The "Post-Adult" Period

Well, I did write something yesterday, apparently Blogger felt it wasn't worthy of seeing the light of day until today.

But last night another political Ad started me thinking.  I guess the bottom line is that most of the political candidates from a certain party have decided that facts and reality bear little weight upon their anger, and thus they wish to lash out at someone - anyone - else.

So while I expect this is probably of interest to no one, maybe you'll see a parallel to what's going on in your neck of the woods.

Locally, our governor, Tim Walz, was a high school teacher before he ran for Congress, served there for a few years, then came back home to the state house, to run the State.  Mr. Walz is something of a true oddity.  He spent many years serving in the Army Reserve, before he retired, but while he was doing that, he was also a teacher.  Then he ran for office - as a - hold your breath - Democrat.  Yup, that's right.  A military veteran who didn't come out looking to hide in a bunker - he wanted to do better for his fellow man.

Then along came the pandemic.  Which is, locally, being followed by yet another stinking pustule of disease, locally the Jensen/Birk ticket of Reprobates - er, I meant to say Republicants - who are upset and angry about the whole pandemic thing. 

Because, you know, it's all Tim Walz's fault for shutting down the state, closing businesses, not allowing people to go drink in bars, kids to go to school, and generally, ya know, just cranky pissed because some folks they felt were unworthy got all this free government money.  Sure, some of it was stimulus, but locally, we have a bit of an issue in that there was a pandemic-long program to provide low-to-free-cost meals to kids and those who were suffering from food insecurity.

Sure there was a hell of a lot of money wasted there.  It started with a group of people who decided to get together a group that would say they had provided meals, when they didn't.  They took this cash, bought houses, fancy cars, and then got the hell out of dodge, as it were.  Mind you, it sounds like, fairly early on, the State got a clue to be able to identify some of these a-holes who were stealing money AND food from starving kids.  And while the State's inclination was to stop the checks and investigate, the FBI said "no, wait - keep sending the money, we want to catch all these folks."  So yeah, it sounds like somewhere around $250,000,000 went out the door to a bunch of crooks.  Some 50 people have been indicted for this fraud.  

And the FBI is in on it.  But instead of being thankful the state has the evidence needed to convict these crooks, this Doctor (Jensen) and former half-assed football player (look, he played for the Vikings, who haven't made it to the Super Bowl or managed to do much of anything you could call "successful" aside from screwing the State and Minneapolis out of a billion or so dollars to tear down a perfectly good, useful stadium, and replace it with something over twenty times more expensive because they wanted it and threatened to leave if they didn't get it) are thrilled with their own shakedown of the state.

Instead of saying "hey, thanks for getting us through the pandemic with below-average deaths" they're blaming the governor.  I get it.  People are angry.  But if they think that being slightly inconvenienced is an issue, I sure wonder what these pissing-and-moaning bastards would be doing were they dead?  Oh, yeah, that's right, peace and quiet.  So I guess I'm angry at the Governor for not allowing natural selection to work it's way through the population.  But I guess I do understand that, as a leader, you often have to make decisions that don't make you popular.

Jensen, however, is about as useful as a fart in a spacesuit, because he's prepared to send this state straight down the road to Mississippi level test scores, among other things.  That is one thing that does tend to irritate some of these quasi-political goons.  Bottom line is, of course, it's much easier to scare people, especially people who haven't had much of an education.  I, for example, know that the higher quality of life we enjoy here in Minnesota is due in part to the higher-than-average educational results we get.  So companies looking for people are usually looking for smarter people to help the entire organization do better.  Because, you see, if everyone's thinking about how to make the job easier, get the work done more quickly, and do it to a higher standard of quality, you get better products faster.  If you're just looking for cheaper labor, well, China, Mexico, and ... other places are available.  I don't say that to point "down" to those people.  I simply note that if you have a simple task to be done many times a day, often the less expensive way to get that job done becomes more attractive than the more expensive one.  

There is that pesky little detail, of course, in that if you have people who make more money, they have more money to spend, so they might by more than one of your widgets, thingamajigs, or doodads.  And the more you sell, the better off you could be.

But to get back to the point I'm trying to make, I guess that politics isn't about the art of the possible.  It is all about the art of who can you blame, and who can you make people fear and angry at.  Because if they hate the person who made them eat their vegetables, they can throw that person off the train.  And twenty years later when they die at 50, no teeth in their heads, dirt poor because they believed you when you said you were going to make their lives better, they never understood you actually meant you'd get them to vote for you so you could bleed them dry, and convince them the other fellow who WASN'T in office was at fault.

I guess I'm just too much of a Boy Scout and a Leader to deal with politics.  I do find myself wishing for the "good old days" when it was abundantly obvious to most of the country that when the President lied, the President was, indeed, a criminal.  But today, when the President lies, some idiots believe him, more idiots amplify him, and everyone looks to make a buck off someone else.  

That's the new American Way, I suppose.  Much better to steal it rather than earn it honestly.  I mean, really.  If the mark is so stupid as to fall for your trick, well, then, a fool and his money are soon parted.  Don't believe me?  Well, then I guess I'll be the hairier primate's elderly male relative.  

Have a wonderful evening.  Two weeks from today, all the political ads end, and the finger-pointing, and quite possibly the post-democratic era might all begin.