The Grand Old USA - One Poor Sad, Sold Out Nation

[truedelphi]

For the last week, I have been busy "tabling" for a local political matter. It is not a partisan issue, so I don't have to worry that much about any labels I might normally use when tabling.

When talking to people about my issue, I try to avoid the issue of who should be chosen as the Sheriff of the county, as that is one contentious issue. On Saturday, I thought two middle aged women might be having an actual cat fight right in front of my table, while they hissed and spat epithets over the rather pathetic bios of both men now in the running for that office. It was a relief when their spat ended.

But one thing startling to me is the number of people who don't vote. So far, not one of the many Latinos that I have queried has answered in the affirmative when asked about voting. If Democrats think this base will help them, they might stop and consider the fact that many households probably won't have a voter in them until the kids reach voting age.

Also many other people smile and say, "I don't vote." They offer this fact with an air of "I have other important things to do."

But it is the third group that I find so worrisome. "Vote! Yeah right! Like voting for a lesser evil is not still evil!"

Or "Vote. Yeah right." Sardonic grin, look of sympathy flashed at me. "We get as our choice only the few names from a list of people who are willing to do as their Corporate Owners and Masters tell them."

Anyway, The One Big Money Party has succeeded. Many Americans no longer see our elections as being elections, but simply propaganda devices that still ensure the few remaining non-thinkers can content themselves with the idea that we are a democracy.

Whether The Democrat Leadership or The Republican Leadership will be the victors in the declaring the spoils of this dead and dying nation, I really don't know. It has taken decades to bring us to this, but it is where we are now, and the situation creates a darkness in my soul which I can no longer dissolve.

[Arugula Latte]

1. It is so disheartening.

I think about how most things have declined in this country since I was a kid in the 70s (public education, affordable higher education, infrastructure, library funding, the media, fair elections, etc.) and it is hard to not be cynical and jaded 100 percent of the time. A few things have improved (for example, gay rights, although that has been slow and tortuous).

When I was young I remember looking upon the Soviet Union and feeling sorry for them because they weren't "free" like we were in the USA. Little did I know the corporate masters were starting to slowly up the heat on the pot of water we were all unknowingly sitting in.