Major Frank Burns once said that individualism is great as long as we all do it together. The American corollary theory seems to be that change is great as long as everything remains the same.
The candidacy and possible election of Barak Obama has given this country a gander at what change looks like and it's scaring the hell out of them. Naturally, Republican strategists are making the most of that fear. People who can't afford their mortgage payments are being told to worry about the capital gains taxes for multimillionaires. Americans who can't take their kids to a local doctor are worried about Joe the Plumber's ability to buy a fictitious business. Jesus Christ, people; the bank is about to take your house away and you're worried about Barak Obama taking your guns away. Beam me up Scotty. There's no intelligent life on this planet.
Today's Wall Street Journal has an editorial bemoaning the fate of H. Wayne Huizenga who is threatening to sell half of his ownership in the Miami Dolphins Football team because Obama is campaigning to raise his taxes. Well boo friggin hoo! Huizenga is a self-made gazillionaire (he made his money in garbage) who bought his portion of the football team in a fire sale in 1990. He has remade the investment fifty times over. Let's all have a pancake breakfast to raise a little cash for poor old Wayne so he can pay his taxes.
The Journal would have you believe that trickle-down economics is still alive and well. The theory goes that, when Mr. Huizenga and his ilk are allowed to hold onto a little more of their green, they will spend it. That generates income for yacht builders, private jet salesmen, waiters at Le Cirque, high priced hookers and whatever else the super rich spend money on. Sadly, no one asks that waiter if he'd like to have a little health care so he wouldn't live in terror of a family illness. No one consults the jet salesman about whether he would trade a little less sales for a little more security.
The Declaration of Independence discusses "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". The Constitution mandates that the federal government "promote the general welfare". As a nation, we have ignored these principles. When a politician asks if his audience is better off today than four or eight years ago, he's asking the wrong question. We should be asking if the people of America are happier than they were in years past. Are Montana residents happier because their Second Amendment right to own a machine gun has been upheld? Will Californians be happier if they overturn the gay marriage statute? Are our citizens so thrilled with their circumstances: the cost of college, the price of gas, the fear of street crime, that they would be cowardly enough to vote to continue down the same road? Remember, madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
According to free-market Republicans, Barak Obama wants to lead the American economy along the same path as the dreaded Western European countries. Heaven forefend! In surveys which measure countries having the happiest populations, most Western European countries rank above the U.S. Currently, Denmark is #1. Yes, they have high taxes but they also have free educations and free quality medical care. The people don't moon over the American dream of wealth and fame. They bicycle to jobs, root for their favorite sports teams, raise families and retire at a reasonable age. They get generous vacations (hopefully without carting along a blackberry) and they live longer. Less stress, higher quality of life (and presumably less reality TV). In fairness, we do have lower suicide rates than most of Europe which is surprising because we have so many more guns.
Barak Obama dropped the slogan "change we can believe in" because, frankly, Americans don't believe in change. We want to return to the days of Eisenhower and Ozzie and Harriett. Our Republican VP candidate panders to "real Americans" which is code for old fashioned white people. We sing the praises of "our troops" but fewer and fewer "real Americans" want their kids to sign up. Hell, we think it's charming that half the South is still fighting the Civil War. I'm no prophet and I'm certainly no philosopher but there can't be much difference between looking backward and being backward. Maybe our future isn't destined to be like Europe but maybe it is. After all, Danes die in their beds not in the deserts of Iraq.
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