The Old Clichés
by
Mike Gallimore
(Age: 58)
copyright 02-15-2008
Age Rating: 13 to 127
It’s never clear just what was meant
By those who would be President;
They like to use the old clichés,
(but this is what they really say:)
Vote for change—it’s what we need!
(get rid of those who flaunt their greed)
There’s nothing wrong with our great state!
(our seniors and our kids can wait)
The economy is doing fine!
(except for your assembly line)
Our healthcare system can’t be beat!
(of course, there’s millions it won’t treat)
Our kids are not too good at math!
(but blame the teachers’ guild for that)
Too many of them cannot read!
(in prison they won’t have the need)
It’s true some bridges did fall down
(and shoddy levies wrecked a town)
We did our best to deal with that!
(too bad the Guard was in Iraq)
There’s not enough to go around!
(and make those levies safe and sound)
We all must do the best we can!
(the real danger is Iran)
We must have an iron will!
(the Russians can’t be trusted, still)
The U. S. needs a strong defense!
(so let us build a border fence)
We need those migrants in the fields!
(but we can’t make them any deals)
Maybe they could work for free?
(we still won’t give them amnesty)
We soon will import Chinese cars!
(don’t worry, we are going to Mars)
There’s nothing this great land can’t do!
(with His help and with yours, too)
I want you all to say a prayer!
('cause it ain’t over, over there)
I see a pattern in this game –
There’s always someone else to blame.
The enemy’s inside our wall,
And this may be the final straw.
You see,
It’s not the left or right or middle;
It’s just that we can’t solve the riddle
Of how to get along with those
With whom we’d rather come to blows.
Until we do I am afraid
Our tenure here is overstayed.
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Love this. I just returned to pnp after a long time off and I haven't written for soo long, this piece is really inspiring mr to get back at it ...maybe go in a different direction from what I have written in the past.
Between your excellent poem and Eric's comment, we have editorial worth thinking about. And there are many Americans who fall through the cracks in our health care system: too rich for Medicaid, too young for Medicare, too poor for health insurance, stuck in dead end jobs or small companies without benefits, those who've seen a doctor or have been 'emergency hospitalized' in the last five years and thus are declared uninsurable, etc. Thank God for the V.A. Health Care System or I'd be up a creek with my disabilities and frequent illnesses, my need for ongoing blood work and multiple medications to care for my bipolar, anemia, thyroid, what have you. I simply could not afford them all on my tiny Disability check. And your co-pay rises with your income unless you're combat-wounded or otherwise service-connected disabled. Then it's free, as it is for poor ex-soldiers such as myself. And yes, I've been caught in the middle with nothing, unable to get into a clinic because I didn't have the money or the insurance--no they don't (or didn't)all have "sliding scales". I got into a bipolar clinic for fifteen dollars a week, but that was the exception, and it was still sixty a month I could barely afford. (I'm better off now, thank heaven.) Anyway, sorry to drag this out, but "it's all your fault" for writing such a provoking piece. Thanks.
Wayne
Some of you may not be familiar with Oswald Spengler, quoted below by Erich. He was, and remains, both a controversial and influential thinker and author. He is probably best known as the author of "The Decline of the West." For a quick overview see Wikipedia's article on him.
Erich's quote comes from a book called "Man and Technics," which was published in 1931. In that book Spengler warned against the dangers of technology and industrialism to (Western) culture. He was especially worried about the tendency of Western technology to spread to hostile "Colored races" that would then use it against the West.
It is important that we all take the time to track down the sources of ideas we find expressed in public discourse, whether here on PnP or in presidential debates. The fact that something appears in print or is broadcast over the net does not confer legitimacy. A great deal of the success ultra-conservatives enjoy is due to their reliance on that fact that millions of people will not check their facts, consider their sources, listen to opposing opiniions, or simply think for themselves.
I'm not sure this poem has escaped the rhetoric it seeks to lampoon. It's not really your fault. We have the politicians we want. They say what we want to hear. It has always been this way.
As a whole, Americans never learn anything except by experience. What we are about to learn -by experience- is that we are in a time where -as Oswald Spengler said- "Optimism is Cowardice". IOW, no, Obama, we are not the ones we've been waiting for. Someone needs to send that empty suit a copy of Kipling's "The Gods of the Copybook Headings."
"Our healthcare system can’t be beat!
For all it's troubles, largely government and trial lawyer inflicted, that is absolutely true. When some Arab Sheik needs a heart valve replacement, he doesn't fly to Tehran or even Tokyo. Dey comin' to America.
"(of course, there’s millions it won’t treat)"
I don't know of any place in the US where you cannot get emergency treatment. As for the vaunted Canadian (and other) socialized systems, they get by because they have a private care component: America. And it's a good thing. One example-you can google this- A Canadian woman, last name Jepps, who was about to give birth to identical quadruplets, had to be flown to to Butte, Montana, to deliver them. Why? Ten month waiting list for a neonatal intensive care unit. IOW, ten month waiting list for a nine month condition, and you get to throw in a 300 mile flight in a bumpy twin prop over the Rockies on the day of delivery. Reductio ad absurdum.
Re: Katrina-
Funny how Wal-Mart and Lowes were able and willing to function faster than the Government there. Those who look to government to save them will find that time-serving bureaucracies aren't all that highly motivated. But it's an ill wind that blows no good. Many of the refugees from Katrina are now in places of opportunity and are no longer stuck "on the plantation". Let N.O. fail. It's long overdue. (Things that make me go "hmmm": The two most corrupt jurisdictions in North America -Quebec and Louisiana- are both French derived.)
Re: Not good at math?
You have mistaken the Public Schools for educational institutions. They haven't been for some time. Ditto our academic theme parks (Universities). If you love your kids: Home school.
Re: Iran -
It's the third biggest danger. Saudi Arabia is first-only because we won't admit it. Pakistan, second. Ironically, Russia is now our natural ally in this, if only we understood these matters. Bush has been a royal screw up on this, but Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon have been running on autopilot where Russia is concerned, so this "Charlie Foxtrot" has been something of a team effort. America: always fighting the last war.
Now I could continue with this little game of academic "Gotcha!" but it bores me to tears. This, however, was good advice:
"I want you all to say a prayer!"
We could do worse. Call it a conceit, but I still think there was something of Providence in our founding and in our continuing. In fact, it's the only plausible explanation for how we managed it.
Welcome !
