Are Voter Frustrations Boiling Over?

Thursday, October 7th, 2010
Linville, North Carolina

IS THE WHOLE COUNTRY
GOING TO HELL IN A HAND BASKET?

And I thought voters were distrustful, angry and confrontational, a few years back when I held public office. My favorite author, Charles Dickens, would have said, “Hey Brown, you ain’t seen nothing yet.” (Actually, I’m not sure Dickens would have said anything close to this, but he’s dead now – so, no harm, no foul. But you get my drift.) The fact remains that this coming federal election is viewed by many, including yours truly, as a herculean and rather grim battle between good and evil, left and right, the good guys and the scum, Wormwood and the Patient, and Saint Michael vs. Satan. But guess what? There will be no victors. We all lose on November 2nd.

Last week in the nation’s capital, I participated in the Washington Ideas Forum sponsored by the Atlantic Magazine, and there was a strong consensus of the current national mood. Remember the National Lampoon movie “Christmas Vacation?” The hero is surprised by a Christmas bonus of a subscription of the Jelly of the Month Club. His reaction reflects what many voters think of those representing them: “Cheap, lying no good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, over-stuffed, ignorant, bloodsucking, dog-kissing, brainless, hopeless, heartless, worm headed sack of monkey bleep!” Again, you get my drift.

You can go on YouTube and see the various political commercials airing across the country. In Delaware, Tea Party candidate Christine O’Donnell began her positive ad this week, and the first words out of her mouth were: “I’m not a witch!” In Louisiana, it would seem to be all about the sexual conduct. In Connecticut and Illinois, it’s all about who fudged on their resume’. The nation is at war, the economy continues to be at a crawl, unemployment is on the rise, and public education languishes while many other industrial nations pass us by. But can you point to any candidate for congress who gives the slightest acknowledgement to these national problems?

You see, dear voter, you and I are looked on by these politico wondercan’ts as being too dumb to understand what the issues are all about. We are the Rodney Dangerfields of the political process and we don’t get any respect. The Washington crowd has all the answers, and your and my opinion has become irrelevant.
“Goldfinger” is my favorite Bond (James Bond) movie. Remember when Bond (James Bond) is tied down on a table with a laser beam about to cut him in half, and he tells the bad guy, “You expect me to talk?” Goldfinger answers: “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die. There is nothing you can talk to me about that I don’t already know.” That well reflects the attitude of too many members of congress who think they have all the answers, spend all the money putting us all the more in debt, and then look on the peons back home like you and me as irrelevant to their personal “get me elected” agenda.

One example of our delusional leadership is what’s happening in the Middle East. Don’t you remember? We are at war there and have assumed a massive cost in dollars and American lives. The financial cost is approaching one trillion dollars and the weekly military expenditures in Afghanistan are running $2 billion a week. Yet you will not find a congressional campaign anywhere in the country that acknowledges the mess that has been created.

I had the chance to visit in Washington last week with Ahmed Chalabi, who is the leader of the Iraqi National Congress and the former Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq. He talked of the bitterness of many Iraqis towards the U.S. “We wanted a provisional government after the demise of Hussein. The Americans wanted occupation. We thought America would be liberators, but instead they became occupiers.”

Then he said something quite disturbing. “The vast majority of Arabs think the 9/11 tragedy was instigated within the U.S. You are the strongest country in the world. It’s hard for many Arabs to believe that 19 young men with box cutters could do so much harm to America.”

The Taliban is hiding out in the western mountainous region of Pakistan with little effort by the government there to weed them out. America has poured $10 billion into Pakistan. We spend billions on Middle Eastern oil, and the proceeds get funneled to the very enemy American soldiers are fighting. We seem to be at war with our allies, and the U.S. is the only country in the history of the world to pay for both sides of the fight.

We are decades away from peace in that region, the cost is staggering to our economy, yet not a word, not a suggestion, and not a voice of concern is being raised by any candidate in my home state of Louisiana or nationwide.
So the choices get tougher as Election Day approaches. Do you throw the present bums out, and end up with new bums? Remember the 1960s song by The Who called “Won’t be Fooled Again?” There’s a line that goes: “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” It looks like a crapshoot folks. There is a lack of any strong will to address what ails this nation by candidates on both sides of the isle. So if you roll the dice, unfortunately, you may lose either way.

“We are angry about our incompetent, dysfunctional government that pays no attention to the desires of the people.” Carl Paladino

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers and websites throughout the South. You can read all is past columns and see continuing updates at www.jimbrownusa.com. You can also hear Jim’s nationally syndicated radio show each Sunday morning from 9 am till 11:00 am, central time, on the Genesis Radio Network, with a live stream at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. The show is televised at http://www.justin.tv/jimbrownusa