United by faith in America?

So, as a means of staying abreast of the propaganda machines behind both the Elephants and Donkeys, I follow both Barack around the Clock and his opponent the Baseball Glove on facebook.  I do so, mostly out of morbid curiosity to see how both contenders to become the figurehead of figureheads embrace social media and what bullshit their publicity staffs run across their official feeds as their status updates.  I follow a number of political figures, for that matter, Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee being two former or current Presidential candidates.  It's both refreshing and disgusting at times to read each post that supposedly comes right from the fingers of the man in question.  I will say it beats the living shit out of the politically motivated fan boy pages like "Things that piss off Liberals" or "Freedom Watch" or "Right Change" which were created to perpetuate what passes for political discourse in this country.

It is no longer acceptable to disagree philosophically and discuss that disagreement in a respectful tone on either side of the issue.  No, we must first label each other as "Liberal" or "Conservative" then we have to equate those words with other more nefarious words like "Communist" or "Fascist" to make them more insulting.  We'll then spend about 5 minutes interrupting and talking over each other before dismissing each other as "idiot" or "moron" or "redneck" or "elitist."  We've taken politics and turned it into a sport of two teams competing for the White House.  Also, for reasons we can't fully articulate, we love and root for one side versus the other.  We believe our side to be the way of the Jedi and the other to be the Dark Side of the Force.

Even if you're like me and detest both parties for the money grubbing, criminal entities they are, you'll quickly be lumped into one of the two camps if you so much as criticize one side or the other.  It's almost like thinking for yourself became too hard, so we rely emotional stimuli to rope us into one side and we stay loyal to that side even if they're lead by people that wouldn't piss on us to put out a fire.  Both parties may as well partner with Nike to market jerseys and New Era to market hats, and we need to emulate the UK and start putting odds on the winners and an over/under on votes cast, because it's a two participant race for the lifetime healthcare and Secret Service guard detail.  The issues stopped mattering sometime in the past 20 years and it became about voting for someone you "liked" or was "well spoken" or "you wanted to have a beer with."  Most of the guys I do drink beer with, I want nowhere near the launch button on a ICBM with a nuclear payload, sorry folks.

Hell, I have a very high opinion of myself, and I don't want that sort of responsibility.  Initially, it would be quite the ego boost to realize that you had the power to obliterate entire cities with a few phone calls and emails, but with that power comes the responsibility of being held accountable for destroying entire cities.

My particular favorite posts from the contenders are the ones where they test out buzzword-heavy, slogan-esque short posts and try to sound profound.  I will warn those of you reading that plan on voting for Romney, and I will be attacking and dissecting his post from this evening.  Not because I think he's a walking, talking microcosm of American aristocracy gone horribly wrong, which I do, or because he has the most ridiculous hair outside a comic book villain in history.  It's because what I saw was a complete garbage thought that Hallmark card writers would wipe their ass with.  To wit:

Today, we are united not only by our faith in America. We are united also by our concern for America.

He makes two classically false assumptions.  First, assuming that we, as a nation of individuals, are united over anything is to ignore simple facts like bath salt smoking zombies in Florida and stoned mothers driving down the street with their infant on the roof here in Arizona. There are people out there actually believe Jeff Dunham is a brilliant comic, or that Larry the Cable Guy isn't some stupid character dreamed up by a preacher's kid from Nebraska because being the slightly tubby, Midwestern version of Uncle Joey on Full House wasn't paying the bills. Some people actually think the culture of the United States should be "the Constitution," that the native tongue of this land is English, and that having been born here, and only having been born here somehow elevates their standing across the globe. If I wanted to unite with any of these people for a greater good it would be to have me excommunicated from their little club and sentenced to a life surrounded by nothing for miles but trees and rolling hills and family.


Besides, 'united' is a nice buzzword, but politicians and the machines that carry them to their success don't want to unite us. They want us a fractured and ignorant as possible so they can sell us their hokey vision of 'family values' and 'community' and 'hope' and 'change' for a 'new American Century.' The more afraid they make us of their competition, the more beneficial it is for their careers, and make no mistake about it, the job of a politician is to scare you into voting for him or her. Once they're elected, they're golden. A sweet pension and benefits just for reaching a rarified level of smarmy condescension.
Secondly, the assumption that anyone has any faith in America, let alone the people that comprise it has to have lived my 35 years on this planet on some amazing drugs while locked in a Siberian Gulag.

I believe the majority of people in this country to be self centered, egotistical, and selfish children.  I carry this belief because I view myself as normal, and if I'm as petulant and self absorbed as I'm accused of being, then  half the country are bigger douche bags than me.  The only thing about America that I have any faith in is the military.  Our "leaders" don't lead, they line their pockets by making it easier for their corporate sponsors to bilk us out of not only the money we work to earn, but any shred of human dignity or pride in a career where we feel personally invested in the work we complete.

The way we treat politics in this country saddens me, because no matter who wins the race, the majority of us lose.

On Father's Day, and being a "Real Man."

On Father's Day, I give my utmost respect to the men out there who involve themselves in the live(s) of their children.  Fathering a child involves more than making your wiener puke into a willing woman's cha-cha, then seeing a baby ruin that cha-cha 9 months later.

One of my favorite movie lines comes from the movie Boyz in tha Hood.  Furious Styles is talking his son Trey fishing, and, when the topic of sex comes up, he states, "Any fool with a dick can make a baby.  It takes a real man to raise his children."  These words have always stuck with me, since I was living proof that "any fool with a dick can make a baby" but I wasn't raised by that fool.  I was raised by a "real man," who not only allowed me to legally take his family name, but raised me as and always introduced as his own son.  Through his example and the sometimes difficult lessons he taught me, I became the man I am today.  I owe this man EVERYTHING, and he already knows he has my undying love, admiration, respect, and gratitude.

