Stranger in a Strange Land

I'm studiously trying to ignore the election today. Whatever happens will not be good for my country, although I truly believe that some outcomes will be worse than others.

But I do want to comment on this piece by Matt Taibbi.

Matt begins by agreeing with me that whatever happens today it's going to suck for most of us. But his main point is that's because "...we all should know most Americans want the same things, but just disagree on how to get there." So - in Taibbi's view - we just need to chill, be calm, and carry on if the "other guy" gets elected.

As short a time as ten to twelve years ago I would have agreed. But not today.

Today the 27-percenters, the people who still hugged Dick Cheney to their breasts back in 2008 when the evil fucker's arc of despotism was clearly visible to anyone not wearing their Rush Limbaugh beer goggles, make up the critical mass of the GOP. The people who vote Republican are either flat-out neofeudalists, plutocrats, Christopaths, or hardcore bananarepublicans longing for a strong nation with an iron will to kill Muslims.

While I agree with Taibbi that these people are "patriotic", that they love the United States, here's the thing; they don't love the United States I love.

Goddamn it, these people DON'T want the same things I do; a United States that tilts towards labor rather than capital, wages rather than trust funds, peace rather than war, small rather than grandiose, alternatives to the old petroleum-based economy, local rather than imperial, atheist rather than devout, equal rather than opportunistic.

They love a United States that is represented by an investment banker wheeling derivatives, a team of Rangers kicking in a door, or a drone strike on a mud hut in the FATA.

I don't.

We are becoming, we have become, two nations, separate and unequal. Most of the people who are out there voting Republican today are citizens of one of these nations.

But not the one I love.

And until that changes while we may share the same flag there can be no peace between us. This nation is a house divided, half Fox News and half free. And a house divided against itself cannot stand.

Hangs Low and to the Left

Your political compass
Economic Left/Right: -6.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.00Fun. And it's good to know I hang with the "right" people; given the choice, I'd just as soon stand up with the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela than with Maggie Thatcher and GWB.Try it yourself!

Blogadmin note: Bad, busy week has left me without the time for my usual Friday piece. I want to talk about the political developments in Iraq, but it will have to wait until tonight - I have to work (ugh!) today...