Political Rant

So, I was reading this article by Orson Scott Card. Sometimes I wonder if this guy has even been to the "heartland" he describes so eloquently. When my mom lived there, the alcoholism rates were terrible. Today, it is the meth lab capital of the world. This is the part of the country with the best moral values? The place where all the welfare queens live? Give me a fucking break. The lowest divorce rate in the country is in Massachusetts or "smartland" as Card oh so cleverly names it. You know, the place with no moral values. Looking at the census data, New York also has a low rate, while Oklahoma, Tennessee, Arkansas, etc. all have rates that are nearly double the MA and NY rate. Now, I doubt that a paired-t test would reveal any statistical significance to this data, but I wish the conservatives would drop the whole "family values" smoke cloud. It's just a bunch of propaganda.

Anyway, regardless of the administration in power, the Midwest is hardly the part of the country to hold up as "ideal" or embodying the "spirit of America." It seems to me like that part of the country has nothing. It is depressed, adrift and frustrated. The obesity rates are appalling, the unemployment and unskilled labor rates are depressing, people are frustrated, uneducated and need a target to focus on. Industry has left the area - when I was there a few months ago, people were protesting the closure of a local jail, because it was one of the largest employers in the area. The oil has left, the coal has left, and just about every other factory has left. Farms are everywhere, but I doubt many of them are independently owned. I could probably ask my Grandmother if I really wanted to know.

I also like this quote from Card: "So as we watch the Democratic Party flush away democratic processes..." oh, and this one: "People who are so sure they're right that they are willing to eliminate democratic processes in order to get and keep power are the enemies of freedom for everyone."

uh huh. So, who was it who passed a law for Terri Schivo? Oh, and who is trying to put a stranglehold on our judicial branch? Seems to me that the Republican party is the one saying "Screw the balance of power." Congress falls in line behind the president, so clearly the courts should too. I'm not much more impressed with the Democrats, though, to tell you the truth. The Republicans just frustrate me more, because so much of what they say doesn't agree with my experiences. I often get the feeling that many Democrats are idealists who have had to face reality, while most Republicans are just selfish scum who were never even idealists.

It seems to me that the Republican media machine has been quietly humming along, and bullshit like this is the result.