The old galoot in his burgeoning senility loves to pretend he can carry a tune.
He’ll get up in the morning and warble verses from CCR’s iconic “Lookin’ Out My Back Door”, or the musical Oklahoma’s “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning.” You’d have to see it to believe it. But, you really don’t.
Lately, once he figures out what day it is, he pulls out his phone, swipe, wipe and flip, cuss a blue streak and try to crawl back into bed and pull the covers over his head.
You know how when we’re around “old folks.” how they keep repeating the same stuff over and over — till you want to pull your hair out — or run for cover?
Well the old guy feels like he might be channeling that vibe himself at this point in our collective political lives.
We’re not living in “normal” times, i.e., we ain’t in Kansas no more. And, it don’t matter how many times we tap our “emerald slippers” or our phone screens, there ain’t no going back.
We can pretend that what our venerable founding fathers put in place 250 years ago in an almost entirely agrarian society is still operable, but it just ain’t so. And we can further pretend that the largely accidental development of “political parties” to facilitate the operation of our political system is still viable but that also is the stuff of fantasy.
We’ve allowed a smirking cadre of our fellow eminently fallible human beings (yep Aunt Matilda, they are unfortunately fellow human beings) more interested in money, power and playing political games while corrupting themselves by stuffing their pockets with the wealthy’s money to do it, to create ridiculous fictions to not just manipulate us, but increasingly fill our hearts with venomous, soul-destroying hate and fear. We’re not at war, inflation’s disappeared, measles doesn’t kill, Covid didn’t kill, immigrants are rapists and murderers who will take our jobs, there’s no such thing as climate change, Muslims demand our conversion or death, giving money to the rich, gilding monuments, or hiding our history will somehow benefit us and most recently and jaw droppingly; the huckster in Chief’s gonna give $5,000 if we just vote Republican this fall and Amendment 3 is going to magically do away with God and nature’s broad spectrum of gender functionality.
This system we see rotting before our eyes, is taking its servants and purveyors with it, as well as us as citizens, human beings and Christianity, or other faith embracing souls.
It doesn’t matter what side of the political spectrum we think we’re on, corruption is corruption, and whether we accept it or furiously struggle to close our eyes and ears, we’re defiling and destroying both ourselves and our children’s and world’s future as well as the names of those patriotic souls who’ve built and given their lives for this land.
Let’s pry the sleep from our eyes, wake from this stinking nightmare, look at ourselves honestly and ask ourselves three questions:
Do we believe in honest learning? Do we believe in truth, morality and ethics? Do we believe in Christian love for our fellow human beings?
If we do, it’s time for a nice bracing shower to wash off the crap and flop sweat we’ve been soaked in. Then it’s time to ask these same three questions of those who claim to want to represent us. And if they continue spouting self-serving, race baiting BS, it’s time to not just courageously, independently, patriotically vote them out, but demand that those behind this filth who apparently dictate to them and bald face lie and daily demean us, our values and heritage, be brought to swift and sure justice as ethics, morality, our children, our forefathers and our constitution demand.
Maybe if we just channel old John… “Tambourines and Elephants are playin’ in the band, Doo, doo, doo, lookin’ out my back door.”
