This has been a while coming. Listening to two stupid people on BBC Radio was about the last straw. Empty-headed, vacuous and highly dangerous Rick Santorum (google it) supporters who, when challenged by the interviewer to explain Santorum's extreme positions, simply stated that the Left were lying about him.
These people are nuts, freaks, and, quite frankly, you get what you deserve.
I apologise upfront and loudly to the good Progressives who might read this. I do not mean you. You represent the sanity, the future, but you have simply got to work harder because these people will destroy this country, a country that appears willing to help them with their mission. And forgive me too the fact that I live in Oklahoma ... It does not make for a balanced view at times
I have lived through one General Election in this country. My second is almost upon us. Indeed, it appeared to begin on January 21st 2009. I know, I am wet behind the ears, new, an incomer. There are even those who think I should "shut the fuck up". As others more reasonably point out, I have "skin in the game", I have eyes and ears and have spent the last seven years using them.
My one General Election to date was hopeful. I am European, one of the foreigners who simply couldn't believe that America was stupid enough to elect George Bush, and was pleased that some semblance of sanity appeared to be returning. Let me tell you right here, and right now, that Europe wasn't disdainful of Bush, we were not laughing at GW and his cohorts ... WE WERE SCARED OF HIM!
Europe did not simply applaud the election of Barack Obama, El Nino was not a prevailing wind ... it was a huge sigh of relief that swept around the planet. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld .... They would have killed us all. So yes, we were pleased for y'all about Obama, and we were desperately grateful that the electorate here had shown a modicum of common sense.
Now your own internal politics are a matter for Americans. Europe doesn't even try to interfere, although they may seek to discuss, persuade ... it's called diplomacy. My interest is that this is my home, my family and my future and, quite honestly, you are making a complete friggin' mess of it.
All I hear are complaints. Complaints about Iran, moans about India, rumblings of discontent about China, especially China. China is taking our jobs!!!
No, they are not. You do not have some God-given right to a job any more than do the Chinese. Will they still be bitching when American manufacturers bring work back here ... worrying senseless about all those poor Chinese who have lost their jobs to rich and lazy Americans?
China isn't taking your jobs, you are giving them away. There is no great conspiracy here, all that is happening is that the great God of Capitalism is working precisely as intended. You wanted it, you voted for it, quit moaning about it.
Someone sold you the Brooklyn Bridge when they convinced you that Capitalism works better, is more efficient, more profitable, more American when unfettered by regulation. Well yes, it is, for the Capitalists. For you ... nope, not so much because now you have no job and are left to live in the filth and pollution they left behind when they sent your job to India.
And you sit on your great Oklahoman ass and blame the very people who were trying to protect you from that. Stupid doesn't begin to describe it. "Low Information" is not an excuse. You have no excuse for not knowing what your Representatives are doing. There can be no finger-pointing, no blaming, no apology. You got exactly what you deserve. You got what you voted for when you weren't paying attention.
All your lives the mantra has been "get a job, marry, buy a home, raise a family, send your kids to college, enjoy retirement".
Now you have Santorum telling you that Obama is an Elitist for suggesting that you fulfill your lifelong ambition of a College Education for your kids ..... And STILL you are going to vote for him! Why?? What the fuck are you thinking?
I'll let you into a well-kept (from you) secret. Capitalism is not a political system. It is an economic model, and it only works (patchily) if the political system controls it. That is what we call regulation. They go hand in hand, like ham and eggs, Butch and Sundance, Fox News and Lies.
You lost your job? Your home was foreclosed? Your schools are failing? Your Fire Department no longer turns out? It's your fault. The Chinese did not vote for your School Board, your City Council, your State Government. You did, and you got exactly what you voted for, so just quit already, I don't want to hear it.
American Exceptionalism .... Not only does it not exist, it probably never did. If it ever did then the tattered remains are being cast away, and voters are cheering as it happens. Sure you are the most powerful nation on Earth. So fucking what! What does it do for American citizens. Does it keep you safe, and prosperous? Was your home just foreclosed? Did you just lose your job? Can you afford healthcare?
America is still the wealthiest nation that has ever existed. Are you getting your share? So who has it, and who are you voting for?
American Freedoms. I hear that a lot. It makes me giggle, actually. "You Brits ... all those CCTV cameras, you can't go anywhere without the government spying on you. It must be awful". Really ... you are kidding me, right? That's really not what you are worried about, is it? Been to New York recently? You cannot take a crap in NYC without Mayor Bloomberg videoing it, so please don't wave your "Freedoms" in my face, because there is a grave danger that I might die laughing.
There is a way out of this. There is a way to return the USA to a position of equal eminence, and social justice for all, and none of it involves Santorum, or Romney, or even a good few Democrats (sic).
Barack Obama has his flaws. He is too close to the Corporations, he is an appeaser, he has, at best, tepid Liberal qualifications. What he does have is good instincts. He has a solid streak of social justice running through him, and his second term could be a very good start back down the right path. He cannot do it alone, he needs a Congress that will work with him, even push him further than he wants to go sometimes. He needs Democrats who remember where they came from.
Around Thanksgiving you will be voting for a President, and many important down-ticket races. If you vote Republican then you are the turkey that just voted for the holiday.
Don't complain to me, I don't want to hear it.
What makes it worse is that many of your countrymen voted for the other guy. They voted for prosperity, a fair share for everyone ... They are Americans too, and you just betrayed them.