Bad case of the Blues

Maybe it’s because local politics has become so dysfunctional, with our county board of supervisors now dominated by those hock-tooey Democrats. Maybe it’s because our beloved commonwealth may desert Republicans come fall, turn blue and even help put in the White House an elitist amateur who’ll make it brown for the first time.

In any event, despite our lovely spring, accompanied by a good soaking of my garden and basement, I’m also getting blue. Not the political color, but the mood. Is mine just the typical grouchiness that comes with advanced age? Since I’ve been writing these columns in retirement for over 12 years, moreover, maybe that burden has made things seem worse.

But there are also today’s many troubling externalities, to pull a fancy term from my long-past bureaucratic environment that crawled with economists.

Some of them (the externalities) are burrs under my saddle. For instance, who can just sit there, slack-jawed, as California judges rule gay marriages are legal although the state had overwhelmingly voted otherwise?

And how about the judicial decree that our paper money all of a sudden isn’t good enough? No, it seems our greenback discriminates against the blind. Holy affirmative action! Next, you can bet the judges will rule that DVD movies will henceforth have to be blind-friendly too.

And just look at Congress. Better yet, don’t. They’re crazy up there in Washington. It would be funny were they trying to bewilder only today’s voters. They are also burdening Americans for generations to come. Remember the recent furor over “earmarks?” Congressers ignored the flak Nothing could deter their personal bribes of constituents.

One of their latest abominations, the Farm Bill, continues those awful ethanol mandates. And now even Bush seems to have succumbed to illogical ideas and programs, joining the global-warming crazies.

It seems all of them today want to drive those hybrid autos, joining the true believers who--just like those Indians of old dancing around the fire to hasten the rain--think they will stop the climate from changing.

Concerning a much more serious worry, we have no idea what are the consequences of the high oil prices. Years ago our feckless legislators refused to encourage domestic oil production, and now strive mightily to blame everyone else for their own incompetence.

Speaking of the haughty powers that be, Former Navy Secretary John Lehman once noted, “Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat.” The super-rich among us would certainly agree. I’ve read that they have a lot more control over our lives than anyone could imagine, sitting on governing boards galore and further enriching themselves. No wonder that the gap between the rich and the rest of us has been widening so much.

But we already tax them enough, right? Don’t make me laugh, not when our home and stock values keep plunging. And not when there's the prospect of massive U.S. airline bankruptcies, bank and builder failures, galloping inflation and a blundering GOP.

One bright spot in my otherwise blue litany is, yes, the Iraq war. We are winning, Congress to the contrary. For nobody wants to acknowledge that George Bush’s sole but huge legacy may be victory over terrorism, something quite rare since WWII. But the fact is, terrorism worldwide is also abating, according to a recent Washington Post analysis by Fareed Zakaria.

Right now, though, I don’t wish to be burdened by such sunshine for the soul. Too many other things, like Washington’s Nationals, are looking like I feel.

Some folks even begrudge us elders our precious remaining time on earth. The Washington Post had a snippy review of “Leisureville,” a critical book about The Villages, where I visited last winter. They’re home to thousands of plus-55 retirees living happily in Florida. But that can’t be good, purportedly depriving kids and their elders alike of the enjoyment of being together. What the review omitted was any mention of two main attractions for the residents. They are 99 percent white, and being in a gated, protected community, very safe--as if that were any concern of the big-city old folks left behind.

Then there are the poor polar bears, threatened it’s said by climate change although their numbers are climbing. And how about plastic bags? They’re so good they’re bad. Yet, it’s said the use of paper bags carries roaches into the kitchen. Yikes.

Still and all, I’ll let you in on a little secret. Crabiness is enjoyable, so long as there’s light at the end of the tunnel. I still believe there is, contrary to the evidence presently at hand, including my wet basement.

I could go on, but I’d hate to also make you prematurely, nonpolitically blue. But if it happens, welcome to the club. And perhaps after the November elections, welcome also to Virginia.

