When I was a kid back in the 50's, I always looked up to the men who governed this great nation of ours. In my mind they were the smartest most noble officials we could find to run our country. We were always taught reverence of the office of the president and all his cabinet members. As time went on, I would hear grumblings from my step-father about taxes and wages and being a kid, I just didn't understand the big deal because we had the smartest man in the world as a president. He'll fix it because he's smart.
In the early 60's I noticed that nothing had changed except the man in office. He's younger and even smarter than the last one, so we're still in good hands and things take time to work themselves out.
By the middle 60's things got worse. Oswald had killed the president, so they say, and a new one took his place. Things will be okay, I thought. Boy could I be anymore wrong. In a word: Vietnam.
The United States government wanted to send me on an all expenses paid trip to a country I wanted no part of. I never saw a Vietnamese person, much less wanted to kill him.
I started to question authority in the 70's. As a working man my step-fathers grip's had new meaning for me. First of all, when I would look at my pay check I always wondered who is this FICA guy and why is he taking so much money from me. So I started voting. Surely the majority of the people thought the way I did. Wrong. Tricky Dickie is reelected and things won't change, again.
In the 80's I just let things happen, like a broken man, and stopped trying.
The 90's looked like we were on the upswing, until the end of the decade. Don't get me wrong, I didn't like our government, but it was getting a little better.
Here comes the 21st century. Jet packs and flying cars? No. Just the same BS we've been getting. W was okay, and he had a lot on his plate, but jeez what an idiot.
I now see that we're in the final stages of politics as usual, and that the government needs to realize that we are not fools. We know that there's just a man behind the curtain, not the Great and Powerful Oz.
I think/hope things will change this year when a lot of the seats in the houses of government change sides.
Here's hoping for a REAL change.
No comments:
Post a Comment