{"id":37123,"date":"2011-04-21T12:04:55","date_gmt":"2011-04-21T17:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=37123"},"modified":"2011-04-22T10:29:45","modified_gmt":"2011-04-22T15:29:45","slug":"what-would-molly-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/daily-astrology\/what-would-molly-say\/","title":{"rendered":"What Would Molly Say?"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Fe Bongolan<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I don’t know about you, but\u00a0after three months of witnessing world-altering events in Japan, the Middle East, and even observing the one-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf, writing about election politics finds me in a state of bemused detachment.<\/p>\n

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Yes, I know it’s too early to gauge anyone’s interest in presidential politics, but watching the lead-up to the 2012 horse race for the White House, I can’t help but feel that I’m looking at a stage play while doing a handstand. All the characters are there on stage and in their proper positions, doing the right gestures and saying the right lines, but the context in which they are performing is meaningless. It might as well be upside down for all the sense it’s making. If you’re a normal everyday American citizen, you probably are not tuning in, not interested, or don’t care.\u00a0I don’t blame you, but as someone who blogs about politics here and elsewhere, my lack of interest in politics\u00a0is a strange admission, especially given the fervor of the run-up to the 2008 Presidential primaries.<\/p>\n

These days\u00a0I find myself missing Molly Ivins. Molly was the one who first identified\u00a0“the Elvis factor” in candidates,\u00a0spawned first by\u00a0Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential candidacy, which was unmatched in crowd intensity and political superstardom until 2008 and the Obama campaign. She was also the one who coined the name “Shrub” for George W. Bush, insinuating that George was never quite the intellect or man that\u00a0his father was. When it comes to American Presidential politics 2012,\u00a0which begins now and extends out over the next year and a half, we Americans need our entertainment value. And when it came to the entertainment called politics, Molly was one of our favorite critics.<\/p>\n

Which brings me now to the candidacy of Donald Trump. First of all Republican Party,\u00a0what are you thinking?\u00a0Sarah Palin is\u00a0a former state governor who never finished her term. Michelle Bachmann is the congresswoman who, when interviewed by Chris Matthews on “Hardball,” was asked after her responses whether she was on her meds. And now we have a billionaire: The Donald, whose TV show “The Apprentice”\u00a0has spawned such a cult following that it might comprise a mandate for his candidacy. All three are\u00a0material of such richness for Ivins’ irony you could not pour it over biscuits and eat it\u00a0without having to go to church afterward.<\/p>\n

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I could hear her now:\u00a0Mama Grizzly, Princess Dizzy and The Comb-over. Like Mitt Romney, another Republican candidate who is a multimillionaire, The Donald is staking his claim on his business acumen to bring the country out of its economic malaise — a malaise caused by the\u00a0few others like him who reap profits off of interest earned, while everyone else\u00a0is still trying to scrape by on minimum wage, reduced hours,\u00a0vanishing pensions and unemployment insurance.<\/p>\n

It will be very interesting to watch how these candidates will be able to explain their positions on energy with Fukushima in our recent experience, or to push for offshore drilling after what has happened to the Gulf. It will be very interesting to watch how these and any candidate will explain to seniors that Medicare may no longer be covered at the current rate, and that you will instead be given vouchers to pay for health care services. It will be interesting to see how candidates can explain how tax cuts will revitalize economically flat communities, save schools and improve public services. It will be interesting if they even explain it\u00a0once without having to use the words ‘death panels’. It will be interesting to see if The Donald would dare to use the term “You’re fired”\u00a0when addressing\u00a0the have nots in the American public.<\/p>\n

Rachel Maddow had a great point the other night. Republicans\u00a0fear their base, the Tea Party, while the Democrats disregard theirs, liberals and progressives. Democrats run from the word ‘liberal’\u00a0for fear it will make some conservative cry, or mad enough to commit seppuku on the Federal budget.\u00a0Thus,\u00a0because of fear and weakness, we are\u00a0beset by\u00a0the basest of logic provided by an artificial grassroots group funded by a well-heeled, behind-the-scenes corporate empire. Having a superstar-brand corporate imperialist — actually a pretty smart guy — run for president and cater to the Tea Party by\u00a0repeating the debunked, racist and shrill\u00a0smear-questioning of the\u00a0President’s lack of birth certificate is\u00a0as phony as a stage prop, and it continues to guide the dialogue of our politics with a leash held by the Tea Party. This is\u00a0the political theater of multiple Neptunian illusions.\u00a0No wonder why the stage I’m witnessing looks upside down. It’s not real.<\/p>\n

What’s happening\u00a0in the world is a lot bigger than what our current American politics\u00a0want to\u00a0handle. We’re caught between a lie and a hard place. We have to face the consequences of poor decisions from decades ago\u00a0that\u00a0bring us to\u00a0this present day, and that indictment goes to both parties.\u00a0We continue to ask: Why are we spending so much money on war? What’s going to happen to my retirement? How will I take care of myself and my family if I get sick? Will my children have a future? Can we still drink clean water from the tap? Will our food be safe to eat?<\/p>\n

What would Molly say? Doing a little Molly channeling, maybe she’d say this:<\/p>\n

Donald, old, stale repetitions in answer to our long-held complaints fill us with rage and for good reason.\u00a0When we are angry because we’re jobless and close to homeless, when medical expenses are beyond anyone’s normal capacity to pay and the social safety net has a big hole in it — a deaf response only\u00a0adds more height\u00a0our already increasing blood pressure.<\/p>\n

That we still have to ask\u00a0our government to secure basic human needs in the 21st century and then are met by a bread and puppet show is no answer. Will a birth certificate get me a job? Will it stop Congress from obsessing over what’s in my underpants? Will I be able to marry whoever I want and not be run out of my state? Will it fix the crumbling bridge that I take into town to work every day? Will I have to work until I’m 70 so that I can still eat when I’m 85?<\/p>\n

I know the press has deemed you this month’s ‘latest thing’ in politics. But I think we’ve been too beset by billionaires in government to have one be President. So I ask\u00a0you please to spare us your hairdo for the next year and a half. Forget about\u00a0dropping\u00a0the cool billion it will cost to run for president.<\/p>\n

Instead, why don’t you write us a personal check\u00a0for the same\u00a0amount to cover the costs for a national pothole repair program?\u00a0You can afford it. At least then for once, unlike most billionaires, you’d finally be useful.<\/p>\n

Just my two cents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Fe Bongolan I don’t know about you, but\u00a0after three months of witnessing world-altering events in Japan, the Middle East, and even observing the one-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf, writing about election politics finds me in a state of bemused detachment. Yes, I know it’s too early to gauge anyone’s … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37123"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37123\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}