Politicians 101

Jimmy Carter was on The Late Show last night and he mentioned the Democrats won the presidential election in 2000. I always believed the Republicans had staged a coup d' etat, that it was the first one in our short history, and possibly the beginning of one-party rule. With the gerrymandering the Republicans have managed, the skewed courts, and criminalized crucial elections, they've attempted to "legally" stay in office indefinitely. The big cities have to fend for themselves because folks like W have written us off as crime-ridden citadels of liberal Jews and/or blacks...who don't vote Republican. I think that's the reason New Orleans went down, and in the Gulf region. Poor whites, although they often vote for people like W, aren't counted either. The truth, as I see it, is that politicians have always cared only for themselves. They're there to line their pockets and gain power over other people--really their own lives, but that's another story--and they dole out contracts and gifts to only those people who can help them grab more.
When I had a regular job--the kind that pays the mortgage--I got an education. I worked with low-level politicians. I didn't see the graft, just favors bestowed by lackeys in hopes of some power dripping off onto them. Jobs and promotions were doled out to politician's children, sisters, nephews, brothers, never with any requirement of qualifications. Oh, and their pay was actually sliced from a very needy program for children. Meritocracy--think the kind that actually runs nations-- was laughable with all the supervisor's children qualifying for jobs. (I don't want to give specifics because these folks think nothing of going after anyone who tattles on them threatening legal punishment. It's happened to me; I'm really not being paranoid.) I'll tell that story another time. The money wasted, when it was supposed to be used for children, bothered me, especially when there was almost never work for those people to do. I liked many of the people; I can't help the rage that boils inside me seeping out when I see injustice.
There's a saying about accepting what you cannot change and I certainly can't touch our twisted human nature. All I can do is complain and live my life. Tomorrow is another day; more cole slaw and a trip outside. Time to put the kittens and myself to bed. G'night.
Oh, the picture was a commissioned portrait, not me.