I have discovered over the last year or so that I am a bane to the political system. The reason is simple. I’m not a “Johnny come lately” independent, I’ve been one all my life.
I have voted in elections since 1976. The vote is split evenly between Democrats and Republicans for president and governor. I’ve bitched for many a year that if God wanted us to vote, he’d give us candidates. I only put forth John Kerry and John McCain as examples and you’ll see the truth of this.
So you can imagine that the morning news leaves me with lots of opportunity to form opinions about our political system.
A few weeks ago, I was dismayed that the House wanted to redefine rape. Now, I’m not going to question the expertise of the “high fiving white guys” in Congress on this matter. I’m sure they’ve all had personal experience in this area, such as poster child Representative Christopher Lee, the idiot Congressman who went hunting for nookie on Craigslist and used his real name (I told you he was an idiot).
I was equally aghast that Speaker of the House Boehner referred to last November’s vote as a mandate for the Republicans to clean house, when in fact, it was simply the voters saying, “Well, these guys were crap, let’s see if the other guys can fix the economy. And if they don’t we’ll kick them out in 2012.” As usual, politicians just don’t seem to get it. And perhaps they never will.
That is perhaps why I am mostly politically agnostic these days. I have my serious doubts about democratic representation in our country. I’m not yet to the point of atheism, but I’ve come darned close.
I came perilously close to it again this morning.
I was reading The Seattle Times when I came across an article that a bunch of Civil War re-enactors wanted to change the state laws regarding black powder. It seems that being able to own five pounds of powder was not enough. They wanted to be able to have 25 pounds at a time.
Their reasoning was that the 25 pound limit would allow them to purchase powder “without breaking up the powder from its original packaging.” What a pile of crap. I buy black powder here in Florida. It comes in one-pound cans. If you order five pounds, you get five one-pound cans. If you order 25 pounds you get… wait for it… 25 one-pound cans. There is no special packaging that they have to break up.
The Representative in Washington’s House, Barbara Bailey, further justifies it, saying, “If you buy black powder, you generally know what to do with it, because it has limited use.” She likens it to a can of gas or a propane tank.
Barbara, I have news for you. Pack it into a piece of steel pipe with some nails and it becomes a pipe bomb. Five pounds will blow the trunk off of a car and send it flying.
Civil War re-enactor Bill Safford defends the bill. “We want maximum smoke – in the Civil War, the smoke was so bad you couldn’t see 50 meters.”
First Bill, who wants to see a re-enactment where you can’t see anything because there’s too much smoke? Second, we live in the U.S. Bill. Let’s stick with feet instead of meters. What are you Bill, freakin Canadian, eh?
And most important, Bill. I really didn’t want to be the one tell you this, but there was no Civil War battles in Washington State, which was still a territory. I can see 25 or 50 pounds of powder in Virginia. There were battles there. But I can’t see who in their right mind would change a state law to accommodate a small, small number of Washingtonians who own civil war cannons. If you really need 25 pounds of powder, have five of your re-enactor buddies bring five pounds each. You’ll live, trust me.
Our democracy seems to be a “meocracy” instead these days. These jokers are an example. Change a state law just because I want greater convenience when I re-enact a battle that never happened in my state. Let’s let every idiot in the state have the right to own 25 pounds of powder so I can play with a cannon during dress up time.
Unfortunately, meocracy has run rampant in politics. Just look at the zealots in the Tea Party. They are even too far out there for their own party members, the Republicans. They want to subjugate all the rights we’ve earned in the last 250+ years and plow us back into the Dark Ages.
I am having nothing to do with this meocracy. For those who don’t know how the country works, it’s majority rules. A legislator can get into office by one vote; you don’t need to mount a lawsuit because you didn’t win. Get over it, move on. It’s not all about “you”, it’s about “us” as a society. That’s what a democracy is all about.
The day Congress figures this out, I may start voting again. When the Democrats are in charge, it’s a liberal leaning meocracy. Now it’s turned into a Republican meocracy. What’s the difference? It’s never about us anymore.
The Civil War re-enactors in Washington State have taken it to a whole new level. Meocracy seems to be all about who can scream the loudest. Like a little child who quickly learns that if he screams loud enough and long enough, he’ll get a piece of candy just to shut him up.
Black powder would accomplish the same thing by the way. It certainly would give a new meaning to “Baby Boom”.
Plugging my ears over here on the Treasure Coast,
– Robb