I don’t like him anymore.
Back in, oh, I don’t know, ’04, I pointed to the TV and I said, “One day that man is going to be president.”
Back in maybe ’07? I saw a lonely young woman sitting at a tiny table set up outside a supermarket with a single (creased) sign taped to her table and I paid her for the sign and I taped it to my house.
Back in ’08 I sent Mc’oodles of Mc’money I didn’t really have to support his Mc’campaign.
“Don’t worry,” I said to any and all doubters. “Nobody can be worse than GWB, LOL! This is gonna be great, you’ll see!”
Back in ’09, despite misgivings about the focus on the boondoggle of a healthcare bill instead of a focus on the flailing economy, I said, “It’ll be okay. We need to fix healthcare… kind of.” But I felt a little nauseated when I said those words.
(I have my own plan to fix our somewhat broken healthcare system - it’s simple and elegant but nobody’s asked me. Just like I want a goddamn flat tax, and I want to stop pouring our hard-earned money down the drains of countries who hate us- or rather into the pockets of the ruling elite of those countries who hate us (who often funnel the money to various anti-American organizations), especially when we have hungry children in America and homeless families in America, and I want to stop getting involved in these stupid never-ending foreign civil wars, but again nobody’s asked me, so…)
I think it was in ’11 that I began to forget we even had a president. Felt kinda like nobody was minding the store. Meanwhile that 1% with money were busy doing what people with money always do - laughing, partying, throwing their cash away on goop, appearing in People Magazine - and generally having a pretty darn good time patting each other on the back, drinking super expensive bubbly while hanging out in a big tax-dollar supported house, while somebody kept insisting people like us, as in people like my husband and myself who work our asses off to support our family and help others (healthcare fields) and live a very modest life in an expensive state, should be footing the bill. Cuz apparently we fall under the label of fat cats. Don’t tell my eleven year old car that…
It was in ’12 that I experienced an epiphany. Seriously, a jaw-dropping epiphany. Don’t feel like giving the details but I heard someone speak and I realized that while this person tried to project himself as an everyman, he was arrogant and elitist. He was a big phony- all style, no substance. And my heart did a 180′ turn- gave me an unambiguous smack upside the head, all the while repeating- Something smells like stinky gym socks. And I gritted my Democratic/Independent teeth and voted for the other guy even though I knew I’d cast away my vote for a hopeless cause and I didn’t even like the other guy and I didn’t agree with his party’s platform.
I rarely talk politics (or religion). My views and opinions are my own. I try to keep them private. And I respect your privacy.
But I am convinced of this truth: Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
I swear, bureaucracies are inherently corrupt.
At ten years of age I was out burning my training bra- well, actually it was a tee-shirt, I didn’t get my first training bra until I was thirteen- and protesting the Nixon Administration. I find myself with similar misgivings about the current State of our Nation. Except now I’m afraid. Nixon wasn’t going to put a ten year old girl on his enemies list.
See that bull’s eye on my back? This may be America, but I tell you I’m very nervous about speaking my mind. And I have never before been afraid to speak my mind.
You should watch the Will Smith/Gene Hackman movie, Enemy of the State. The film poses the same questions.
Congressman Phil Hammersley (Jason Robards): “Telecommunications Security and Privacy Act. Invasion of privacy is more like it. - You read the Post? This bill is not the first step towards the surveillance society. It is the surveillance society.
I’m not gonna sit in congress and pass a law that lets the government point a camera and a microphone at anything they damn well please.”
Carla Dean (Regina King): “Oh, well there goes the Fourth Amendment… what’s left of it.”
Edward Lyle (Gene Hackman): “The government’s been in bed with the entire telecommunications industry since the forties. They’ve infected everything. They get into your bank statements, computer files, email, listen to your phone calls… Every wire, every airwave. The more technology used, the easier it is for them to keep tabs on you. It’s a brave new world out there. At least it’d better be.”
Thomas Reynolds (Jon Voight): “We never dealt with domestic. With us, it was always war. We won the war. Now we’re fighting the peace. It’s a lot more volatile. Now we’ve got ten million crackpots out there with sniper scopes, sarin gas and C-4. Ten-year-olds go on the Net, downloading encryption we can barely break, not to mention instructions on how to make a low-yield nuclear device. Privacy’s been dead for years because we can’t risk it. The only privacy that’s left is the inside of your head. Maybe that’s enough. You think we’re the enemy of democracy, you and I? I think we’re democracy’s last hope.”
Larry King: “How do we draw the line - draw the line between protection of national security, obviously the government’s need to obtain intelligence data, and the protection of civil liberties, particularly the sanctity of my home? You’ve got no right to come into my home!”
Be back in the closet tomorrow but had to say something today.
I cast my vote for the other team, even though it pained me, both terms. I didn’t believe in the proposed change.
This post is true on so many levels. I’m tired of giving, giving, giving to other countries, who as you said, dislike us. This country has been fallen apart for so long and we don’t bother feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, keeping jobs here for the unemployed. Oh I could go on, but we all get the point.
Now we learn they’re watching everything we do? Doesn’t feel like home of the free to me.
