Ms. Fixit

“Well, I guess I’ll just fix this country myself.” 

So sayeth Elizabeth Warren (and more power to her, literally), the Dem Senate candidate in Massachusetts as she tries to win back Ted Kennedy's seat from the unpredictable Scott Brown and the thinly veiled racism of the Republican right. And if the voters of Mass. (Mainers often call them Massholes) give her the chance, no doubt she'll fix it proper, as Eliza Doolittle might say. All women hear her, it's how we feel at the end of nearly every day. In the face of the East coast flood, your typical female is prone to say, "Just grab a mop and let's giterdone. Stop moanin about the mess, waitin for someone else to take care of it, git off yer duff."

A  native Jersey girl myself, I feel for the thousands of folks along that tortured shore trying to find a loaf of bread, or a place to shower, or their car, at this point. Not to mention treasured keepsakes gone forever. The losses and devastation are beyond conceivable really, the photos mindblowing. How will they ever rebuild their lives? Where would you start? It's Katrina minus the levees.  My uncle's funeral may not take place as planned if, as my cousin wrote me, they don't "get the boats and sand outta the streets in time." Not to mention the electricity back on. And still the climate deniers lead in too many polls across the country, poised to retain (in Arkansas, to win) control of state houses (where they will carry forth the tenets of the Repub platform no one has actually read) largely thanks to the Repubs' success with redistricting after the 2010 census. I don't want to think it's because people are stupid, willfully so, but... I've gnawed my nails raw in anticipation of next Tuesday's results, praying Nate Silver knows something the other pollsters don't. I voted straight Democratic ticket this time, hoping they'll get their act together, adhere to time-honored principles and stop trying to play the game of political footsie with Big Money – because Citizens United said they have to simply in order to enter the playing field.

I can't help but recall swearing after the 2000 "election" that if my fellow citizens were dumb enough to either elect (which they didn't) or put up with W (they guy you wanna have a beer with?) installed as president, I'd have to relocate to more liberal shores, you know, where they still remember what life under fascism was like. And his numbers tanked shortly after he assumed office. But Nineleven fixed that, suddenly he was Superman. Aghast, I stayed, confident that after four years of the W cabal "misleading" us and disassembling "good" government while more than doubling the size of "bad" government (the part that spies on us), the country would rebel, would see the agenda unfolding, reject the radical conservative spiel that government is bad (unless spying on us or subsidizing Big Oil and Big Money), out-of-work folks are just lazy fekkers, women are designated by God solely as sperm repositories and baby machines (oh, and idle flatterers to whom "every sperm is sacred"), and if you can't afford health insurance there's something inherently wrong with you (no, it's not the lack of guaranteed health insurance one finds in those commie nations), that you're  the problem – unfixable, a drain on society. The list goes on. It's what the would-be president's ambition untethered to substance campaign of Myttology is all about. 

I'm trying to work, but it's hard, knowing that my son's and daughter's friends and their daughters may be imprisoned if they choose to have an abortion, that millions of have-nots will wither and die without the healthcare they need, that four years from now much of the country will be denied their right to vote, that some wacko now running down in Arkansas will pass a law allowing the state to execute uncooperative children... From Fuqua's (pronounced fookyu) book:

"The maintenance of civil order in society rests on the foundation of family discipline. Therefore, a child who disrespects his parents must be permanently removed from society in a way that gives an example to all other children of the importance of respect for parents. The death penalty for rebellioius children is not something to be taken lightly. The guidelines for administering the death penalty to rebellious children are given in Deut 21:18-21:"

That anyone could run with the backing of the Republican party on such a platform should scare the shyte out of everyone about what that party really stands for now. Read their Platform here, scroll to page 9, and decide if these folks threaten your idea of personal liberties guaranteed by the Constitution or not.

Obama is right:  It IS all about the Supreme Court, the final arbiter of laws since Marbury v Madison in the early 1800s. There were plenty of folks in the 2000s saying this as well, folks who saw which way the tide was moving. Why don't americans know these things? Willful ignorance, and they, and their "undecided" cohorts who choose ignorance over being informed, those Johnny-come-late-to-the-table, never miss an episode of Dancing with the Stars, citizens, will get what they asked for if Romney/Ryan have their way. 

I encountered a friend on the street the other day and the subject of the election came up. I mentioned I was glued to all media in anticipation of Tuesday's outcome. Perplexed, he asked me why, and I insisted that our shredded democracy/Republic hung in the balance. His opinion was that my keen interest amounted to an obsession. Well, okay, yes, I guess you could call it that. Or you could call it, as I do, giving a shit, understanding that what happens rests with ME, with each of us, being a responsible citizen. Being able to tell shit from Shinola.

If you wanna play "I'm an American", you gotta know the rules.

Find them here. And pass 'em on.