Went to bed early, awoke at 3am, got on the internet and read the big news. It wasn't what I wanted. The 'why' is a shifting set of variables so uninteresting even my grandiose self-involvement can barely stand to write it. That I didn't believe in the guy doesn't make me feel pain about it. Because I don't know that I'm right.
The supposition of building from the middle class is an idea I can get with, but I don't think the president really believes this, or is capable of doing it. I figure there will be some middle class remorse when the W tax cuts run out in January, and everyone looks at their paychecks, and feel differently about who is or isn't doing their fair share. I feel worse for working class Maine people; in this state it is the law to balance the budget; in this state we're getting a little bond-happy. Big bond issues, forced balance budget -- how? Mucho tax-tax. Don't comfort yourselves with the idea that Maine millionaires will be paying their fair share, all those cats pulled a Stephen King, (good democrat he is), and set up phoney residence in Florida.
But maybe I'm wrong, and I really mean that. Embarrassed to say I did feel a little like lashing out at friends of mine today, "What is it you're celebrating? Don't you know not one-terming these guys is a mistake? Second terms are almost always failures rife with paying back all the operators who have done the dirty work. It's not backwards thinking to oust leadership on a four year clip."
My poison feelings changed when I went to Wendy's for breakfast this morning. Down here in good old Greenwich Rhode Island, two black women womaning the drive-thru. They were bouncing around, laughing, completely high because, for today at least, shit is right in the world. Their joy got me laughing. My laughing got them laughing. Then they started really goofing off because I was laughing. Clarity. I don't know how to explain this kind of sublime moment other than: it makes your heart horny. Real life. Happiness. Well, Ladies, maybe four years from now we all will have tread enough rough current that we'll see each other again.
-- Regarding gay marriage. I voted for it. It was the most Republican decision I made during election season. I voted for it because of the taxes, and because I believe the old line that the states are the laboratory for democracy. I don't consider people loving each other a moral imperative to take to a high judiciary. As the great thinkers of our time, like Shakspeare, and Tina Turner, would say: What's love got to do with it? I do think it's the right thing, and the right time, but if you were arguing for the court to mandate it, rather than taking it to the people, I'd fight against you. Like weed in Colorado, (another issue that has no meaning in my personal life, but I have to hear people talk about constantly), let the states test it out. Hopefully Maine can get ahead of the rest of the nation with the "legalize rails of blow initiative".
Congratulations, friends. I am happy for you. So now I'm going to lay back on this cruddy Best Western cot and figure out how the hell I'm going to pay for a mortgage next year.
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4 comments:
I'm interested by what you say about the benefits of the single term... I was only saying to someone the other day that I think it would benefit our country to let leaderships go for a bit longer. I must be way too trusting... We have a situation in our country that policy is now so driven by electoral pressure and the desire for popularity, that you get crazy half-baked policies churned out just to create news and buzz, which are then immediately overturned by the next party that comes in. It seems a phenomenally wasteful and short-sighted way to run a country. A party will make root and branch changes to some critical bit of infrastructure, and then the next party comes along and does it all over again, differently - because the new guys just have to put their stamp on things. I can't believe it.... I seem to be arguing in favour of a dictatorship. I surprise myself sometimes!
The other thing is... is taxation really a reason to choose one party or another? Surely you end up paying for it whichever party you end up with... And does it really make that much difference to your pay packet at the end of the month? Are you talking like an extra penny in the pound of income tax, or what? I don't know the ins and outs of the fiscal situation over there, but I am always slightly mystified when people get their knickers in a twist about tax. With a right-wing government you end up paying out more for wars, with a left-wing one you end up paying out more for social security... it all comes out in the wash, no?
yes, taxation is. There was a revolution in this country over it once. You're not a Brit are you?
Just one of your many international fans. There are hundreds of us out here, on tenterhooks waiting to hear the latest nugget on the intricacies of the Maine political system. This blog's gone viral!
that was funny+ Unfortunately I know my overseas readership is Saudi men looking for pictures of womens' asses and Google translated misogyny.
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