Oh Julia, where do I begin.
About half way through your post the tears I have been holding back since 2008 just came out in a torrent.
This is not a matter of pride or one-upmanship but I was ahead of you by six years. I knew he was a fraud in 2008. Actually a few years before that, but let’s not quibble over time lines.
Right now I just want to hug you because I feel your pain and I want to lessen it. And mine.
I stopped being a Democrat in 2006. That was before the Big Zero decided to run. So no one can call me racist. Well, they do, but shucks on them.
You expressed my feelings so well. Since about 2008 I think I was in an auto accident and died. But I did not go to either heaven or hell. I was sent to purgatory. (Are you familiar with Catholic theology? - that in-between heaven and hell place -) I feel I am in purgatory because the USA - whole world in fact - is just upside down, inside out, cattty-wampus and just plain undeciphereable to me any more.
I don’t know this new Democratic Party. It is not the Party of my immigrant grandparents, parents, or even of me. And I was an activitst in the Party for years.
One of my hopes was that I wanted to live long enough to see USA elect both a woman and a black for President. I cannot express in words how proud I am we elected a black - but now proud of who and what he stands for. And now my dream for a woman has died as I see the lies and hiney covering about Benghazi. What a HUGE disdppointment that has been.
1st and 4th amendments are meaningless in this administration. There was a conversation on Twitter couple days ago and I stayed out till near the end. Then I just tweeted, I am disgusted with both parties. They are just flip sides of the same corrupt coin.
I too worry about what is going to happen to the country I love so much. I feel impotent.
Like you, I generally keep my political thoughts out of my blog, even though I started MTTD cause I got ticked off at Nancy Pelosi. See my very first post if you want to know why. And I verbally chastised the President for havig a tin ear as regards feeding hungry children in another post.
I don’t know where this coment is going. I am just rambing.
But I will close with this. If good and decent folks like you are waking up and see what is happening I have more hope than I have had for some time. Maybe working together we can get the last best hope for freedom and self rule back on track. I don’t want to die until we do.
Thanks for your heartfelt post. *hugs*
Go ahead, Roberta, ramble. When one is this frustrated one tends to ramble. You should hear my dad - and he was totally involved in the Civil Rights movement back in the 60′s. He cannot stand our current government. The awful thing is the men and women who would make a good or even great president don’t want the job.
I know, Amber. I feel the same way. I figure those countries are laughing at us all the way to the bank. They must think we are sooooo stupid. And I can’t argue with ‘em.
When I started reading this post, I said, “Yes, this.” I don’t talk politics or religion either for the same reasons, but both my sons are outspoken. I get an uneasy feeling every time the post on FB or else where that someone is watching. I’m so disappointed in the Democratic Party. They had a chance to change the world and gave it all away. Don’t get me started on the Republicans.
The only bright spot, if you can call it that, is my husband is reading about Polk’s presidency and it is far worse than things are now.
Thanks for this post. Everybody need a little rant now and then. And to know you’re not alone. (From Idaho, the original Red State)
Dear Stephanie - Thank god somebody else’s presidency was worse! And we survived! Man… we need nonpartisans to run for office. The current state of the union sucks eggs.
YES! THIS! I could be writing this post. I can’t tell you how many times in the past week I’ve used the phrase “absolute power corrupts absolutely”. The only difference is that I was disillusioned back in 2009, when he started with the healthcare bill. I agree that something needed to be done with our health care system, and I’m not displeased with the results, but it felt exactly like the movie Wag The Dog, where President’s re-election manager starts a fake war to take attention away from a brewing sex scandal. Wall Street run amuck is our biggest problem, and we are dicking around with health care???
Now, I’m just beside myself. I only hope “average” people understand what a big deal this NSA thing is, and how easily an innocent person could be caught up in it. I truly cannot bring myself to vote Republican because of social issues such as gay and minority rights, so now I don’t know what to do the next time I have to vote.
Also, I want to put in a pitch for the EFF, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which fights for internet privacy and the rights of the little guy on the web. I’ve been donating money to them for years, and they are so worthy of support. They are in the forefront of trying to get a full accounting of just how far reaching this electronic surveillance is.
Thank you so much, JenM! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Now I have to check out EFF. I am in such distress over, well, over everything that’s happened in the past ten years. Somehow I thought this president would be different. Boy was I foolish.
This NSA thing is a big deal. Fast and Furious is a big deal. Spying on our own reporters is a big deal. Benghazi is a big deal. The IRS scandal is a big deal. And I think what bothers me the most is, as Jon Stewart says on the Daily Show… our president claims he doesn’t know about anything until he hears it on the evening news.
I don’t know what to do about the next election either.
The one good thing that has come out of this is that my conservative Republican stepdad and I are finally in agreement about something in politics! How sad is that? He’s thinking about joining the Libertarian party, and I have to say, I’m not far behind him.
Hey JenM - my dad and my sister did. They are both distraught. I’m on that road.
I doubt if it makes you feel any better, but it’s the same all over. Here, we have our first woman PM. I am one of the many who can’t wait to vote her out. Not because she’s a woman, or that the guy waiting in the wings is going to be so much better. But anybody is better. You have a president ham strung by Congress. We have a parliament forced into compromise by minority government (and that’s what is happening in UK, too). And oh, yes, ‘pigs in the trough’ syndrome is alive and well everywhere.
