The State of the American Union

Just because it's cold as a well diggers butt with the threat of snow and freezing rain sending the entire local media weather people into fits I decided it was time I offer up my State of the Union assessment. There is no enjoyment in this for me, preempting the president is generally considered bad form but then again we live in an increasingly pessimistic age that is not so slowly moving into desperate and dangerous conditions. Cutting to the point, the theme for my State of the Union boils down to three elements and they are delusion, corruption, and outmoded thinking.

The delusion aspect can cover a whole range of problems but I will limit my semi-coherent rant just to America's imperial attitude. While Americans have generally never suffered from a self esteem problem the defeat of the Soviet Union in the Cold War opened up and entirely new and Roman Empire-like attitude to the rest of the world. Our military and economy at this writing cannot be realistically touched, however once a people or nation claims the peak of some high mountain for their throne there is only one place to go and that, of course, is down.

Because of our current but decaying military and economic superiority a large majority of Americans believe our poop does not stink. This has lead to a belief that all other nations are in some way inferior, even though their standards of living, educations levels, and ability for social-economic mobility make us look like eighteenth-century England with its stratified and restrictive hierarchical nobility. Now speaking against the wonderful American capitalistic system is something akin to a minor form of treason but I saw screw it.

As a side effect of believing your poop does not stink there tends to be a belief that any change in the status quo is subversive. The idea being that God in his infinite wisdom has ordained us as rulers of the world and that any criticism or new ideas are anti-American which could lead to God revoking his universal blessing and you-can-no-nothing-wrong card. This covers a distrust of education, new technologies, and anything that suggests America is not the freest, absolutely most wonderful place in the world.

American corruption covers two areas, the first being the old fashioned kind of back-door deals and bribery. Few weeks can go by without some of our elected leaders and business types being caught someplace they shouldn't or doing something immoral or simply illegal. Being that they have high-paid lawyers on retainer it is also no surprise that many of these pillar of the community never do any real time. The second area involves how those with power and money now control our government to the point calling it a democracy is such a stretch that it borders on fantasy. Sorry folks, for me the Republic more or less fell when our wonderful Supremes declared that corporations are in actuality people entitled to all the rights of an individual. Like the old meme, I will not believe these nebulous economic entities are people until Texas fries one on its electric chair.

Few, if any, legislative bills can live long enough in the slimy halls of Congress without it being of some benefit to the corporate interests who own the souls of our elected leaders. The again calling our Representatives “elected” is itself a bit of a stretch. Congressional districts are carefully crafted and molded to make unseating an incumbent almost a minor miracle. Add to that the flood of corporate and political action committee money required to even attempt a serious bid to elected office again makes it extremely difficult for anyone to run who is not “pre-approved.”

Outmoded thinking is a more elusive and difficult concept to define. Because of this very impromptu rant I will include in this definition of outmoded thinking simple blatant ignorance. While ignorance is not an exclusively limited to conservative types by any means these days with science and technology going the proverbial warp speed even a minor examination of some of their quotes concerning climate change, energy production, and genetic engineering should send most reasonably intelligent people into a state of despair.  

 I would be remiss if I did not also mention that I believe Americans ultimately have a deep seated fear of change no matter how much propaganda we generate to convince ourselves that we bravely face the future. Many falsely think that what was good for the United States during the last century has relevance to our nation in the early twenty-first century. Nostalgia is all peachy keen  and everything but just because certain practices and habits worked for our grandparents does mean they are beneficial or moral to us now. Our child-like and delusional intransigence that the world should work exclusively to our benefits makes us a laughing stock to the rest of the world.

In conclusion the state of the American Union is not only endangered but has long since drifted into territory where it could very well become one of the items on the trash heap of history.