you shouldn’t be pissed at some of us lefties who have had it. we managed to elect O-man. we thought Congress would work with him. we are seeing that even Dems have a hard time passing bills such as this healthcare crap that finally went through. in the 30 years i’ve been here things have gone downhill socially. i am not a complete product of public schools; yes i went to them, but i had a home environment which nurtured curiosity and helped me educate myself outside of the system. my love for reading and my pro-active attitude toward literature didn’t come from my public school education, nor from any of my teachers. they came from my father, a writer, and my mother, a lover of arts. i went to public schools in the washington, dc area–one of the worst systems in our country. i knock this system because the gov’t doesn’t support it financially. when it pumps billions per month into Afghanistan and Iraq. i helped elect O thinking he could magically get Congress to work in a bi-partisan manner. what i’m seeing is: either O was a fraud, a Chicago-style politician…or he is truly trying to make headway, but Congress won’t let him.

those plenty people doing “their bit” are not enough to change the direction of the ship. i am not cynical or apathetic or indolent (i vote; i keep up with most everything socio-political; i write congresspeople, i sign petitions, etc.)…i am angry.

Whoops, need to get used to ranting without the option for editing after posting. Please excuse my many errors and my slightly fuzzy state of mind.

indeed, i do believe this country is too big for change to happen quickly; the gov’ts i usually seem to like are in countries such as Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Holland–all relatively “small” countries (population). i do realize the enormity of this body of people here. i am panicking over the corporate influence in the States, and over most people’s apathy toward it. i see it as a form of “factory farming” from the likes of Monsanto, Big Pharma, Wall Street, Tyson Foods…etc. i see education as being a major problem; people of my generation (40s w/kids and at least one home) are stuck on Facebook spewing bullshit mundane, self-absorbed information, and others buying into it–interacting. i see my generation having been dumb-ed down, not asking questions, avoiding real issues because they’re “too tired” or “wanna veg out.” i see most of my generation being too lazy to care or to take action en masse large enough to perhaps make some sort of difference. i don’t hold much faith for my generation, and i certainly don’t hold much faith for its children. we are fed processed shit from the elementary school cafeterias to the information we digest from Fox News et. al.

we are not able to leave this country for at least 10 years…we want to wait for our daughter to be old enough (18) to make her own choice. presently we don’t know where to go; I was pushing for Canada, which is where my wife was born, grew up, and spent all her adult life, but looking at the garbage Harper’s government is doing, and seeing a huge Conservative voting trend in the future, coupled with young voter apathy, the frozen tundra might be out. we have friends/family in some Scandinavian countries. mostly, we’re sort of stuck; we’re citizens without countries–not that that’s a bad intellectual thing. both my wife and i don’t care much for borders of any kind, nor do we recognize them intellectually…but we do obey laws. well…she does.

J,
the problem is with healthcare it’s too late for little incremental steps. we need full reform. and yes, both T and I agree that in a country as large as this (300+ mil) “real change” isn’t possible fast enough. the turnover from bush to obama, as you will see, and as history will show, won’t be such a huge deal after all. our first black prez…yes! but presidential historians will see that policy-wise, not many differences will have been made. i am not cynical just because i want to disagree with you; in fact, i am probably left of Marx at this point in my socio-political views. i agree that, while important beyond belief, civil rights, Social Security, though achieved in little steps, weren’t buttressing up emergency situations. healthcare and environment are different. if extreme action is not taken soon, little steps won’t help. little steps to clean up emissions won’t do shit. little steps to implement healthcare for a severely-failing system in which over 40 mil are un-insured and god knows how many other mil are under-insured won’t really help, James. environmental initiatives–if even passed–are a joke. they’re talking about reducing emissions by a few percentage points over the next 50 f-ing years! that’s laughable. some of these healthcare provisions aren’t slated to take effect until 2014. people are dying now. are un-insured and facing foreclosure bec. all their $ has gone to healthcare payments now. this is what i mean. i hear you and i am well-versed in history, but these particular issues (healthcare and enviro) will no longer be solved, or even addressed, in little steps.

long ago i realized that this system (capitalism/corporate domination) works for some and doesn’t for others. we’re the latter.

i’m pissed that this bill is so watered down. i’m pissed that by no means this was anything close to a bi-partisan job. i’m pissed that the concessions made were in favour of corporations and Big Pharma anyway. i see your point about a start, but for this country it’s too late to just “start.” this country needs to get shit done the right way. for too long i’ve put up with this shitty mentality: well at least…. at least this, at least that. fuck this man. get it done right. you and i won’t see any major changes in anything social in our lifetimes. i hold a minuscule amt. of hope that something good might be done in my kid’s lifetime…but my educated guess is that it won’t. yes, the Right is an insufferable wing of parasites. but let’s not forget how many fuckin’ Dems hemmed and hawed at passing this thing. i’m not satisfied. do it right. in any case, we’re leaving this godforsaken land so i should just shut up. over and out.