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Author: Mike Maples

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Stranglehold

I'm leading this one off with a quote, because I think it applies to the basic pulse of this post, perhaps this blog in general.  
“Think of a rock polisher, one of those drums, goes round and round, rolls twenty-four/seven, full of water and rocks and gravel. Grinding it all up. Round and round. Polishing those ugly rocks into gemstones. That’s the earth. Why it goes around. We’re the rocks. And what happens to us—the drama and pain and joy and war and sickness and victory and abuse—why, that’s just the water and sand to erode us. Grind us down. To polish us up, nice and bright.” ― Chuck Palahniuk, Haunted
Let me just point out that nearly all surveys done recently on the subject show that no one likes any of their elected officials anymore. This is ironic, of course, since we voted for our representatives under the assumptions that they would stick to their (see also: OUR) values while remaining flexible enough to negotiate. That's their entire job: negotiation. If they don't negotiate, then they're useless. 


And we pay them for this. A lot. Even during this government "shutdown," which is a moot term because I still can't light my ex-girlfriend's house on fire without the fire department AND the police showing up. C'mon, shut those motherfuckers down! Let's get a shutdown like the one in The Purge! So we don't want them to budge and we don't want them to negotiate. So what do we want with them?

I digress. Let's talk about the headlining point in the news related to this shutdown. Obamacare. Mind you, the Democratic leadership has wanted something similar to socialized medicine for years, so the moniker isn't a great one. He didn't write the fucking thing. 

Anyway, Obamacare. Most of what you hear in the news about it is grossly incorrect. Truth is, it is mostly paid for, isn't raising taxes, has already slowed the rising cost of health care in the US, blah, blah, boring. Democrats are hippie communists and Republicans are elitist wealthy whites bent on world domination.

Here's the rub: those who hate Obamacare are using bad information to punish everyone that they feel isn't deserving of such generosity. "Bums, blacks, and criminals are going to abuse the system just like they do with everything else! They need to get a real job!" says a bunch of uneducated Tea-Partiers (who collect disability, but "that's not the same thing"). They also say, "I'm not against helping those that truly deserve it, but throwing money at the problem isn't the answer." And they're right.

Problem is, in order to weed out who deserves it and who doesn't, the government would have to spend billions on employing social workers and other staff to sort through it all, interview them, etc. I am in favor of this approach, but conservatives are not. They just want to make across-the-board cuts that get rid of it all. I don't like paying for asshole bums either, but the solution isn't shutting down the government or eliminating social healthcare altogether.

Call me crazy (or Jesus), but I am still starry-eyed and believe that a country is only as powerful as its lowest-class citizenry. If we don't try to educate or train those without, make them healthier, discipline them, etc., then we have failed as a society and alienated out own people. 

This country was founded by the lowest-class citizens of Europe. Throwing money at them indescriminantly isn't helping them and it created this false persona that this is all that social programs do, when the fact of the matter is that this occurs because wealthy conservatives won't allow the necessary expenditures on behalf of the government to actually perfect these programs and streamline them to weed out the shitbags.

I still believe in helping your fellow man. I believe that we are all basically good in the beginning, and the world beats on you until you're dead. This can make you into a worse person, but I don't believe that anyone is beyond redemption if they actually want it. None of this is religious angst, by the way; I'm agnostic at best. It's just a matter being a decent human being. See, world? We can be good people and still not believe in God magic!

The quote in the beginning is absolutely befitting of the way the world works. We don't need any help being uglier. We're good at being ugly, hateful, and jealous. In a sense, we're all connected in that way. We need each other to become more beautiful.

I say the same thing that a lot of white men say. We're considered to be the upper echelon of human existence, meaning that we have the most advantages and have experienced the least amount of hardships such as slavery, women's rights, and so forth. 

I didn't get any help paying for school because my parents made too much money (but not enough to actually pay for it out of pocket, either) and I wasn't poor enough, black or Hispanic, and responsible enough not to have kids. So fuck me, right?  What's next, Black Entertainment Television?
I had to join the military to get anything done and that experience broke me, along with all of the other shit that's fallen on me throughout the years. It sucks, sure. But you think that all of the "lazy" people have it much easier than you?

Let's pretend that back in your younger days, you had this strange preoccupation with multiple children that privileged white girls often get, combined with a family that lacked traditional family values about teenage pregnancy.  Boom, you have 3 kids by your 21st birthday.

Fast forward to age 28. You're older, a little wiser, perhaps, certainly more mature. Now you want to go to school. You were wild and irresponsible as a teen, but are trying to get your poop in a group. Do we tell these people, "tough shit. Should have thought about that when you were fucking at 17," (which we all were, despite being retarded when it came to sexual responsibility).  

But you've got these three little motherfuckers now, so how do you get the training or education you need? Get money for child care. How do you feed them if you're working less while attending school?  Food stamps. How do you impress the importance of morality and acceptable social values on your own children, the support that you lacked as a child, so that they don't echo your mistakes? Work even less so that you can have time with your family, thus increasing the need for and amount of social-program support that you'll need.

A lot of this hassle would defeat any person facing those odds from ever amounting to shit simply because of the sheer weight of it. As you read this, you know that you would likely be crushed by those odds. But is it not worth it to try and help, just as a human fucking being? You could start running a list for Jesus of all of the good things you did to cancel out all of that teenage masturbation, you dirty little whore, you.

Even to a logic-man computer-mind, it makes sense. Take a person/family that contributes nothing (financially or otherwise) to society other than burdensome weight, support them with the basics (childcare, food, basic housing, etc.), and turn them into a goddamn taxpayer, thus reversing the balance.

Want logic from a religious standpoint (oxymoron noted), conservative cocksuckers? OK, try these out:
"They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share," -Timothy 6:18
"Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you." -Luke 6:38
"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me," -Matthew 25:31-46  
This doesn't just mean charity, but to truly make a difference in other's lives. You and I, despite the hardships that we have faced in life, speak from a very advantageous position while looking down on others and saying that they don't deserve the basic decency that we've always been afforded. 

You probably have a family that is well-off enough to have you move in with them if you fell on hard times. Some don't have families, others don't have good families, and many more still don't have families doing well enough to help them out.  We should remember that we are all so terribly close to being the people we rally against.

We have to be thankful for what we have and not spiteful for what we do not. And stop trying to prevent others from helping the low man just because you are a bitter, hateful, ignorant boob without decency or compassion.

Throughout life, I think it is important to help others, either personally or through the taxes that we pay, so that the inherent bitterness in life has the occasional sweet spot.

Don't worry, it's human nature, I think. This is evolution's creativity with our survival instincts. Tear down anything bigger, better, stronger, faster, or more advantageous than ourselves as a cruelly futuristic "survival of the fittest" mentality. I mean, just look at what we do with our celebrities. We can't wait to digest them for any little mistake, and none of which we or someone we know hasn't also made. Paula Deen said the N-word and lost damn near everything in her empire, most importantly: her name. I said the N-word, C-word, and even made up a few new ones just on my drive to work today.

Basically, don't make your happiness contingent upon the destruction of others. Don't be mad at charitable acts. Pick representation without personal agendas who won't stab their own nation in the heart to make a point. Hell, even your presidential nominees may not agree with something, but aren't willing to ass-fuck the nation to try and end an argument. I've watched my toddler do this; if he doesn't like something, he'll try to break it.  

If you don't like something, vote on it. That is how we got Obamacare, and that is the only way you can take it away. Don't use your soapbox as a weapon.