Prose and Cons

I fear that we have lost our collective minds. Some of us are contemplating electing a Republican as president. We are fixated on whether Rick "His Holiness" Santorum is better qualified than Willard. Newt seems to have flamed out and all but Dr. Paul's ardent supporters seem to think he hasn't a prayer of getting the nomination.

And all of this is to unseat Barry. All of this is to gain control and to "fix" the country.

You have got to be kidding me!

Oh...you're not...

Let me begin.

Over the past 50 years we have seen our country slide down the Mountain of Prosperity and land almost at the bottom of the Valley of Despair.

We have gone from the country who won the Second World War to one that has gotten into five conflicts for, at best, dubious reasons and has popularized the term "quagmire" to describe our military adventures.

We kicked ass in Germany and Japan but have had trouble in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. The Gulf War was the only one in which we had the good sense to get in and get out in short order.

We argue about who is better, the Republicans or the Democrats. To be sure, neither party has a lock on morality and/or good sense but the Democrats seem to care.

Roosevelt...The New Deal
Kennedy...The New Frontier
Johnson...The Great Society
Carter...Camp David
Clinton...a budget surplus

Now, to be fair, John Kennedy started the Vietnam escapade and Lyndon Johnson certainly ramped it up exploiting the questionable events in The Gulf of Tonkin.

But Richard Nixon took the war to an even higher level of engagement with the bombings in Laos and Cambodia. And don't forget Kent State.

While Bill Clinton may have dissapointed us by having an extra-marital affair, President Nixon almost caused a Constitutional meltdown with his near hijacking of the government during Watergate and the firing of Archibald Cox.

Jimmy Carter tried and failed to rescue our hostages in Iran but Ronald Reagan almost caused another Constitutional crisis by subverting the Boland Amendment with his "Arms for Hostages" charade during the Iran-Contra affair.

Barack Obama may not be Jesus Christ, as many presumed, and his healthcare initiative and failure to jumpstart the economy leave something to be desired but let's pause for a moment to reflect on the inspired presidency of George Walker Bush.

War in Afghanistan (we're still there after 10 years...)
War in Iraq...and the WMD are where, exactly...?
Abu Ghraib...
Hurricane Katrina...
Prosecutorgate...
Scooter Libby...
Wall Street, TARP and The Great Recession...

All of the above happened during a Republican administration.

I know that the Democrats have had their share of scandal and corruption. They are almost as bad as the GOP.

But almost ain't all the way.

The Democrats have given us the WPA, Social Security, Medicare and, again, with all of it's flaws, Obamacare.

The Republicans have given us needless wars, recession, the disappearance of the Middle Class and Constitutional scandals to rival anything happening in governments we love to villify abroad.

Again, I say that neither party is any good.

It just seems as though the Democrats are less bad than the Republicans.

I guess that's all we can hope for. Almost everything else in our society is mediocre these days.

Why should our government leaders be any different?

Have a wonderful day...


And one more thing...

Please don't forget how we got into our current mess. Granted, Obama hasn't solved our problems a fast as we had hoped but our problems...his problems...were inherited from the Republicans. It was eight years of irresponsible, reckless and possibly criminal behavior that brought us to where we are today.

So when you contemplate electing a Republican as president...again...remember who created the problems in the first place.

The idea that allowing the fox back into the hen house will get us more eggs is just plain nuts.

Again...I bid you a wonderful day...!