Week of 08/08/2011

Meanwhile In An Alternate Universe…
– by David Matthews 2

In the world that is Joe Blue’s America, everything is beautiful.

There is no debt to worry about in Joe Blue’s America. Everything is fully-financed, paid for though generous tax contributions from the business community, who are more than eager to give their fair share and then some. Businesses work hand-in-hand with government agencies to provide the best benefits for all employees, from the CEO on down to the mailroom clerk. Everyone has the best insurance coverage, the best salary, and the best retirement programs, all provided without question or complaint.

The elderly don’t suffer in Joe Blue’s America. They live their final years in comfort, surrounded by the best medical care that tax money can provide.

There are no homeless in Joe Blue’s America. Everyone has a home, be it a house or an apartment, and that home is always well-stocked with all the right kinds of healthy food. The playgrounds are always well-maintained and made safe for the children.

There is no illiteracy in Joe Blue’s America, because everyone has free access to education to further themselves as much as they wish. They can be doctors or lawyers if they so choose, without worrying about whether they can afford to do it, because they know that government and private businesses will bend over backwards to help them achieve their goals.

And, best of all, there is no hate in Joe Blue’s America. All races, all creeds, all genders, all religions and preferences, they all live happy and peacefully in Joe Blue’s America. They don’t bicker or fight. They don’t show bias or play preferences. They all get along, and everyone is happy.

Meanwhile, in another universe…

F. Red Smith is enjoying his third parade of the month. He enjoys watching the soldiers march in the parade amidst the cheers and patriotic displays. It makes him feel proud to be in an America where soldiers are idolized and praised for their service.

Yes, in Red Smith’s America there is war, but war is a necessary evil, and Red Smith’s America has a responsibility to make sure that all threats, real or imagined, are dealt with swiftly and decisively. And the people in Red Smith’s America support the troops fully and without question or hesitation.

There are no protesters in Red Smith’s America. Sure they could protest if they want to, but why should they? There is no reason for people to exercise that particular “privilege” in Red Smith’s America. The government does only what they are told to do, nothing more and nothing less, so the people have no reason to complain.

There is no debt in Red Smith’s America, because there are no “wasteful” government programs that need to be funded. Everything is paid for in trade tariffs from other countries, the way Red’s forefathers intended. And the government only does what it is supposed to do. The Congress passes a balanced budget, each and every time, and the President signs it without hesitation or fanfare.

There’s also no political animosity in Red Smith’s America, because there is only one political party to worry about, and everyone in government knows their jobs. The legislature passes laws, the executive signs them, and all the judges have to do is judge people on the laws. Easy, simple, and somewhat boring.

Sure there’s some diversity in Red Smith’s America, but not too much to cause trouble. Sure there are a few differences in opinion or color or belief, but not too much, and those that aren’t “normal” know their place in Red Smith’s America and they stay silent, or else they just disappear, never to be seen or heard from again.

There are poor people in Red Smith’s America. After all, someone still needs to clean the toilets and serve the fries in this glorious state. But there are no homeless people, or people needing government assistance in Red Smith’s America. Such a concept doesn’t even exist. Sure the people could exist, in theory, but somehow they just disappear, never to be seen or heard from ever again.

Everyone pays their way in Red Smith’s America. Everything is provided by a private entity, which people eagerly pay for. People pay for insurance, they pay for medial costs, they pay for education for their children, they pay for their living, they pay for their retirement, and they even pay for their own death. And they only get what they pay for. They know that not everyone will get the same amount of service if they can’t afford to pay for more of it. It’s not perfect, but that’s the way that it is in Red Smith’s America, and people just accept it.

Meanwhile in OUR universe…

Our America is not working. Our economy has degraded into a malicious predatory state that is cannibalizing itself and then pretending that it has somehow “recovered”. It is being further exasperated by a political system that has failed the American people because it is mired in two groups that have their heads firmly entrenched in those two alternate universes.

One group is apathetic because they refuse to see the problems in this world. Instead, they have convinced themselves that things have already been fixed and they are in that perfect world of Joe Blue’s America. The other group is bitter and angry because this world is nothing like their Red Smith’s America, and they are doing everything in their power to drag the rest of us into how they think things ought to be.

And the end result of this continual dysfunction is misery. Millions of Americans have been literally forsaken by these two groups. They have been abandoned by the people stuck in Joe Blue’s America, and systematically shut out by the mechanizations of those with their heads in Red Smith’s America. How can the Forsaken Americans be expected to revitalize the economy when they have no money because of the apathy in one group and the malicious mechanizations of the other?

Let’s get brutally honest here… it is high time that both of those political factions get their heads out of those alternate realities and come back to our universe, to our America, and accept the reality that they created either through their malice or through their negligence. The longer they stand on platitudes, the worse things will get for the rest of us.

And to those who say that government can’t do anything to resolve our economy, I challenge you to truly read the history of this America. The Americans of this world have gone through this before in the 1930’s, and it took drastic measures to come out of it. But it took people living in this world making the decisions that help out every American, even those that were forsaken.

Those living with their heads stuck it the fictional worlds of either Joe Blue or Red Smith need to make a choice. They need to choose which world they will live in. Will they work with the people of this world, or will they continue to operate with their heads in those alternate universes? If they continue to favor the latter, I would strongly suggest that they be the ones to go away so the rest of us can fix the problems they helped to create.