Saturday, July 09, 2011

Praying at the Altar of Stupidity

As I approach my 40th birthday, it might make sense that I have mellowed, relaxed, chilled or “slowed my roll”. Churchill

said  If you’re not a liberal at twenty you have no heart,

if you’re not a conservative at forty you have no brain?”. I decided not to

google the quote but am certain it is something like that. Hell, since this is a blog about laziness, I’m going to google the term now and get you the exact quote. The summer is upon us, and it truly is not the heat, but the stupidity that disturbs me.

 

Whether it is the idiocy of Representative Weiner who along with countless others does not understand the ramifications of cyberspace communications, or the countless politicians who have taken leave of their respective senses and are about to drive the shaky economic recovery over a cliff, because they don’t understand what the debt ceiling is. I’m giving them credit; they might want to destroy numerous Americans’ jobs for political gain. Neither ignorance nor political avarice are terribly attractive in politicians.

 

Everyone reading this blog is probably very well aware of the debt ceiling debate as well as the various and tawdry personal scandals that pervade Congress, lately. The real question is “ Why should anyone be surprised?” I’m concerned about the possibility of federal default because I have a job that is at least partially federally funded. (I figure full disclosure is the way to go.) I also have numerous friends that are unemployed, and a default probably won’t help them in their various searches for gainful employment.

 

Honestly though, why is it surprising that politicians are acting like idiots. Look at the way we disrespect education in this country. Most industrialized countries in the world are putting a greater emphasis on education than we are? If anyone really needs an outside source on this one here it is. No matter which state you are reading this from, it is almost a certainty that schools in your community are having funding cut. With funding cuts teachers have to do more with less. While the education system us being starved, the American public has become enamored of shows such as Jersey Shore and various other reality T.V. shows. It has also become almost a political liability to be perceived as intellectual. To be fair, that problem appears to go back to the 1950s at least in Presidential elections.

 

As I approach my 40th birthday, I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t want my politicians to be someone who I can have a beer with. I don’t want every tawdry detail of their respective lives on a 24-hour feed. I want these people to understand the ramifications of their actions both in relation to legislation, and personal restraint so that they might set forth the best path for our country. In return, we as citizens should be expected to educate ourselves, and take responsibility for our children and what they do.





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