State of the Nation,

mid-January, 2001

Let me get this straight – George W. Bush has nominated a candidate for the office of Attorney General who once burned a cross on the lawn of an illegal alien who once worked for Bush’s candidate for the office of Secretary of Labor, right?  Well, it’s something almost that ridiculous.  The man’s an idiot.  Now, let me set readers straight – I slightly prefer Republicans in general to Democrats, similar to the greater affection I feel for rattlesnakes than for scorpions.  As a matter of fact, let me explain what’s wrong with Gore and get that out of the way.

Gore is a liar and a misconstruer of data.  Too mediocre to create any new arguments, he based his campaign on the trite, kneejerk fiscal fear stimuli that Democrats have used as long as they’ve been the Party of the poor and that they will continue to use until they create enough success and subsidies for unions, women and minorities to turn them all into Republicans. 

Focal to the platform is the statement that the other party’s tax cut plan favors the rich.  Any straight percentage, across the board tax cut will do so, for the simple reason that x% of $200,000 is ten times as much as x% of $20,000.  Now, if that’s true of x%, then it’s also true of y%, so under that same tax plan, those earning $200,000 per annum pay ten times as much in taxes as those earning $20,000 per annum. 

Do the rich have more children in federally-subsidized schools than the poor?  No.  Do they require more military or law enforcement protection per capita?  No.  Do they put more wear and tear on highways, or in any other way account for ten times the federal expenses generated by the poor?  They do not, so a straight percentage tax, or a straight percentage tax cut, still leaves the rich paying for a far greater share of federal expenses than they create, yet Gore, feeding on fear, fiscal ignorance and jealousy, looked America in the eye and did his damndest to shill votes out of the Republican dream for fair tax relief.  This is bottom feeding, and it is contemptible.

On the other hand, getting back to the other Party, G.W. Bush is not my idea of the pick of the rattlesnake litter.  He’s stupid even by the traditionally extra-large standards of Texas stupidity.  I am convinced that the man is likelier to have an accident on the White House carpets than was Socks Clinton(or did we get a vowel wrong when ingesting the name of Bill’s housecat?). 

If that drawn-out goddam election that was as close to a draw as we could get with year 2000 technology and standards established nothing else, it established our shallow, inarticulate electorate’s desire for a moderate federal government, one as close to the center of the bell curve as it can get.  That means no abortion-clinic-bombing, hood-wearing Attorneys General, no under-the-counter-illegal-alien-hiring Secretaries of Labor and no other extremists, but middle of the road mediocrities, of which there are plenty to choose from in government offices across our great nation, Dubya, you stupid bastard!