To what depths today’s politicians will sink to get a chance at pandering to the dumbed-down masses known in the “beltway” as “voting blocks.”
Sen. John Kerry may have reached a new low in Ohio with his staged goose hunt.
What is more revealing than the pandering event itself is the realization that the press corps are even dumber than I thought they were.
But the real picture is revealed when we note how well-trained the general public is at accepting at face value virtually anything they see on TV. Maybe as important is how detached from reality the press and the people are when it comes to something as Americana as shooting down a large, edible waterfowl.
First, as a lifetime hunter, I mean a real hunter not an ivy league country club trap shooter as is Kerry, this was the first time I ever saw another hunter who had just bagged a large bird in barely a couple of hours who returned in what appeared to be brand spanking new camouflage. No blood, no trophy in hand and admittedly so distracted by the outcome of a baseball game he says, “I’m still so giddy over the Red Sox, it was hard to focus.”
This reveals any number of things about candidate Kerry (whom we call by the name of “Scary” at our house) that need to be considered carefully by the “voting blocks” before the election.
Secondly, a revelation for me was the fact that in all his pandering no reporter was curious enough to ask questions that might reveal the big lie that is so obvious.
Such as, “Senator Kerry, did you shoot a goose or a gander?” or “Senator Kerry, can we watch you dressing your bird and get some tape of that?” or “Senator Kerry, can you tell us if you will be eating your game?” or “Senator Kerry, can you share your favorite goose recipe with us?” After all, he did say he was a lifelong hunter. Ever meet one of them who didn’t like to share their knowledge and experience, especially favorite recipes?
I can only imagine what might happen if some enterprising young reporter might ask Kerry if he could describe in detail exactly how to dress out, pluck and prep a big waterfowl, and ask him “Is it a goose or a gander, sir?” while the cameras run.
Sadly, nobody in the press corps has likely ever killed, dressed out or plucked as much as a chicken. Most likely, many of them have never even cut up and fried a whole chicken. Most probably the only chicken they ever get is pre-cooked and purchased at the hot deli section of their favorite supermarket or prepared by the Colonel or one of his clones.
If only one simple rural farm boy who had made good a reporter had been there to publicly note the obvious. Well, one can always hope for a second chance, though they rarely occur in election politics (Hint).
Americans have become so dependent on “others” that most don’t give any thought at all as to where their food comes from. This whole dependency thing is evidenced in virtually ever aspect of American life today.
Nobody, it seems, these days can fix their own car, make their own clothes, prepare or grow their own food. Replacing a light bulb or bathroom faucet would be a daunting task for many of our fine free and independent neighbors anymore. Most would probably faint at just the thought of actually killing and attending to a dead animal for the purposes of eating it. I’ve seen the green look many times at the dinner table whilst sharing the details of the hunt.
The “voting blocks” will go off to vote, and the vast majority will be voting for or against candidates and issues with barely anymore understanding of the implications of their actions than a flea has about why he’s on the dogs behind.
But like the fleas on a dog’s behind, they will continue to bite and chew and antagonize the rest of us until they are ripped off by the jagged claws of a hairy beast or raked off by fiercely sharp canine teeth and swallowed up whole without regard.
The sad part is we don’t have the equivalent of a national flea dip to rid our country of these unrepentant masses of human stupidity before Election Day. They seem determined to undermine and destroy every last shred of tangible evidence of our great and unique experiment in freedom.
We were promised a government “by of and for the people,” and that’s just what we’ve got. And the campaign promises from both sides of the aisle are evidence enough that the fleas have infected the entire body.
Our founders did offer us a modicum of relief – the opportunity to rid ourselves of several hundred of the nasty little rulers in the kingdom of fleas every two years. If only we could build a large enough “voting block” to “Throw the Bums Out.”
Don’t be fooled by circus sideshows. Rise up against the antics of today’s political theater, America. Learn to read and then read the facts and founding documents of our great history. Only then can we hold office seekers to the high and rigid standards that made this country great. Anything less is unacceptable.
America is a republic, albeit a democratic republic, but a republic nonetheless. That means we democratically elect our representatives at the state and federal level. These people are the stewards of our nation. Like any good parent who must tell a child no from time to time, or needs to scold or discipline an unruly brat, these stewards have a responsibility to keep us from harming ourselves. That means they cannot cave in and give us everything we demand simply because we have become adept at throwing mass tantrums to force our desires and get our own way.