I am celebrating my second Father's Day as a father, but I can't help but weep at how my Dad is forced to spend his Father's Day.  Even though he knows beyond question that I idolize him, he will spend today missing the one child of his who left us far too early.  A man the caliber of my Dad deserved to be revered as  the great man and father he was and is to my sister, my brother, and me.  He should be a shining example to all those absent fathers or abusive or indifferent step-fathers out there.  Yet he'll probably spend today wrestling with what he could have done differently as it relates to my brother.  He'll spend his Father's Day grappling with regrets he shouldn't have for a life that shouldn't have been lived in so much pain and shouldn't have been abbreviated as it was.  This is a true tragedy, folks.  As I try to enjoy my second Father's Day, my heart breaks knowing that my measuring stick for being a good father and man will be suffering, quiet and alone with only his thoughts and regrets.

He deserves better, and it kills me that I can't give him what he deserves and that I'll never be able to, either.

Today, I will smoke a brisket and a salmon fillet the way he taught me to.  I'll look upon my son with the obvious love and devotion the way he looked upon Audrey, Nathan, and me.  I will think about what might have happened had I not walked my mother down the aisle and placed her hand in his almost 30 years ago, and I'll know just how fortunate I am to be his son.  I will contemplate hoow fortunate I am to carry his family name on to another generation, and how fortunate my son is to be a part of such a great and loving family.  Then I will probably sob like a little girl with a skinned knee...

I love you, Dad.  I hope to one see in my son's eyes what I know is in mine when I look at you.  You will forever the standard by which I measure myself as a human being...

Quasi-Political Rant

As a general rule, I try to avoid posting about politics.  Modern politics has devolved into a distractionist, obstructionist, bullshit contest to see who can yell the biggest lie the loudest.  It would be sad if it weren't so frustrating to see what I normally consider intelligent people get sucked into impossible arguments over issues that will never be fully resolved in the first place.  However, with it being an election year, it's simply not possible to avoid the parade of complete lunacy that is modern political discourse.  With that in mind, I will address what appeared to be the biggest news on my social media feeds yesterday:

President Obama, in his desire to add to his growing collection of Presidential firsts, became the first U.S. President to openly support same sex marriage.  Why this is or was news worthy is another rant for another time, but it stirred up a shit storm of both support an opposition.  This announcement came quickly on the (tar) heels of North Carolina formally outlawing such legally recognized unions, because in a shit economy with our servicemen being killed daily in a shit country boys kissing boys is obviously the foremost issue on everyone's mind.

I have no problem with North Carolina's law, because the law was proposed and ratified by a legally elected state legislature, which was elected to act in the interests of their constituents.  Each state is entitled to determine qualifications for state recognized institutions such as marriage.  This is why other states such as Iowa and New York have chosen to formally recognize same-sex marriages, as well.  Marriage has always been an area in which each individual state determines eligibility requirements.  This is important because of the variance in social norms from place to place.  What constitutes acceptable behavior on the streets of New York City may not be acceptable on the dirt roads surrounding Pittsburg, Kansas, so the governing regulations will obviously vary.

In 2004, same-sex marriage became a hot button issue, but on the other side of the coin.  The sitting President at the time, George W. Bush open supported a Constitutional Amendment defining marriage as an institution between only a man and woman.  His opponent for the Presidency, John Kerry, also voiced a moral opposition to same sex marriage, as any good Catholic would, but also stated the determination of policy related to the legal institution of marriage should remain with the individual states.  This is important, again, because somehow Kerry's position was distorted into being for same sex marriage, and mobilized the Evangelical base of the GOP.  Regardless of the truth that Bush's position was untenable, given the inherent difficulty of amending the Constitution of the United States, this became a rather large issue as the general election approached.

Much like abortion and capital punishment before it, same sex marriage became the moral issue du jour.  The thing with moral issues, though, is they're unresolvable.  People believe what they believe.  If you believe abortion is immoral based on a religious conviction, no one is going to convince that it isn't immoral.  If you believe homosexuality is immoral because because of a passage in your Bible, then it may as well be set in stone.  However, one of the first things you must realize is that not everyone shares those beliefs, and the essence of freedom and free will is being able to choose what is or isn't right for you and an individual.

What Obama is doing is really no different than what Bush did in 2004.  He's pandering to the base of his party based on a hot-button, moral issue and hoping it will help swing some more voters to his side come November.  Bush proved it could work, so I don't blame him.  However, if you vote for any candidate based completely on their stances on abortion, gay marriage, or capital punishment, you're being manipulated into ignoring other issues that have a much greater impact on your everyday life.  In short, you're letting the political media machine trick you into voting with heart instead of your mind.

Introduction

This is attempt numero dos at me creating a blog.  I created one on a different site way back in 2010, and, after a few short blurbs abandoned it like a bastard child.  I can't promise that this blog will survive where the other one failed, since it's all dependent upon my level of commitment to said blog.  What I can say is that I will try to stay interested in sharing my random observations and high opinion of everything I do with the masses for as long as it doesn't feel tedious or stupid.  I give it five days...

If you're here and reading this, I've likely invited you.  Not because I value your opinion, but that I feed off your praise like a junkie feeds off his addiction.  In this, I don't really feel all that different from everyone else.  Generally, we don't occupy ourselves or our time with people who provide negative feedback.  We crave affirmation to the point that we'll block out the obvious just to feel some level of self esteem.  That term drives me fuckin batty, by the way.  Our preoccupation with how we feel about ourselves, more often than not, keeps us from having any feelings for others beyond how that person makes US feel.  What a vain and silly species we are...