Molly was confused by my post.... I guess my point was IF we can laugh together at the absurdity of politics, maybe we can start to work together.
Greg commented yesterday that my blog seemed to take a big leap from feel-good stories of summer girlfriend fun one day, and onto hard-hitting political issues the next day. He was hoping for a transition.
We’ll there was a common thread between the two posts, but it had remained in my head, so I suppose I should correct that today.
During the KC Girls Weekend retreat, we were a mixed group. Probably split 50/50 between more progressive verses more conservative. We managed to stay away from discussing politics 99% of the time.
Only once someone brought up Sarah Palin quitting as Governor of Alaska. This caused a bit of a short, but spirited exchange where the topic of Goldman Sachs and AIG bailouts also came up into the conversation. I wanted to say “Bush started it…. not Obama”… but I kept my mouth shut. So I started thinking about this conversation from the girl’s weekend when I saw Stephen Colbert a few days ago.
I started thinking how the politicians, lobbyists, and other powerful people probably just love having the liberals and conservatives go after each other. They love this great divide. If corporations and news media such as Fox News can keep us fighting between ourselves…. their ratings go up, AND NOTHING GETS CHANGED.
The system of corruption and greed and politics as usual is allowed to continue.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could start to bridge the perceived gap and come together to get something good done for the American people, instead of helping only the 1% wealthiest corporate ruling-class.
Last weekend Greg and I saw the movie Food, inc. This movie will blow off the doors of your refrigerator! Only a handful of companies control our food supply. We are at their mercy. Of course former employees are now in government policy making positions, like the FDA, or former politicians now sit on company boards. Of course there is a direct link between what we eat and health care dollars spent.
http://www.foodincmovie.com
This movie was alarming to me, but the good news is that every time I shop for food, I am casting MY vote on who and what I support. I’m encouraged to shop at Farmer’s Markets and buy local as much as possible. AND grow my own garden.
Well enough on politics for a few days….. Although I’ll warn you, I am building up some steam to talk about health care at some point.
OK one last picture back at the pond to calm us down again!.... as we sing "a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down".... "in the most delightful way!"
Your blog and your right to write as you please, but I do thank you for the background. While it would be geat to "all get along" and get on the "same page" it will be a long time before we get there, we have 250 plus years of us vs them, he vs she and so on.
ReplyDeleteI'll give you Fox does their share, but so does MSNBC...have you see Keith Oberman, Rachel Madow or Hardball w/ Chris Matthews? They all have the right to spew but we have the right to listen or change the channel. I like to hear it from both sides and that's why I'm sweet...shameless plug.
Now have a great weekend!
Thanks for adding that Ann. I don’t watch much cable news, so not familiar with MSNBC all that much.
ReplyDeleteThis morning as I prepared my breakfast, I was also thinking about the food companies. I made it sound all evil…. BUT they do serve a purpose for our country. Without them we couldn’t feed 300 million people cheaply. The government does subsidize the farmers and food companies so our food costs are more affordable (using our tax money)… so in a way we have an element of “socialism” in the food industry. (using tax money for the greater good of everyone).
I still believe there is a way American’s can wise up and work together. Our survival depends on it.
Well, that cleared it up some. I guess I am just not enough of a news junky to get all the references. I often try to watch the cable news, but I can not find one that does not seem slanted one way or another.
ReplyDeleteI am the same as you Molly, probably not fully informed enough... I shouldn't even take on a big topic like this in my blog. But this is "diary" of my year 2009, so I want to get a few current events in here.
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