(no subject)
Our elected representatives are unbelievable. The number of Americans living in poverty rose for the third year in a row (to 36 million), 45 million people don't have health insurance, we're mired in a war of dubious legitimacy with frightening, potentially destabilizing outcomes, the world faces a mounting environmental catastrophe (habitat destruction combined with climate change), and on and on. So what do our slick, tanned, easy-grinning congressmen devote their precious time to? First, debating an amendment banning gay marriage. And now, proposing a constitutional ban on flag-burning, something which almost never happens and is entirely inconsequential when it does. The wording of the proposed amendment is revealing, prohibiting the "desecration" of the flag. A sacred national symbol raises some interesting questions about the separation of church and state, as well as our incredible potential as a nation to be manipulated by patriotic propaganda (remember "freedom fries?").
But this is not just mindless frivolity; it's all very carefully orchestrated. The Republicans decided in the mid-1990s to wage a culture war. So for the last 10-12 years they have campaigned on "family values," promising to prohibit or limit reproductive rights, restrict the rights of those hellbound gay folks, inject a little more God (and a lot less science) into our schools, and so forth. And, to our eternal discredit as a supposed sentient, informed nation, it has worked. Many poor folks have been duped into voting against their better financial interests, putting in power a group of people determined to dismantle the social safety net, to further enrich the wealthy, and never to raise the minimum wage (10 years later, it's still $5.15/hour). People need to wake up and call out these hucksters and their cheap legerdemain.
Sorry for the screed. I'm just frustrated.
But this is not just mindless frivolity; it's all very carefully orchestrated. The Republicans decided in the mid-1990s to wage a culture war. So for the last 10-12 years they have campaigned on "family values," promising to prohibit or limit reproductive rights, restrict the rights of those hellbound gay folks, inject a little more God (and a lot less science) into our schools, and so forth. And, to our eternal discredit as a supposed sentient, informed nation, it has worked. Many poor folks have been duped into voting against their better financial interests, putting in power a group of people determined to dismantle the social safety net, to further enrich the wealthy, and never to raise the minimum wage (10 years later, it's still $5.15/hour). People need to wake up and call out these hucksters and their cheap legerdemain.
Sorry for the screed. I'm just frustrated.