But not to worry. Too many important people have their wealth in dollars to allow the dollar to evaporate in value. Russia and China are not going to start wars. They are bluffing. China can't afford it, lacks sufficient military power for it, and has too much to lose. Russia is a personal-interest oriented gangster nation, and wars are expensive and unpredictable. Besides, I've heard rumors that they lack the necessary trucks and gasoline. (Nice tanks; good footage; fuck you.)
Most unfortunately, the world has bigger fish to fry than the madness of the masses. If you are over forty, you will probably be fine. If you are under forty, bon chance, mon ami! Bet the “Big 6 and 8,” because the Seven and the Eleven are out of the question. If you are smart, you might avoid the Snake Eyes and the Box Cars.
I feel bad for the youngsters out there. Hitting your Point is probably out of the question by now.
Americans! My beloved countrymen! You poor, hypnotized Rubes! (Snaps fingers.) Awake! And remember nothing.
Statistics don't lie. Well, sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't. Here's a good set, from Shilbey Telhami of the University of Maryland at College Park:
Thirty-seven percent more Republicans believe that Iran possesses nuclear weapons than believe that Israel possesses them. (The factor for Americans overall is seventeen percent more believing that Iran has them while Israel does not.)*
Wake up! Israel has had nukes for many decades. Famously! This is common knowledge among even slightly aware Americans. Iran is not yet in the nuclear club.
American politics has become such a shit-show that many American voters, including me, are tempted to move to a neutral corner, put our hands up, and say, “not my circus; not my monkeys.” But a lot of people still vote. Many of them still vote for Democrats, even though the once heroic Democratic party is no longer useful in service of the country's best interests. Many of them still vote for Republicans! I know that I am just shouting into a bucket, but I still wonder, “why?”
The great majority of Republican voters are a bunch of stiffs who either buy the “Freedom” crap, or sufficiently hate homosexuals to wish that the condition would be re-criminalized, or are white supremacists of some kind, or are Jesus-cult types who lack the intellectual commitment necessary for mainstream religion and simply go with the “Jesus is my personal savior” bullshit. (Send us your money! It will bring you good luck! Jesus loves you! Jesus wants us all to be rich! Be rich like me! Send me money!)
A rather small portion of Republican voters are very prosperous people who have a financial interest in Republican party goals. Lower taxes on the rich; eliminate the estate tax (which only affects people who die with millions of dollars in their estates); eliminate regulations on business (good for short-term profits, and increases dividends); weaken the Federal Government (more autonomy to corporations, which are, let's face it, people who own large stock investments).
My question today, my QUESTION OF THE DAY, is:
Is someone who votes their financial interest, with no regard for the overall interests of the United States, or the American people, you know, the hell with them, are those self-interested voters automatically corrupt bastards? Are they complicit in the damage done by their votes?
I'm afraid that the answers to both questions is, “yes.”
I don't like that result, because I know some of those people, and they do seem generally to be good men and women. I am sure that they have reasonable sounding justifications for their votes cast for Republicans. You can imagine it. They're considering their children; they want their money market funds to pay for elite colleges for their grandchildren; they have strong religious beliefs that give them pause at the thought of homosexuals having the same rights as anyone else. They can dress it all up so that voting Republican sounds reasonable.
They must be made to realize that voting Republican makes them personally complicit in all of the vomitous hatred and lies spread by the associated right-wing media, and all of the disgusting, outright lies spouted daily by various Republican politicians, and all of the racism and homophobia that filters down to low-functioning members of society, who are thereby driven to violence, many of whom are police, and in a position to dish out some truly shocking ultra-violence.
You might say, and you'd be right, that it's really all of us who are responsible. At this point, with ample evidence on this blog, I am on record as being thoroughly disenchanted with the Democrats. They are also complicit. But the Republicans, and all Republican voters, have definitely earned the clearest “guilty” verdict in this particular j'accuse!
*Harper's Index, November, 2021.
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