"In my opinion..."
Nov. 14, 2002
A Depressing State of Affairs
"Desperate times mean desperate measures." I don't know who first said that, but I do know that the implications of that idea have never loomed larger than they do under the Bush Administration. I've watched my country use the tragic terrorist attacks of last year as a weapon for forcing the conservative right-wing's agenda, and never have I felt more disheartened, dismayed, and disillusioned. My confidence in my government is at an all-time low; I feel awash in a sea of paranoia and racism, and I wouldn't know the truth if it smacked me in the face. Schoolyard face-offs between Bush and Saddam Hussein fill each day with uncertainty and turmoil. Soon we will have a new agency, "Homeland Security," which sounds like the product of an Orwellian-McCarthyistic liaison. I do not deny that terrorism threatens world peace, but I resent my government's bullying tactics which disregard and devalue many other western nations who have a say in shaping world policies.
My unhappiness lies not only in national politics. Washington State boasts of its quality of living and its compassion, yet I see idiots led by Tim Eyman and his government-by-initiative movement halting Washington's economic recovery and growth in an unconstitutional stranglehold of anti-tax initiatives. Eyman represents himself as "the little guy, the common man" while actually benefiting the wealthy and big business. Selfish, self-serving conservative voters have crippled our state's already badly bruised economy and given a gutless, leaderless legislature one excuse after another to do nothing to help education, public servants, transportation, and the homeless and working poor of this state. Worst of all, the voters and leaders of all of these ridiculous initiatives puff up with pride at their destruction. How pathetically sad and perverse.
This is not a case of sour grapes. "My side" is losing in large part because of political ambivalence and lack of leadership. Governor Locke is a sorry excuse for a Democrat. I consider myself an independent, but generally I have supported Democratic candidates as representatives of common sense and caretakers of the common good. Now the local and national Democratic parties struggle to stay afloat. With no clear, strong, charismatic leaders on the horizon, this nation faces a second term under Bush, an unintellectual, fear-mongering president who speaks in vacuous sound bites. As for Washington State, it faces a bleak future of more tax breaks for the wealthy and fewer benefits for the needy.
Thanksgiving is just around the corner. I will focus on the positives since to do otherwise could bring on paralytic depression! I have so much to be thankful for on a personal level: a loving, supportive, wonderful family; good health; a good job with fine fellow employees; and friends who fill my life with great richness. Unlike the supporters of Eyman, Bush, and others, I do not want to keep my riches all to myself. I am willing and able to pay for the privilege of living in a democracy and believe that we must as a nation provide for the poorest and the least-represented, not just the richest and the most powerful.