My Latest Rant Against the Machine

[IrishAyes]

So here's the text of my latest letter to the editor section of our regional newspaper. While I really do give up whining for Lent, this may be viewed more as a rant, with slight alterations to protect the identity of guilty and innocent alike. I wrote:
..........................................................................................................................................

(sigh) Just when I thought it was safe to turn away from the computer and try not to ask more newspaper letters space than necessary, I had to visit the library to catch up on the local weekly, and now I feel compelled to write once again.

Why, Mr. X, do you feel entitled to ridicule both your wife and the Mennonite lady all at once? Even separately would not be good Christian practice. These immature schoolyard taunts of all that is different from yourself, the 'others' who are clearly 'less than' in your eyes, gives the lie to anything else shouted to the rooftops about what you consider patriotism and godliness. This fondness for catcalling and trying to label liberals like me as "LYING HEYENAS OF SOCIALISM!" (a direct quote from the past) speaks to a deepseated fear of irrelevance. Maybe if the awful lies are shouted loud enough long enough, that will make them true? Just the opposite. Whistling past the graveyard is mighty cold comfort compared to learning to respect and love others as Jesus taught.

I'm sure the Browning of America scares the daylights out of the old guard, the previously dominant sector often referred to as angry old white men. That's not meant in a derogatory way; indeed, I struggle to learn and understand as much as I can about them. As I replied when one said he didn't feel like they mattered anymore: no, you matter just as much as ever. But you don't rule over the rest of us anymore as in the past. I don't want to preserve 'your' America, because this country is not YOURS and yours alone. High time for a changing of the guard. Don't worry; we'll try not to treat the old guard the way we've been treated. Turn about is NOT fair play. I say 'we' even as I prepare to turn 68 because liberals have this uncanny ability to embrace and participate in the future.

All this trumpeting about 'taking America back for GOD!' is pure hogwash. The old guard wants to take it back for themselves. Claiming it's for God's honor and glory won't pass muster. Add to that the fact that it can't be done and you're the ones condemning yourselves to irrelevancy. Entirely apart from the changing racial makeup of the nation, you also have the millenial generation to deal with, and the vast majority there do not look kindly on xenophobia, racism, sexism, war against the poor, and so on.

Anyone who keeps dreaming of a modern theocracy ought to take a close look at Iran; if you think alleged, self proclaimed Christians would behave any better, you've got another think coming. That's human nature, and not the best of it either. Besides, America was not founded on Christian principles. Most of those men were deists at best, and Thomas Jefferson himself proclaimed Christianity the most stupid religion imaginable. No, most of the founding fathers were in hock up to their eyeballs from trying to ape the old European aristocracy, live up to the Joneses as it were, and a convenient war proved a dandy excuse to nullify their crippling financial debt to merry olde england.

Don't get me wrong. I'm glad they did it and glad they prevailed. But we're better served by the truth than face saving lies, because the latter are self perpetuating and prove only the road to perdition. Conservatism has had its day and made ill use of it. A dying dinosaur screams loudest with its last breath. RIP.

[sheshe2]

1. Brava, IrishAyes!

The old irrelevant dinosaurs are on their way to extinction.

They hide behind their "religion" as a shield. They are old and white and cling to an America that is moving forward without them. They thought they owned this country, yet they are sadly mistaken. This is not their America it is ours, this is the peoples America.

So well done, Irish~

Thank you.

[IrishAyes]

2. Thank YOU, my friend. Anyone might've laughed to see me storming home from the library early this

afternoon, face red as my coat, smoke boiling out from ears.... I must've been a real sight. Normally I write quickly, but it took me almost 2 hours to tone that letter down to family newspaper level. Mr. 'X' ragged on his wife for almost half a page - the usual sexist drivel posing as humor - and then he actually swiped at the entire German-American population, saying they sounded like they just got off the boat from Holland! As I said, a bleepin' Rush Wannabe. He's ragged on so many people and groups lately that it's a wonder he hasn't been run out of town on a rail. Most letters in opposition have been far more restrained than mine, but I wanted him to know what a cannonball feels like when it smacks upside his pinhead.

[sheshe2]

4. Ready that cannon Irish.

May your aim be true!

[IrishAyes]

5. Is there a feminine version of Dead-Eye Dick?

BOOM!

I don't feel quite as Michael Collins did when he signed the partition treaty: "Today I've signed my own death warrant." But I can guarantee you this, more than a few would love to wreck vengeance on my poor little gray head.

What am I saying? My system's rich in the hormone that gives hair its color. So far the lady who cuts my hair says she's found two gray ones - I have her yank them out. But you know what I mean. The only way I harm anyone is by turning over their apple cart in public, and then only after they've tried to use it against someone like a battering ram. When they beg me hard enough, I can be persuaded to do it. And Mr. X was shouting for a smack down. Too bad he won't appreciate it. He'll never understand I did him a service.

[Cha]

3. Bookmarking for reading when I return.. thanks Irish~

[Cha]

6. Brilliant, IrishAyes.. thank you, I enjoyed every word of your latest LTTE!

I chose this little gem to highlight!..

"As I replied when one said he didn't feel like they mattered anymore: no, you matter just as much as ever. But you don't rule over the rest of us anymore as in the past. I don't want to preserve 'your' America, because this country is not YOURS and yours alone."

OT, but it's still St Patrick's Day in Hawai'i and I just saw this and thought of you..


The White House ✔ @WhiteHouse
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Happy St. Patrick's Day!
12:01 PM - 17 Mar 2014
1,311 Retweets 1,226 favorites

[IrishAyes]

7. Thanks for the beautiful picture.

Maybe it's silly of me, but I really love the spelling of O'Bama!

[Cha]

9. We'll toast to that..

[IrishAyes]

10. Cheers! Guiness on St. Paddy's Day, imagine that.

Here's to "NO MORE GOP!"

[ucrdem]

8. That's a beaut!

p.s. and perfect for March 17th!