypt and Israel. The Middle East is a powder keg and it's just beginning I think.
Interesting is an understatement. It's like an unfolding story with no foreseeable end that we have no idea which direction it's all going to take. In the short term (meaning at least a decade) my guess is all directions are roads lead to a lot of turmoil and trouble.
I agree with you; there's something about the last few days that makes me think that big-time changes are afoot...I did understate the "interesting" thing a little, considering the situation. I can't explain any of it except to say that the last couple days have made me feel something is changing. Nothing close to me seems different, but I feel that the waves have started and that they will reach here soon.
ReplyDeletePart of me is a little scared, and the rest of me says it's about time.
I don't think Americans will take to the streets a la Europe and the Middle East, except for maybe some unions and they'll discover there's not much sympathy there for them, but I absolutely agree there's something in the air these last few days. I feel it also, which is interesting because I've heard others say it also. There are big time changes afoot both in this country and internationally, whether they're linked or not remains to be seen.
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