We recently drove up Interstate 5 from Los Angeles back home to Ashland. The highway passes through a vast agricultural region of rice, citrus, almonds, pistachios, beef and more. Most of these farmers and ranchers are as politically opposite to their neighbors in LA and San Francisco as is possible. It is also a showcase for big political signs placed along the road, ALL anti-government and anti-Obama.
CONGRESS CREATED DUSTBOWL
WATCH OUT CONGRESS THE PEOPLE ARE COMING! VOTE NOV. 6
(Ha Ha)
OBAMA MUST GO
(See previous Ha Ha)
But here is a new one. I think it says a lot about the far right mentality.
VETERANS DIDN'T FIGHT AND DIE FOR HEALTH CARE AND GOVERNMENT CONTROL
THEY FOUGHT AND DIED FOR FREEDOM
So our veterans fought and died for what kind of freedom? The freedom to get sick and die because you are poor or have a pre-existing condition? The freedom to lose your home because you broke your arm and can't work for a couple of months? I don't think we were always a country whose citizens didn't give a shit about anybody but themselves but that seems to be the current right-wing definition of "FREEDOM". Free to die in a ditch. Free to be robbed and killed by corporations who place profit above everything. I have veterans in my family and they wold love it if everybody had health care. My 87 year old father would love us to have Medicare like him. So what is the basis for the mean streak in modern conservatism? I know there is a great deal of Us vs.Them, fostered and fed by right-wing media. Still, how have they become so tribal and essentially cruel? And how can we break up this artificial division of Us and Them and begin to function as a unified nation again? I'd love some ideas from my brilliant and compassionate fellow Kossacks because I'm a bit downhearted from this ugly view.
Please discuss below.