Guest post by W. Kane on Jan. 25, 2016
The bar I habitually patronize aired the most recent Republican Primary Debate. When I
walked into the bar, the first thing I saw was Donald Trump’s face on the big screen above the bartender’s head. I took a seat in front of the Presidential Candidate, and ordered a draft from the young lady working that night. Normally this bar would be playing Sportscenter. But, here in America, every four years even sports takes a backseat to the carnival of election year.
The chemical integration of politics and alcohol went exactly as you’d suppose it would;
three minutes into my visit a verbal sparring broke out between two barflies.
“They’re all idiots!” A man at the bar thought his opinion was worth everyone’s time.
“Who’s an idiot?” Another man in the bar did not agree with the first.
“Every one of them, Trump, Cruz, Rubio. Palin!” The first man did not like the GOP. This
was clear by now.
“Well would you say that about Bernie? Or Hillary?” The second man was still composed
at this point.
“Well Hillary is an idiot too. But I like Bernie.”
“Bernie is a socialist. You like socialism? Give me your money.” The second man had
identified himself as a conservative at this point.
“I like socialism! As a matter of fact, I like everyone of Obama’s executive orders and I
like Bernie!” The first man was yelling. He had half turned toward his intoxicated counterpart to strengthen his position.
“Oh shut up! You liberals are going to cripple this country!”
“I am a registered independent you fuckskull.”
I had never heard a man refer to another as a ‘fuckskull’ before this point. I have to
admit, I was very intrigued by the soapbox duel occurring in the bar.
“What is your position on gun control?” the second man implored the first.
“There are people dying in the streets! We should stricter background checks so felons
and mentally ill people can’t get ahold of guns and murder people in the streets!”
“I am a felon and I’d have no problem getting a gun and shooting your fat ass in the face
if I wanted too.”
The barkeep, sensing the untamed hostility implored her customers to cool it. Above her
head I heard a politician say, “There is a war against ISIS, not just against ISIS but against radical jihadists terrorists, and it is a war that they win or we win.”
The first man slammed his drink, spouted off a few obscenities at the second man,
closed his tab and turned to leave and said, “If you want to live in a country full of racism and people being gunned down in the street then fine. But we have a higher employment rate, less war, and more prosperity with a progressive government.”
The second man countered, “Fuck you, you muslim-loving douchebag. Obama is so
unconstitutional. He should be shot.”
“When you look in the mirror tonight, I hope you see my face and shoot yourself.”
At this point, the argument took an even quicker spiral toward degradation. The second man, not one to accept a jab of such venom, rose and shoved the first man. A ridiculous squabble ensued. I was disappointed at the amateur nature of the two fighters. The ended up outside, tired, and deeply entrenched in their political paradigms. The small and feeble bartender had no chance at slowing their aggressive dance. She meekly swept up the shattered pint glass that had fallen, unnoticed by all, in the dust of their conflict.
The entire incident left me with the bitter aftertaste of shame. Somewhere along the way I had been taught that in a democracy, it was not okay to treat another member of the voting citizenry with such disgrace and malice. Nowhere had I been taught that it was okay for us to treat another manifestation of our species with such a lack of love, a void of compassion. Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama, Jesus Christ, Mohammad, and Ghandi ALL would have been disapproved by the actions of both men.
I started thinking.
“How did we get here?”
Well. Around three thousand years ago, we started experimenting with this new idea of governments. Huge power structures that would protect us and direct the society it ruled. It was a stupid idea. We had the Greeks, who enslaved. The Romans, who enslaved. Then we had a thousand years of barbaric rule where sovereigns turned the population into an impoverished, sickly, retarded roaming mass. The Moors came, and enslaved white people. Then there were the crusades into Jerusalem were small orphaned children fought other small orphaned children in the name of Holy Land supremacy. Then feudalism, like all government, unfolded like a mafia shakedown. In exchange for protection, Knights and Lords enslaved, raped, murdered, flogged, drowned, burned, de-limbed, and fucked Europeans for hundreds of years. Then nationalism swept across the planet and we were gifted World War I and World War II. And for the last hundred years we’ve endured the lurking doom of nuclear conflict. Just think about it. If you are black, white, asian, Pacific islander, native american, Italian, Irish, Chinese, French, a member of the Dakota Tribe, Russian, Slavic, Spaniard, Sicilian, Swedish, Swiss, Slovakian, Scottish or Sudanese, then at one point in time, someone in your family was probably a slave. A slave of whatever manifestation of government was around in that day.
But, along the way the abusive power that has been held by the men on thrones has been diffused to more and more hands. In 1215, English Nobles threatened their governor with death and forced King John to sign the Magna Carta. And the theme has continued. Power in the hands of the few has been pried away by the hands of the many. Until we find ourselves today living in a world with few kings, and more and more Presidents, Senators, Prime Ministers, Legislatures, Representatives, Ambassadors, and Secretary’s. But still, the same cancerous problems remain. In America, for example, we still suffer from irresponsible media that feeds us images of spouting politicians ‘debating’ issues. Nothing gets done by the reactive legal system, but Fox News still makes millions.
And the oppressive power of government lives on because they keep us divided by conflict. If you ask a politician ALMOST ANY QUESTION, their answer will involve blaming others. During that last Republican Primary Debate, I heard candidates blame Obama, Clinton, ISIS, North Korea, China, Moderates, Liberals, Progressives, Atheists, immigrants, refuges, Putin, and Palin for why our country is trillions of dollars in debt, creating an hostile atmosphere, and on the verge of another war with a group of CIA funded Islamic agitators. They, the government and it’s equally powerful media, feed us enemies. Because if are given 100 enemies, and we all choose the ones we think are the problem, and then fight each other over who is right, we’re blinding to the man hiding behind the curtain.
Which brings me back to the two men in the bar. Two men, who had never met each other before this night were devolved into hate-filled monkeys by a T.V. program. By a media conglomerate that makes billions of dollars off fear-mongering. By a government of the 1% oppressing the rest of us. But all is not lost. Eventually, we will evolve into something better. Something more natural than taxation and the selective service. One day we will achieve Stateless Societies. And we can speed up the rate at which government dissolves itself by respectfully and diligently working within the flawed system. Through respectful dialogue we can break the trance of the media driven refuse that is today’s politics. We can begin to heal generations of classism and conflict induced separation and unite. And demand more of the government we collectively pay $6,000,000,000,000 a year to fund. And eventually, eventually, the conversation will push government toward it’s inevitable end. Anarchy.
And Peace.
So, this election year I urge you, my fellow human, my fellow American, my fellow offspring of squalid slaves. I urge; let us treat each other (and ourselves) with respect when we discuss our ideologies. And let stop sharing aggressive partisan Facebook posts. And then maybe we’ll start to demand the respect of the broken government we all allow to rule us today.
Because right now, we’re all getting fucked.
