Hamster Wheel of Despair

 Walkin' like a one man army 
Fightin' with the shadows in your head 
Livin' up the same old moment 
Knowin' you’d be better off instead 
If you could only 
Say what you need to say 
--Say What You Need to Say, 
John Mayer 

The word is a force;
it is the power you have to express and communicate,
to think, and thereby to create the events in your life…
But like a sword with two edges,
your word can create the most beautiful dream,
or your word can destroy everything around you 
--The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz 

A prudent question is one-half 
of wisdom 
--Sir Frances Bacon
___________________

It is hard for me to summon up much interest in the upcoming Presidential elections -- this from one who was once most enthusiastic and involved in the whole campaigning shtick.  But it was hard to resist taking a peek at last night's Veep debate, and I was rewarded for my curiosity by a feeling of being intellectually sullied.

Everything about the event disappointed, from the vapidity of the moderator's questions to the insincerity and alternating inanity of the participant's responses.  My country's real color travails were buried under faux "painful" non-topics like abortion, and the rebuilding needs of other nations who do not love us, but love our vanity for the largess it funnels their way.

Ranger said that he understood from the debate that Vice President Biden had expressed that since there was no more mission in Afghanistan, that we should pull out.  While I heard Biden express the former, I did not hear the latter. One may not infer anything, especially from those who have been less than forthright in the past; especially, not from a politician.  One must be immaculate with one's word, and brave enough to ask the questions.

I winced as Joe Biden rolled his eyes in the dismissive gesture which helped Al Gore Lose a debate and an election.  In the United States it does not matter that your foe is an idiot or disingenuous -- we are a nation that defends one's right to be wrong.  In a better world, one's power of reason would surmount any feelings of revulsion or disdain.

Understood that Biden is fighting to appear viable in a world where "D'oh" suffices as a rejoinder; still, it was sad to not hear him counter Martha Raddatz's hokum question about abortion by putting her and it in its place: Roe v. Wade is the law of the land, and we are a law-abiding nation. Period. Biden's and Ryan's perspective are non-starters.

Instead, we were treated to Ryan's pablum about watching "The Bean's" heartbeat during the sonogram, and Biden's attempt at Catholic parity with Ryan.  How refreshing it would have been to turn from the politics of vested interests to those of a nation in great need -- the true domain of The Executive.

Whatever happened to the concept of the Presidential debate?  Going back 52 years to Nixon and Kennedy, ones hears actual topics of national import being discussed.  True, Nixon may have lost due to his ominous 5 o'clock shadow, but still, the candidate's rhetoric did not fail.
 
Succumbing to the politics of appearance in 2012, Ryan appears to me, a zombie.  As in Night of the Living Dead, all he and his sort need do is perdure; theirs is the future.  There is something appallingly messianic in the posture of such ones.

I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.  Everybody likes him a little salvation.

He Talks Pretty

Those are my principles,
and if you don't like them... well, I have others
--Groucho Marx
_________________

From Seymour Hersh's "Chain of Command" (2004)":

"Referring to the war in Afghanistan, which was then underway, [Joe] Biden asked rhetorically, "How much longer does the bombing continue? Because we're going to pay an escalating price in the Muslim world. We're going to pay an escalating price in the region. And that, in fact, is going to make the the aftermath of our 'victory' more difficult . . . I hope to God it ends sooner rather than later."

"Biden also had these words for the Musharraf regime: "We have to make clear to the Pakistanis that, notwithstanding the fact that we need you very much right now . . . if you are going to continue to foment the terror that does exist in Kashmir, then you are operating against your own near-term interests, because that very viper can turn on you."

"Biden came as close as Democrat had come sine September 11th to straightforward criticism of President Bush's war aims. . . . (290)."

What a difference a day makes. What has happened to old Talkin' Joe? In 2001 he was against Bush's war policies in Afghanistan, but in 2009 he is foursquare behind the efforts being continued by his new boss.

At least Bush was honest in his blinkering of the American public. He blindly but audaciously led the country into a war without end. But how do We the People reconcile the fact that our new administration -- elected amidst anti-war sentiment -- has not changed course?

Why do we even bother to vote?