Winding Down — Redux
Friday, October 24, 2008
Winding Down — Redux
Let’s see, there’s school winding down, the week or the month winding down, life winding down–but hallelujah, this miserable presidential race (etc.) is actually winding down. Remember the “Sex, Lies and Video Tapes” things that were going around a few years back? Well, we got all of that back, and in spades. When Sara Palin arrived on the scene the media went off their assorted rockers: sexist comments, and condemning her because she chose to give birth to a Down’s syndrome baby; the lies, whether by omission or commission, have been nauseous; video tapes–all of the above. This is progress?
Does it seem to anyone else that we are in a time warp? Shades of Starwars. There’s a headline in our newspaper this morning that says: CANDIDATES WILL SAY ANYTHING TO WIN. No Kidding? Really? Golly gee. The poor dumb electorate couldn’t have figured that out by themselves, could they?
The editorial page is a joke. Two black columnists rant and rave (albeit with adroitness) against Whitey and support the black candidate, while several white and one Asian columnists go at it for the other side. Oh, I don’t want to forget Kathleen Parker. She has become surprisingly schizoid, ratcheting up doubts regarding McCain ever since he chose Palin as his running mate. A few days later she comes out with a semi-patch-up column to ease the pain. Please! Give us a break.
Sarah Palin is going through her “trial by fire” before possibly taking office. In my memory there has been no candidate for any office who has taken this much abuse. Even the “potatoe” man (Dan Quale, for those of you too young to remember) couldn’t come near her statistics. But you hear almost nothing about Palin’s doppelgänger, Joe Biden. Yes, he’s flying under the radar but once in a while (like during every speech) his gaffes come through. We don’t get to know about most of them because–well, we all know why. But, make no mistake, they are gaffes that dig to the depths of goofiness. What presidential material. How safe and comfortable this makes me feel.
And finally, we have Allan Greenspan. He’s on the hot seat, testifying before a congressional committee. “Not my fault (this financial crisis) but there was one flaw.” All it takes is one big one, Mr. Greenspan. And yours was certainly a big one. I cannot wrap my mind around giving all of these institutions and people at the top of them carte blanche with the wealth of our nation. Can you? Our government was set up with great pain and heart wrenching effort by the founding fathers to give us checks and balances in the branches of our governing bodies. Why should the financial institutions not have the same checks and balances? I’m certainly not as smart as Mr. Greenspan(especially since I assumed that there were checks and balances in place), but even I knew that C’s and B’s are necessary for human beings. A is not to be forgotten, either–accountability.
Forgive me, whoever reads this. The wealth of our nation is not our financial institutions. The wealth of our nation is people–hard-working, caring, God-fearing, loving people. Let’s not ever forget that. And let’s not forget to vote.
Pat Carroll Marcantel
Politics, of course!