We need to throw the entire lot of them out and elect grown-ups who will see the wrong in attempting to satisfy every clamor for more of something we can’t afford. We need adult supervision by competent leaders who can grasp a bolder vision of America’s future and refrain from spending our great-grandchildren into third-world poverty for the sake of quelling our constant thirst, or is it lust, for more than we can afford.
Sen. Kerry’s comments about baseball distracting him from the task at hand was a revelation that opened a window into his adolescent soul.
If he can lose focus in the middle of a presidential campaign photo op because the Red Sox beat the Yankees, what then might he do if North Korea attacked the south? God forbid.
The fact is Sen. Kerry isn’t man enough to be president. He’s actually a rebellious adolescent in a grown man’s body, a spoiled rich lad with a passion for power and a dangerously flawed perspective on the job ahead.
I don’t have any illusions about President Bush. I am clearly disappointed in numerous policies regarding government spending, trade issues, the far-reaching effects of the current version of the Patriot Act in the hands of a loony-tune like a Janet Reno-type, for example. Immigration policy and special-interest influences – all are worrisome to me.
But President Bush does have on his grown-up cap when it comes to dealing with the threats we now face here at home from terrorists and their ilk.
I’d like to see him close the borders and develop a strategy to do a little regime change in the oligarchy just to the south of us. If he were truly concerned for the poverty class in Mexico, he would challenge the ruling elite there to let the Mexican people go free in their own land.
Anyway, President Bush is man enough to do the job that needs doing, and I for one will do whatever I can to assure his victory, if only so I can sleep at night with the knowledge that we elected a man grown-up enough to get the message on terrorism.
If he’s re-elected, our job will be to get President Bush to mature his attitudes toward spending our money on us simply to stop our whining for more, more, more.
Let’s leave a little something, a morsel or two in the cupboard for coming generations. Spending their inheritance is wrong, and we the greedy little self indulgent whiners of today must be told no on more government entitlements, spending and growth so that tomorrow’s America can enjoy prosperity as well.
There are numerous common-sense methods by which we can reduce the cost and size of government. Raising more revenue with increased productivity in the economy and using tax relief to achieve the objective is one way. A better way is to combine that with a realistic downsizing plan that eliminates the massive numbers of government employees through automation and better efficiency standards that make accessing services easier and cheaper while reducing the need for services. The spread of prosperity makes more people independent and reduces the need for government programs.
How about we start a 10-year campaign to automate government services and trim the size of the bureaucracy by 50 percent or so? Let’s put our major colleges and universities on the Internet and lower the cost of higher education. Bring back some apprenticeship programs in the private sector, create online public schools that offer choice and flexibility to busy moms and dads. Let’s reform the tax system and rid Americans of reporting requirements and punitive actions. Let’s return to sound social policy, restore traditional values, end the Christian bashing and find a diet pill that actually works.
Let’s stamp out political correctness, get our children off Prozac and sugar puffs. Let alternative medicine and natural remedies join forces in the medical science field and provide incentives for good diet, exercise and preventive efforts that will address the cost of medical care over time. And let’s be honest with our fellow citizens who suffer from preventable diseases like drug addiction, alcoholism, HIV-AIDS and other STDs by using “tough love” and making them understand that their behaviors are wrong and that the cures exist through abstinence from the actions that cause the effect. (Hmmm? I may have just found a cure for teen and unwanted pregnancy.) It’s simple common sense, period.
Let’s let parents decide how to raise their children and put government back in the service business instead of the “giving us the business” business.
I can almost see it now. The vision our earliest American settlers had, one of a limited government and a free people. What a concept!
I look forward to the future with great hope and enthusiasm. President Bush may not be the second coming, but he sure looks a lot better to me than old ultra liberal Sen. “Scary.”
Now round up some friends, go to the polls and do the right thing. (Tell them how to vote.)
Roger Fredinburg is a veteran syndicated radio host. His three-hour radio show is heard coast to coast from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. seven days a week. The syndicator is Talk One Radio Networks.
Listen in at www.regularguy.com or on SIRIUS Satellite or the Cable Radio Nework.
