Can we get over it, already?

Plus ça change...

Although pundits and politicians have been reluctant up to now to call a spade a spade, conditions are progressing to the point where no one can deny it and remain credible:  the United States (and the world) is in the midst of a crisis unlike any we have seen in the last 80 years.  National unemployment hovers near 9% (that's the "official" rate; some analysts put the "actual" rate much higher).  Our infrastructure is falling apart.  Our national treasury is plundered.  An entire population, millions of people, exists unacknowledged within our borders.

It's a crisis of our own making, the result of our lack of vision and leadership; the result of our mutual contempt. 

We hate each other.  Not as individuals, mind you.  But as tribes, as factions.  Conservatives demonize the poor and the unemployed (as well as racial and religious minorities).  Liberals demonize corporations, religious fundamentalists and plutocrats.  And despite President Obama's continued efforts to bridge the gap, we despise each other so much that it seems impossible to work together.

...plus c'est la même chose

I want no association with beasts like Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor, South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint, or Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann.  To the extent those creatures are aware of me, they hate me.  They hate people like me.  They reveal it in every public utterance, in every hypocrisy, in every mealy-mouthed slur. And, as far as I'm concerned, the sentiment is reciprocated.

So can we at least get over the red, white, and blue flag-worship fakery?  Can we refrain from pious and hypocritical declarations of patriotism?  Can we lay-off the crocodile tears that we shed every time we see some poor grunt come back from Afghanistan to hug his wife and kids?  Can we quit holding hands and singing "God Bless America?" 

Maybe that Texas lizard Rick Perry had it right, anyway.  Let's quit pretending that there is anything more important than destroying each other.  Let's be honest about the depth of our mutual hatred. 

Bring on Ragnarok!

Wisconsin update:  The outcome of the special recall elections in Wisconsin is inconclusive.  Democrats did manage to unseat two Republican state senators, but could not manage a third, leaving the Wisconsin Senate in the hands of the GOP with a one vote margin.  Both sides are claiming victory, but for my part, I'm disappointed.  I had hoped and believed that Wisconsin might be the beginning of something big, a peaceful populist uprising.