The lovely wife pointed out to me that I’ve been a little on the angry side recently, to which I vehemently responded, “No I haven’t! What are you talking about!?” When I realized, about 3 seconds later, how ridiculous my reply was, I felt a little stupid, but still pissed. I’ve been angry about my dog, my house, my job, but mostly I’ve been angry about my government.
It may not help that youth, and later, substance abuse, allowed me to block out most of the Reagan and Bush the First presidencies. I remember Reagan’s voice, and I remember some soundbites. “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” and “We begin bombing in five minutes.” Of Bush I there’s only the day we invaded Iraq and Dana Carvey.
I’m sure this lack of perspective makes it harder for me to accept Bush II as what I hope he is, a temporary swing of the political pendulum to the right. I keep telling myself that eventually the people in power get too stupid, and too greedy, and they isolate certain factions in their base, and they polarize the opposition, and they get voted out, so the other side can get the opportunity to do the same thing.
I really hope I’m right on that, but, in the meantime, giving myself a stroke every time Bush says something stupid would bring me that much closer to death… well, every time he speaks. I’d be brain-dead within the week. So I’m gonna try to chill… at least until the next election.