Yes, Greta- seems to be contagious. Our president is not so much hamstrung by Congress - he could have done great good his first term. He seems to be a captive of his own hubris, as are his advisers and closest allies. Governments, at least in democracies, frequently forget they govern with the consent of the governed. They are not kings and queens. They are our employees. We pay their salaries. In addition, a president is supposed to be a president for all the people, not just his party and his supporters. Partisanship should go out the window once a president is elected.
In the beginning of your post, even before you said it, I was thinking of ENEMY OF THE STATE. Perfect example, Julia. The movie came out in 1998, right? And only a few believed it was anything more than a good suspense movie with a starred cast.
Now it’s eerie how some Ouija board back then so correctly predicted the future for the writers and directors.
Marylin!!!! I know!!! And if you watch it, Thomas Reynold’s birthday is 9/11 - and you know the theme of the movie, right? Talk about a Ouija Board!
Julia,
Good on you for your honesty, your insight and your courage. I’m more sympathetic to the Republicans than you and your other posters appear to be, but I’m also convinced that somebody needs to get on the side of the working class and the Republicans have been very slow, like glacier-slow, to see the populist opportunity. For myself, I can gladly find common ground with you and your post (and the responses from other commenters) heartened me considerably. Maybe, just maybe, if we stay in the game and keep our wits about us, we citizens can work through this and drag the politicians along behind us into the 21st century.
Hi Judith - thanks for your comment. I’ve always been an Independent but became a Democrat so I could vote in the primaries out here in California. I’m liberal on some issues, moderate on others and a conservative on others - as I suspect most people are. I’ve never trusted politicians of any stripe and if anything this administration is a case in point, illustrating the reasons why I don’t trust politicians.
I used to be a moderate. I looked at the candidate not the party. But there are no more candidates, only parties. I now consider myself a democrat, where I was once an independent. And I’m with you, I am and have been, for several years, concerned.
Enemy Of The State is one of my favorite movies:)
Seems like our parties have retreated to their very separate corners, Sandra. Tragic. Enemy of the State is vastly underrated!
What can I say , your knickers are in a twist I see over this
I got an email the other day asking metro support a campaign to get the Americans and other countries to stop snooping on their citizens as it couldultimatwly lead to private everyday citizens being BLACMAILED by state organisations. just what are we doing in our private lives that could lead to ‘us’ being blackmailed. I don’t look up child porn, I have no skeletons lurking in cupboards, I don’t think I support any terrorist organisation, other than my government of the day who tend to get into wars they shouldn’t for reasons that are usually made up to justify to us and who send money to countries that would be better spent in our own country, and I lead, I suspect like much of the worlds population, a boring and humdrum every day existence, so why should I be worried about someone snooping.
Enemy of the state, loved it and recall saying to Ishbel a the time, I’ll bet that that is actually going on … Who cares and why …..
I’m not willing to discuss my political opinions, because I have little faith in partisans being willing to buy and read books by someone who doesn’t agree with them. I really want people to read my books.
That being said, I am one who likes data. I tend to notices things like patterns and frequencies. I can’t say for sure what the distribution politically of the people I follow is, but I would estimate about 70% left 30% right.
Before the last election the stream of strong opinion from both sides was non-stop. This is how I came to the conclusion that there were more blues than reds in my stream.
Over the last month of scandal after scandal after scandal, I’ve noticed that the content the timeline has changed dramatically. I don’t see very many tweets from blues about how much they hate reds. It is such a huge drop that it got me to wandering if there had been a shift in the confidence from that sector of the people I follow.
It seems, from this post, and the comments there has been.
Again, I’m not taking position on one side or the other, I just wanted to share my observation. Good post.
Damn, I spelled wondering as wandering. I hate that typo. I make it all the time. Damn!
Never worry about typos, Brian, I can always fix them. Yeah politics. Sucks. I watch for patterns as well and if anyone is guilty of flip-flopping it’s the public. The world is a mess right now and I suspect much of it will have to either fix itself or exhaust itself. On the other hand, while I’m not an isolationist by any means, I would prefer a focus on domestic issues. It also seems to me that a little fundamental police work - basic stuff - is needed instead of relying on so much electronic data.
Oh heck yeah, Tom, we all know it’s going on. It is necessary - spying is as old as civilization. For me it’s more the lack of warrants and the stuff with the reporters - because I’m a big supporter of freedom of the press - and I’m very pissed off at the IRS for targeting specific groups and spending our tax dollars on multi-million dollar parties. Now that really pisses me off.
Julia,
Do you think the public is flip-flopping or simply taking a new position based upon additional information. When I read your post I didn’t think you were doing anything more than forming a new opinion based on what you’ve learned. Am I wrong?
Brian
Actually Brian I was using flip-flopping facetiously. I’m a firm believer in changing one’s opinion based upon new data. I’ve always felt to use flip-flopping as an insult is pretty stupid since the smartest people I know welcome growth and change.