Are You Not Entertained

Ah the 1980s. I remember them well. Gorbachev had torn down that wall, Mary Lou Retton was a fresh-faced teenager and Madonna had taken over a channel called MTV. I also remember the 80s as the decade I first threw a hissy fit about politics. I had never heard of Gary Hart’s Monkey Business and knew nothing about the Iran Contra scandal. I was just a small town girl (I wasn’t small the town was) when I came home from playing My Little Pony with a friend and turned on the television before dinner. There weren’t remote controls at that time so it took a few minutes for the TV to warm up. I settled onto the couch in the den and prepared to watch The Cosby Show. It wasn’t on and I was instead introduced to someone named Regan who looked older than my grandparents who was talking. Endlessly. The same old man was talking on all the ‘good’ channels at once? How can this be? My parents, always looking at any situation as a teaching moment, told me that back in their day the political debates were on all the major networks and there weren’t any other channels so I should be happy there were other options. God bless my parents for trying but when you’re six and all you want to do is watch the Huxtables, a lesson on being thankful for what you have just won’t cut it. I’ll have to confirm with my parents but I think it didn’t matter what other channels had to offer because my acting like such a brat ended television privileges for the night.

See what politics does? Takes a mild-mannered person and makes them a whiney six year old. It’s a scientific fact! Much like Michelle Bachmann stating this week that HPV vaccinations cause mental retardation. Huh, is that what her problem is, she got the shot?

I’m no longer that whiney six year old. I have Direct TV, Play Station 2, the internet or even a book.  I take advantage of all of these diversions but I find I have to use them more often in this campaign season. Shouldn’t there be a time limit on this sort of thing? A year in advance and already the GOP debates have been on several times. The Democrats will run Obama so there’s no Democratic debate other than what the hell happened to our party?

 I’m not complaining because I’m against Republicans; frankly I’m not dazzled by Democrats at this point and the current administration is way too weak for my taste. Are these Republican candidates looking for their next job and not doing the job they already have sworn to uphold? Or maybe it doesn’t matter. I know here in AZ when John McCain ran twice we didn’t notice because he was ineffectual even when he was in town.

Perhaps I’m being too harsh. The political debates have given Jon Stewart, Bill Maher and SNL endless things to discuss. So I’ll tune into the debates enough to know what they’re mocking. Then I’m turn into that whiney six year old girl simply because of what is coming out of politicians mouths.

Today’s lie: politicians are not out for themselves but sacrifice everything for the good of the nation.