Nowhere is the old Pagan maxim, “As above, so below,” more clearly demonstrated than in politics. The corruption, incivility and gluttony of our elected officials flow up and down the vertebrae of this society, and the new Golden Rule – those with gold rule – is a blindly and religiously accepted principle. We persist in slenderly defining self interest, although not always our best interest, then boxing our representatives into narrow corners, forcing them to forfeit any ethical or moral impulse they ever had just to stay in office. That and the need for more and more gold compromises the integrity of many of the best of them.
For me the struggle doesn't seem to be worth it anymore. The American people by-in-large have exactly what they deserve. For instance as Wisconsin proved, they don't seem to understand that if the unions are destroyed all the things unions have done for workers, union or not, might be destroyed as well. The forty hour work week, overtime, sick time, minimum wage - unions were instrumental in bringing these things about, not to mention the child labor laws. If the unions are gone these rights may well be rolled back; they never were nor are they ever likely to be extended out of the kindness of management’s heart.
Perhaps people in this country don't care if their children work in sweatshops so long as they save $0.26 on the income tax. Perhaps they really believe that electing a Romney, a Bush clone, will please their masters well enough that they will be invited to share in the wealth - to eat at the great table of the rich rather than serve. Goddess help the poor deluded fools.
Yes, Wisconsin was a turning point for me. The national Democratic machine demonstrated all the spine of a used condom when it came to showing up and aiding in the effort to win one of the greatest Working Class struggles in the history of the Republic. Lopsided, money saturated media advertising was a direct result of the legalized corruption inherent in Citizens United and served only to prop up a Rightwing stooge with his own criminal defense fund and a possible indictment hanging over him –how bloody weird is that? A labile and apparently oblivious electorate presented itself in record numbers feeling resentful and inconvenienced enough to reject the recall initiative. Even more pathetic were those who felt the codependent need to treat the unethical Walker more ethically then he has treated them by resisting the recall on the grounds that it was not proper. Give me a break.
Still beyond all the disappointment and sorrow a light begins to break through the gray mist. I am realizing that so many things that have heart and meaning for me have simply been pushed aside because I was a true Liberal believer for nearly fifty years, girl and woman. Well, I have lost my faith, realizing that people are usually stupid, generally lazy and almost always choose and willing swallow poison if it is wrapped in enough sugar. I want the things I have pushed away back again.
Currently, there is a novel that has been sitting unfinished on my desk for some three years. I seldom touch it because I write so much on Facebook and in my blog about the political environment. A book of poetry over five years neglected sits in the drawer of that same desk. I want to read good books again – not just round-in-a-circle-preaching-to-the choir political polemics. I want to enjoy Shakespeare, Poe, Twain and Bronte in my rose garden while listening to Puccini’s operas, Mozart’s concertos and Bach magnificent fugues. I want to go to the Denver Art Museum and lose myself in the work of Monet and Lautrec, unmindful of the self administered miseries of the world around me. Most sane people require a certain amount of beauty and the comfort it brings to their life. Politics blots out beauty and destroys all consolation because it is as sordid as homicide, as cruel as rape and almost as despicable as child molestation. Simply stated, politics make people sick.
Bottom line is there comes a time when for the good of your own survival and the quality of your life you have to step back and say, “This isn’t my problem anymore. I have done all I can for the cause, and I am finished” Then hope for the best, but in the interests of self preservation for you and your loved ones, batten down the hatches and prepare for a possible nightmare, a tidal wave of indifference, greed, foolhardiness and stupidity to wash across this country like a hurricane.
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