Annoying Autobiographical Pause – Mainstreet Edition
In the midst of sounding morbid this week, it’s been a doozy. My friend Paul passed away and I went to the visitation. When I got there, his wife came to me and we talked a moment about what a wonderful man he was. But here’s the thing that was just so shocking to me that it’s taken me a few days to process it.
Her grandmother died three hours before her husband did. Paul was on one side of the funeral home, her grandmother was on the other.
Next time I whine, you are allowed to call me an asshat.
She is one of Mainstreet. In her grief, she could have given two poops about what is currently going on in Washington.
I’ve thought a lot about being in this small town. So much has happened this week and to put it in a blog post is difficult, thus this annoying autobiographical pause as I try to wrap my brain cells around it all.
Yesterday, I was in contact with one of John Tanner’s people and he told me that John voted for the bailout, I just sighed because a verbal riot ensued within the doors of the paper within just a matter of minutes once the news was given. Business people were waiting to hear.
Let’s just say, it wasn’t Tanner’s best day in the minds of some of those “Mainstreeters” that everyone keeps talking about.
So I hit the street and I heard more angry diatribes that would make my grandmother blush if she was still alive. Disillusionment and confusion followed by foul words that filled the air followed by the big question “Why?”
“There not explaining it to us,” one man said. “They just shoved it down our throats and they talk about mainstreet and saving middle class Americans but I don’t see it that way. What was Tanner thinking?”
“I lost $85,000 dollars in the past two weeks,” another man said. “I’ve been a Republican my whole life, but this isn’t a political thing. This is a matter of that I see the republic of this country destroyed.”
“I don’t have anything anyway,” one woman cited. “But it’s the principal of the matter that makes me angry.”
I tried to find someone who supported the issue and believe me, I tried.
I didn’t find one.
Not one, and I went to several places. Not one “Mainstreeter” I talked to supported this measure.
Not one.
And I talked to dozens.
In this day of instant information, we have none. We hear catchphrases but very little valid explanation on why. The failure lies with our elected officials not listening.
And as I referenced at the beginning of this post, day-to-day life goes on. There isn’t a choice.
But to reflect these words that are floating around the ‘tubes right now:
Dear Con. John Tanner,
As a taxpaying, voting citizen of this great nation, you have failed me. Over the course of the past two weeks, you have chosen to divert more money from my child to benefit those who have worked off of my back to get to where they are today.
I grow weary, not from the constant burden that has been placed on my shoulders everyday by those who claim to work in my best interest. No, I grow weary because I look at my two-year-old daughter who hasn’t a clue what is going on this country right now and I see her begin to slump over. She slumps because of the burden that she unknowingly carries at the hand of people that pretend to care about her future.
The failure is more than that though. We looked at pork attached to this bill. They voted for it anyway. We watched panic. Blue Dogs weren’t very blue, were they?
We are told it was the best thing to do.
I ask “Why?”
With that said, I’m hanging up my boots with the Democrats and the Republicans.
I just became an independent.
And I will answer “Why?”
Because the lot of Washington has forgotten “Mainstreet” but that’s where I live. I live on the ground and in the trenches. Mainstreet no longer exists after the past eight years and it is more than a catchphrase.
Mainstreet is filled with people. Forgotten people.
And thus I direct you to this post by Sadcox, who has posted an image that explains it all.
What a great post, and thanks for the link. For some reason trackbacks aren’t working on my site…I’ll try to figure that out. Anyway…
It becomes more and more apparent to me every day that this right/left, liberal/conservative, Democrat/Republican, CNN/Fox “debate” we are being sold is just marketing. It’s marketing designed to divert everyone’s attention–divide and conquer if you will.
A few years ago, when the Dems regained control, I was talking to a friend on the phone — she detests GW Bush like no one else I know. And she was filled with glee over the Dems getting back in power. I hesitated, but finally said it: “Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.” She promised things would be different. Now that the Dems were in power, they would be able to put the brakes on things.
It’s been all I can do to not pick up the phone and dial her and say “remember when I said “meet the new boss?’” — luckily, I’m not one to spike the ball.
Because all I’m able to talk about is politics lately (I can’t escape it, no matter how hard I try), it’s all jumbled up in my head — but I told someone how I feel the other day. Healthcare reform and social security are the two great carrots being dangled to us. Those two issues are the bargaining chips that makes so many people hopeful. But the truth is that those are two issues that will never be resolved. It’s a destination this country, I feel, to which we will never arrive. Why? Because the people in power already have their healthcare reform & their social security set in stone. Why should they worry about the rest of us? They don’t play by the same rules. And why should they care if our wages ever increase? Our taxes go to them to do as they choose – and to raise their own salaries on a consistent basis.
The one thing that keeps me hopeful is that come November 4, the power is in my hands and the rest of the people in this country to exact our own voice. When I step into the voting booth, look out Washington. If there is an “incumbent” beside your name, you will NOT receive my vote. As far as I’m concerned you’re getting a pink slip. Your job will no longer exist.
$750 Billion dollars. The cost of another Iraq war. Take time to pause and think of all the positive things that could be done with that money. How many jobs could be created. Think of what could be done by putting that money toward ending our energy dependence on oil, for example. Or creating scholarships for all the people who can’t afford higher education. Interesting, how we’re always told “the money doesn’t exist” when it’s something for the working class of the country, but when the fat cats need a bailout, it miraculously appears.
I was reared in a Republican stronghold of this country. But I don’t identify with them — haven’t for years — and I feel like the party left me, rather than me leaving the party. And I have many friends back home that feel this way.
I really dislike feeling the way I do — not feeling hope about the future of where this country is headed, but I see no signs to point to a place where I feel things will get better. And it’s like I have a knot in my stomach. But knowing that I am not following a blind allegiance to a party is helpful.
Bottom line, I’ve taken the blinders off, and that’s empowering.
Here’s the pork for GM car dealers… for a car that MAY NEVER BE BUILT. (which in a way would be a GOOD thing)
“$700 billion Wall Street bailout bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush today secures a tax break of up to $7,500 for the high-tech cars.”
That is aimed at the Chevy Volt. A $40,000 estimated MSRP car.
I’m still undecided on the bailout ! But I thought you would want to know about this.
BTW: notice how MSM has changed “bailout” to “rescue” ?
I realize that some kind of bailout was needed on a global level, but it was all the pork that really aggravated me. It’s those added things that just make me want to throw my hands up into the air and yell “I surrender.”
I think what made me the most put out is that Mainstream American is dead and has been sold to corporations who have left rural America, at least, anyway.
I did notice that. Raman noodles for all of us. w00t! (snark)
Paulson’s original proposal was a horror. Congress went in and fixed the worst parts: put in oversight, made putting up the bulk of the money contingent on getting results from the first installment, a bunch of good, sensible stuff. I thought that version of the bill was a good thing, on the whole. Then the House voted on it, and it was defeated. So, I thought, they’ll fix it some more — put in protections for people’s mortgages, raise FDIC insurance on small business accounts, put in more conditions on how the funds could be disbursed, buy shares that might show a profit in the future instead of handing the money to the corporations with no returns — all good things. But no, they added pork. I would have voted for the bill the first time it came up, but that second version? No way. For sure, anyone who voted no the first time around and yes the second time around needs to be handed his or her hat.
nm, exactly.