Eight Feet Deep

Shellac to have a nickel? Shellac to have a dime?

The word of the day, boys and girls, is “shellac.” Even the president says that his Democratic party took a “shellacking” in Tuesday’s general elections. It wasn’t because voters had an unabiding affection for the Grand Old Party. Perhaps it is closer to the description written by John Dickerson of Slate, saying that the election was not so much a victory as it was voters throwing their hands up in the air.

But what are voters so pissed off at? Is it big government? Is it the deficit? Is the taxes raised by Obama? To begin to answer these questions, one must ask: Do you go to bed at night worrying about big government? Ditto the deficit. I bet it keeps millions up all night long. And the taxes. What taxes?

Welcome to America — Land of the All-Day Sucker!

This election has probably been the greatest propaganda job since Dr. Joe Goebbels and Kristallnacht. It started with the 24/7 saturation of anti-health care reform commercials on cable. Of course, you have the conservative talk machine on radio and Fox News as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Republican Party. The Tea Party was invented and the national media jumped on it like stink on s**t. The national news media had a ready-made drama and since they don’t like searching for the real Mr. Bigs of the operation they have plenty of Mr. Littles. The nuts, who mostly and thankfully weren’t elected, were just what the media needed for the Miracle Whip on top.

Hyperbole was the watchword of the day this mid-term election. And drama. News can no longer be explaining policy, it’s the drama that’s important. The public wants to know if Paris Hilton went panty-less last night so they also require something that will keep them entertained, but mostly worry, worry about politics. The national media chases the drama. Their suits chase the money. Oh my God, so much money, that the candidates spend on TV ads. Except at the local level, you hardly ever see a “My name is Joe Schmoe, I have done this and now I want to do that. My name is Joe Schmoe and I approve of this message.” Instead, you see a story that looks like it is real and may have some basis in reality, but is played by actors on the commercial, which is paid for by some entity of which you’ve never heard called “Americans for Growing a Sound and Sane Government.”

The voters have been suckered, ladies and gentlemen. Once again, Charlie Brown fell on his butt trying to kick the elusive football held by Lucy. You think you’d learn.

A good many voters were convinced Obama’s health care plan was heavy-handed or would change their current insurance plans, which continue to rip their customers off left and right. Others may have liked parts of the plan but were leery about how it was to be implemented.

Big money, big business, the  U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who now seeks to rule America, seized upon the unhappiness with so-called “Obamacare.” It didn’t help, of course, that the recovery from the greatest economic panic since the Great Depression was way too slow for the Americans who expect everything to be done yesterday. The powers that be, along with Goebbels’ own modern-day ideological ancestors, made the concerns and fear into their own little Holy War. “I want my country back,” says Clueless McEuless. Uh oh, where’d it go. Where’d they put my country?

This all sounds like a lot of paranoia, I know. Rightfully so. I can’t confirm all that is going on behind the scenes among the folks who engineered what in some countries might be called a “bloodless coup.”

Maybe it is paranoia but unlike those people who don’t sit up all night worrying about the deficit or big government, I have to sit up at night worrying if this Congress will try to take away my Veterans health care or at least put it in the hands of some Third-w0rld country. Am I ever going to see that damn orthopedic specialist or am I just supposed to walk around until my knee melts into a big lump o’ protoplasm?  I also worry whether those  who made threats of shutting down the government will do so, which will really make me stay up nights, wondering if the government will pay what they owe me or will my creditors run roughshod over me?

There is really nothing I can do about it now. Obviously, the politicians will not listen to me. People like my congressman for the last four or five years, Rep. Ted Poe,  surely aren’t listening. Our governor sure as Hell won’t listen, but he’ll probably run for president in 2012. Good Hair for President! Maybe a Moose Lady Sarah Palin–Good Hair Rick ticket. That would be perfect. The reality is that with Republicans in charge of our state government and the U.S. House, I am pretty much disenfranchised, in all but certain matters which require the assent of the Senate.

The onus is on you my friends. That is “onus” with an “o” an not with an “a.” You are the ones who wanted to “throw the bums out.” So you have to do your part to participate in government, or else, the government goes down stinking (yes, I said “stinking” and not “sinking” although I could see both terms applicable.) Save us from the big bad, government my opposition friends. Save us from ourselves.

Oh, and when you wake up some day and see what a mess that has been made by the bozos you elected, don’t despair. We all make mistakes. Some only cost us dollars. Others cost us dignity. Still others, like some folks who recently departed after almost a decade, cost us lives. It’s your problem now. It’s your time to call the plumber.