Will it be the kid or the old goat?

Say there, Barack and John, “Will you love me in December as you do in May?”--and June?
That timely question arises, since the national election’s bloviations have already begun. And someday after the parties’ conventions, but not now, we’re liable to find out what the candidates are really like. Will they, like the old song title quoted above, wear well or--in McCain‘s case--perhaps run out of steam?

About that song title, you do recall how it goes, don’t you. Here’s a verse from that true oldie:

Will you love me in December as you do in May?
Will you love me in the good old-fashioned way?
When my hair has all turned gray,
Will you kiss me then and say,
That you love me in December as you do in May?

Kissing may not be on either party’s agenda since Hillary is no longer in the race. Don‘t dismiss the idea, though, in case Obama feels he must really go after the gay vote with a symbolic smooch.

Of course, lest we forget (but let’s do), there’s also the other two guys running: Bob Barr and Ralph Nader. I forget why.

But those concerns can wait for another month or so. For now, let’s look back fondly on the 2008 election personalities. Personally I was attracted most to Mike Huckabee, although too soon he was largely beside the point. He was, as someone remarked, Huckabeen.

Start with Obama. (And don’t you just know he’ll make a big deal out of this year’s Juneteenth celebration of Emancipation Day--officially June 19-- in the South.) No confusion over his name anymore, right? Especially since there’s no politically correct middle name for him. Yet, as the Associated Press reported from Crow Agency, Mont., on one of his final campaign events of the primaries: “The newly named Awe Kooda Bilaxpak Kuuxshish--better known as Barack Obama--faced east, the symbolic source of new life. His adopted Crow father... prayed over him...Obama promised to live up to the meaning of his new name: "One Who Helps People Throughout the Land."

Next stop China Town?

Don’t get me wrong. His election campaign will be studied for years for its miraculous effectiveness against huge odds.

Even so I hope we can put behind us the campaigns‘ abundant divisive stuff, which flourished as long as Hillary stayed in the race, thanks to race perhaps. “ [T]here has been a consistent media theme that it's acceptable for blacks to vote for Barack Obama because he's black, but racist for whites to vote for Hillary Clinton because she's white,” observed blogger Noel Sheppard. But how about the crime of ageism, since Obama is still a young twerp and McCain an old one? Just wondering.

Regardless, Obama must hope he’s done with Bill Clinton, the clown of the primaries who surely lost the top spot for Hillary. As former Clinton ally Dick Morris put it, “The public Bill Clinton has morphed...from a statesman...to angry, cursing, spoiled narcissist, accusing everyone of being sleazy and biased...And make no mistake, Bill comes along with Hillary.”

Similarly for Obama, so does wife Michelle. She says things like, "He is going to demand that you...move out of your comfort zones...And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed." Well, if that happens, he’ll have bigger problems on his hands than Michelle‘s mouth or hate-spewing preachers.

Beyond the headline personalities, gasoline prices and oil companies are hot topics. I agree with a recent comment by blogger Glenn Reynolds: “[S]omebody needs to pin down the critics on just what sources of energy are acceptable, given that they don't like oil, don't want nuclear, oppose gas drilling, are limiting oil shale, and even get in the way of wind power.”

By the way, the candidates will surely try to outdo each other on who hates global warming the most. Too bad it won’t make any difference. Nobody can do anything about keeping the climate from changing. Unfortunately, I won’t live long enough to say I told you so, but nobody will have proven me wrong in that very short eon either.

Meanwhile, reflecting on how everyone will one day appreciate his nomination victory in early June, Obama said, "This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth."

Next, parting of the seas? What nonsense from such an elitist. But don’t despair. Even if he becomes the second term of Jimmy Carter, I think we‘ll muddle through somehow. God Bless America.
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Note: You can access recent Blurb columns of Ben Blankenship at staffordcountysun.com. Click on columnists.