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2006: The year of anger
by Steve Hammer Apr 26, 2006
We live in interesting times Steve Hammer This is the spring of our discontent, to borrow a phrase. This is the year in which everything seems to be coming to a head and when something big will happen, and it’s probably not going to be very good. Hardly anybody seems happy these days and a lot of people seem to be very, very angry at the way things are. I don’t think this status quo can hold for very long. A friend of mine called me up last week. “Hey, you should go protest Cheney’s visit,” he said. “Go hold up a sign saying ‘Don’t Shoot Me, Dick’ or something. It’ll make you feel better.” “Are you kidding me?” I said, genuinely angry. “I’m going to stay as far away from Cheney as I can possibly be. If I go there, I run the risk of his pulling out a rifle and blasting me. Or he’ll have a heart attack and I’ll get blamed somehow.” I got even angrier. “In fact, now I’m starting to wonder about you,” I said. “Why the hell do you want me to go see Cheney? Is this some kind of setup? Is this phone tapped? Have you become one of them, too?” “Never mind,” he said. “It was just an idea.” “Well, keep those kinds of ideas to yourself,” I said, “unless you want to end up in a prison camp in Beech Grove. You’ll never make it. You’re too weak. The guards would be able to get you to confess with one swing of the stick. But stay the hell away from me. You’re bad luck.” I slammed down the phone. You can’t be too careful these days. We’re living in an era where the government has unlimited power to do whatever the hell it wants. I don’t think my friend was working for the NSA, but you can’t be sure of anything these days. People seem angrier across the board. Money is tight. Gas is headed towards $5 a gallon. Taxes aren’t getting any lower. The standard of living is dropping for most people. We’re just a few gas shortages shy of civil unrest. And the government seems to be dedicated to creating a photo-negative version of the New Deal. It’s the opposite of what Franklin Roosevelt intended. Instead of providing work programs, preserving our natural treasures and furthering our cultural awareness, the federal government wants to stamp all of those things out. FDR envisioned a nation where the poorest among us were protected as much as the richest. He wanted our elderly to be able to live their lives in dignity and without fear of poverty. Now we seem to be in a place where success is gauged by how many people are suffering, how many places our Army is occupying and how close we can come to achieving the goal of a police state in our lifetime. Five years ago, William Jefferson Clinton bequeathed record budget surpluses and an unprecedented era of prosperity to his successor. Now we’re facing record deficits, we’re borrowing money from China to finance our military operations and prosperity is the last thing on anyone’s mind. It’s all about survival. If you’re a good Republican making more than $200,000 a year, don’t worry. The system was built for you. You will always have your needs met. The government is your friend. Expect another few years of massive tax cuts, further protection from poor people and Democrats and massive propaganda campaigns to make you feel happy about fascism. Either you are with the president or you are against him. For the rest of us, it’s time to start thinking about survival and building the biggest bomb shelters you can afford. You’ll need to be armed to the teeth to even last a week after the nuclear bombs hit, but it’ll be worth it. For the first time in our history, the United States government is threatening to use nuclear weapons in a pre-emptive strike against Iran. We don’t have the troops to conquer and occupy the country. We don’t have the money. What we do have plenty of is nuclear bombs. They’re not doing us any good just sitting in their silos. Why not drop a few in the Middle East and see what happens? Even President Reagan was against building new kinds of nuclear weapons. But this president seems to think we need more. Iran is threatened by a mushroom cloud. Once a new version of the Shah has been installed in Iran, there will be plenty of time to talk about who was right and who was wrong. Meanwhile, our leader is kissing the asses of the terrorists in charge of China’s government. Without firing a shot, the Chinese have made the United States their bitch. The economy is dependent on cheap Chinese goods. Our wars and our budget deficits are being financed by them. I’m frankly surprised Bush didn’t pull a sidearm and blast the woman who heckled President Hu at the White House last week. Instead, he apologized for the expression of free speech. Even though the public is angry, in fact livid, at Bush and his lackeys in the Congress, there’s nothing we can do about it. We’re just supposed to sit calmly and let American Idol and Entertainment Tonight keep us in line. We live in interesting times. I never thought I’d say it, but let’s bring back boredom. It’s much safer.
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