Perhaps I’m just waxing fanciful, or maybe even cynical (perish the thought!), but it occurs to me that when hurricanes interrupt your political party’s national conventions twice in a row, maybe higher powers are trying to tell you something. Now I can understand when it happens on the coast of Florida in August (and whose bright idea was it to have a convention in Florida during hurricane season? Oh yeah, major, must-have swing state…I get it) but when your convention is held in Minnesota (check your map, that’s in the middle of the continent, well away from typical hurricane influences) someone may be out to get you. In case I’ve lost you with this, there was a news story today that stated the last two Republican National Conventions, Minnesota in 2008 and Tampa in 2012, have both been interrupted by hurricanes. That’s quite a record.
Today’s paper also had a photo of our own area’s former cheerleader-turned-politician (a former Auditor, Mayor and current County Commissioner named Janet) posing with memorabilia from past Republican National Conventions that included a doll, pompoms, and flip-flops among other things. It must be one heck of a party. She looked like she was anxious to get to Tampa and get the party started. Makes me wonder why either party bothers to go through with the expense and bother of a convention. The party’s platform can be hammered out on conference calls or computer meetings. The candidates are already chosen through primary elections. The candidate is no longer chosen in smoke-filled rooms, although in Florida one imagines another flavor of smoke filling hotel rooms for alternative purposes. TV exposure is the only reason to meet, and most people don’t bother watching anyway. Wouldn’t it make a great statement if a political party said: “This year, we’ve canceled our convention because it only serves as an entertainment venue for all of our old political hacks. Instead, we’re donating all of the money we would have spent for a noble cause…say, a hurricane relief fund. Just a thought, but it’ll never happen. People like a good party, even if it’s raining outside.
Another news story caught my attention the other day, although it isn’t really a new story. The Associated Press reported the findings of a Pew Research Center study that reported the middle class (defined as those earning between $39,000 to $118,000 per year) is receiving less of America’s total income. The report adds that wealth is concentrating at the top, and that those defined as middle class are losing hope in the idea that hard work will allow them to get ahead in life. Read that again. Hard work will NOT help them get ahead in life. That’s bad. Really, really bad.
An old friend of mine posted a link to an article the other day, and I would like to share it with you. Here’s the link: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-fix-the-economy-in-one-simple-chart-2012-8. It’s worth a look, but if you’re too busy to read it for yourself, and most of us claim that we are (Snooki had a baby, we must know more!), it says something akin to what the AP article reports: the middle class is in peril, and it can be easily fixed. All we need is for really rich people to be a little more generous with the profits made by corporations. You know, spread the wealth. It isn’t really a communist idea. Henry Ford favored the notion. Give more money to the middle class and the economy will thrive. Oh crap, we’re screwed. The wealthy seem to want to keep it all for themselves these days. Will they feel any different about that concept when the formerly middle class, now poor people, kill and then cook the rich for dinner? Soon enough there won’t be a choice. Even dinner at McDonalds will be out of reach for most people.
Finally, I’d like to share a thought about the man at the center of the soon-to-be-resumed Republican Convention. Mitt’s sons, a fine looking group of five young men, appeared on one of the evening news programs to discuss their father and mother. They all seemed so supportive, and I don’t think it was really just an act. Don’t get me wrong, I love my dad, too, and usually try to speak well of him with a certain amount of filial pride. But I’m sure I would never say anything bad about him if he had bestowed an eight-figure trust fund on me, like Mitt did with his boys. Even if it was paid for by the broken dreams, destroyed pensions and bankrupt companies left behind in his accumulation of that wealth. I’d probably be having way too much fun to realize where the money came from.
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