Ranting Again

You know what, screw this country. Our political system is not just broken, it's become a perversion of something that was actually once workable, maybe even admirable. Even when the two parties aim for "bipartisanship" it's only to make their own parties look better. I think it's possible--possible--that Barack Obama actually cares where the country is headed, but just knowing that there's even a chance he could lose the race over some one-off sound-byte at the last moment--just knowing such a thing is possible in this country--sucks all the "hope" right out of me. We're maimed, wracked with self-serving political in-fighting, and the media only fuels that fire by emblazoning every ridiculous "did not!" "did too!" argument across the internet, in the headlines, or on a scrawl at the bottom of the television screen. The people who report it, and the politicians who originate it, act as though these trivialities actually matter; and so, consequently, the idiot masses who believe that if "everyone's saying it, it must be true" (these are the same masses who can't discern an obviously Photoshop-ed image in an email forward, and thus send it onto all their friends accompanied by messages of amazement and awe, or vague outrage) let the tit-for-tat muckraking sway them, at which point, sick though it may be, the bullshit becomes validated, in that it actually effects people's choices. Then, seeing that a result has been got, the politicians and media push even more of this refuse down the pipe, and the whole cycle just reinforces itself.

I just... don't want to care anymore. I'm really starting to be convinced that we're getting sick beyond repair here, that the good eggs are doomed to be subsumed in a sea of busted rotten ones. I kinda want to move. But damn it, I love my corn fields, my raucous crows, and my oak trees... I love the top floor of the Schurz library, and hearing the symphony play at the Morris once in a blue moon, and driving up to New Buffalo in the summer to get a cheeseburger at Redamak's. There was a time when I "followed politics", when I kept myself abreast of world news and events. Now? About the only news source that doesn't disturb me is NPR. It feels like there's a glimmer of sanity there, at least. And there are a couple decent writers for Newsweek that I don't mind reading. But every time I go to check my email, and Yahoo! pops up their inane version of a headline, I cringe. Because I know some people click that link and think they're going to learn something from it. And by some, I mean... lots.

Maybe I'm simply having a bad night. Yes, that's the ticket. That will get me through until morning. And maybe when I wake up tomorrow, something meaningful will meet me. I think it might. I hope so.