The Widdershins

I’m beginning to think not after two weeks of staged conventions and the attendant hoopla that barely touched the issues we face in our daily lives.

The “who said it better” crowd of pundits and talking heads fighting it out to lay claim to “their guy” beating the pants off the other one belies the facts.

Romney’s “bounce” apparently earned him a big one pointer whereas Obama’s is said to have racked up a meager 3. What does this tell us?

It might tell us that most of the nation is “campaign weary”. Each election cycle seems to last forever offering nothing but buckets of hot air, lies, distortions, and just plain foolishness masked as political dialogue. The GOP managed a few laughs along the way when considering the likes of Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, and Herman Cain as future POTUS. In the end the selection boiled down to one of the most disingenuous, lackluster, flip flopping, candidates ever to emerge as their standard bearer.

The Dems found themselves “stuck” as well. Disenchanted with their current title holder, their suspicions that perhaps this guy could not be wholly trusted to stand firm was seen willing to “cave in” to the crazies in the spirit of “compromise”.  “Catfood Commission” anyone?

What is at stake in November is not the candidate as much as what we regard as our way of life. One side is eager to dismantle every social contract that binds government to its people.

The other side is declares their willingness to “fight” against these proposals. The question remains: who do we trust to stand up for us?

Still mired in a bloody conflict in Afghanistan, still dependent upon foreign oil, still subsidizing that same industry raking in billions, still waiting hat in hand for the banks to loosen its grip, still bogged down with high unemployment numbers, still arguing over the right to privacy, still expecting some measure of accountability from those who f*cked up in the first place, the nation itself is at the mercy of a handful of politicians whose appeal is less than inspiring.

These politicians refer to us as lazy, slutty, fools, and whiners. We “leech off the tit of government”. We sit around in hammocks waiting for the mailman to deliver our unemployment checks. We are failures. We are mocked, ridiculed, vilified and demeaned for wanting to stand up to power. Women victims of rape are consdidered “blessed”.  We are treated as faceless numbers until that 4 year cycle of proposed “change” rolls around but shelved during the interim as if we don’t count for much.

Treated to a few days of soaring rhetoric and lame speeches that mean absolutely nothing in the real world, these supposed “leaders” offer up the usual piles of smelly manure with promises that will never be fulfilled. No wonder the “bounce” becomes a “thud” when the stage is dismantled and the confetti is swept away.

I’ve had it with the Tea Party crazies, the racist rants, “U.S.A., U.S.A.” chants, the birthers, the “job creators”, the woman haters, the budget cutters, the anti unionists, the voter suppressors, the privatizers, Citizens United, the rape redefiners, and the wealthy apologizers.

I’m sick of listening to liars pretending to care about education while making cuts to the education budget. I’m incensed listening to claims that cutting back on healthcare access will make this nation strong. I’m exhausted listening to idiots proposing to turn the environment into one big strip mall as a means of creating jobs. I’m weary with those who prefer fantasy over facts when it comes to climate change. I’m disgusted by those who declare they are implementing “god’s will” into a secular society to punish “god’s children” in making discrimination the law of the land.

The anticipated “bounce” that never happened tells us that the majority of the nation has had it when it comes to any more of the abuse.

And that was never more evident when a “reality show” as dimwitted and offensive as “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo!” led in the ratings game during the speeches outlining their future vision.

The public at large “gets it”. We don’t care whose husband is more “loving”. Or whose ancestors were more “determined”. Or whose life story compares with Huck Finn.

When they turn their backs on us it is only expected that we do the same in return.

“Honey Boo Boo” may be a piece of garbage by any cultural standard but it doesn’t pretend to be otherwise.

There’s a lesson there somewhere that both parties would be wise to discover in seeking that elusive “bounce”.   Otherwise they may discover that they too are “on their own”.