I have avoided ranting about our nation’s financial mess at great length because I’m no economist. I’m far more educated, read, and knowledgeable when it comes to politics, but because the two are practically joined at the hip, it’s time to let loose. Besides, I’m livid.
In a piece on anger surfacing in McCain rallies today and yesterday, CNN’s David Gergen warned both candidates against whipping rally attendees into a frenzy that ultimately requires crowd control by cops in riot gear. http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/10/mccain.crowd/index.html?iref=mpstoryview Hey, it’s no shocker that people are pissed off. The shocker is that we’ve controlled ourselves to the extent that we have – no Joe or Jane Random truly has gone off on either candidate, or our lame President, about the state of this country.
People are scared shitless about their money; as a country, we concur that our current President sucks (and are thus not comforted by his press conferences); we worry we won’t be able to afford oil during the wintertime, thus leaving us with no heat; we’re appalled at AIG rewarding its highest-performing sellers with a half-million dollars’ worth of pampering after the bail-out; we’re outraged that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac granted loans to people who didn’t qualify for them; we hate Palin because she’s an ignorant politician who’ll undoubtedly abuse power if seated in the Vice-President’s office; we hate Obama because he’s inexperienced but smart, and he’s winning; we hate Biden because he’s a Democrat with bullying tendencies – and the nerve to tell the truth; we hate John McCain because he’s proving to be no maverick and only a misguided politician who simply can’t connect the dots concerning this country.
Notice how anger dissolved into hate in that last paragraph? Gergen is right: it’s easy to devolve into violence in an atmosphere of very righteous anger. We have invested our life savings in money markets, mutual funds, and the stock market, and entrusted it to lawmakers and financiers who promised to make it work for us for our future. We have now learned that those same authorities knew about this economic collapse and didn’t act to correct or avoid it – while simultaneously learning our retirement plans have shrunk by a third, or even by half, in an astonishing 8 days. We now don’t give a shit who is to blame for this mess – we just want it solved. We don’t think we should bear the financial burden of shoring up the economy while corporate execs jet off to Hawaii for the holidays while we don’t have money to buy toys for our kids. We’re tired of waiting around while Capitol Hill jerks us around with the delays on the legislation. Use plain English, involve no earmarks, pork, pigs, turkeys, lame ducks or lipstick, quit the finger pointing, and for Pete’s sake show us the money! Where’s the $700 billion you bastards promised us to stop the credit freeze?
I used to think there were only two things that would drive people to riot: cold and hunger. Add fear to that list. When people’s security and their very existence is threatened, they’ll riot. Anyone in a position of authority or power had better tread lightly and assuredly, and not promise something they can’t deliver; Americans have officially been stretched to the breaking point. War, money, health insurance, home mortgages, drowning polar bears, natural disasters, unemployment…all we need is plague courage.
I invite you to share what has angered you the most about the last month. It need not be political; sound off about your kid’s soccer game last weekend if you like. Venting is good for the soul.
