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i'm sorry. it's been a while. i'm just looking back at the last few weeks of american self love as an indicator of youth. no matter how many times they flash the founding fathers' pictures, their images magisterial all over our money, i can't help picturing a couple of 15 year old kids working on a beat up old hot rod they'll be able to legally drive next summer. in fact, the american psyche appears to be about 11 or 12 years old. stubborn, relentless, hard nosed, unfair, and violent. kick-ass. fucking rule. take no prisoners. lead or get outta the way. skate or die; no holds barred. no sissies allowed. go big or stay home. keep off my lawn. if it ain't broke don't fix it. keep it simple stupid. you're either with us or with the enemy. parking for giant's fans only. real men don't talk about feelings. put up or shut up...
i watch a lot of c-span, because i like to watch a complete political speech once in a while, hey fancy that. also, there aren't any talking heads on to neatly bound the debate for me. the political process is numbing, its just like the 5th grade; one by one the students stand in front of the class, reading out the same question and answer. today, the republicans came out ALL against 'pork barrel' spending, 'liberal' projects, and 'wasteful' allocation of public resources. as if they were all cheating off the same honors student's 'right answers' in the halls of congress, just before session. meanwhile obama is trying to charm these people? when obama started talking about 'sound' and 'redeeming' policies of the reagan presidency about 8 months ago, i though someone gave him acid. but now its not funny anymore. his cabinet is hawkish, and while there are opportunities to set out new paths, apart from empty gestures and platitudes, its business as usual. back to the 11 year old kid analogy: now the kid's got a black friend, but will choose all of his white friends to join his kickball team first, because he trusts them and they're 'stand up guys.'
it's fucking crude, i know. i should also say that 11 and 12 year old kids infuriate me beyond reason. slavoj zizek wrote somewhere that the problem people have with the us empire is that it isn't an empire at all. its links are insubstantial, it expands and contracts. it is totally out of touch with its population's preferences and the population out of touch with its imperial policies. its practices have caused the west into huge economic turmoil, while at the same time it caused the global south into exponentially more difficult problems. 1 billion people do not have access to drinking water and another 1 billion live in slums. while manicured academics swell with pride about new 'commons' and 'organic anarchism,' they don't realize that the new commons are really refugee camps, cardboard shacks, boarded up houses, and deserted buildings.
but it's ok. pbs will have someone from the heritage foundation or the brookings institution on to congratulate us: 'it's ok sweetheart, we all know WE mean well. here are the answers to the quiz. repeat after me. post-partisanship. post-ideology. (those will be on the test) never mind the background noise, just a bump on the road, that's all!'