I’ve been calling Congressman Jeff Hurd’s office on a regular basis — and no, not just when I’m drunk. The last aide I spoke with was named Carter. He sounded rather bored, then he audibly yawned while on the phone with me.
“Wow,” I said, thinking, “This feels very dystopian. Most Americans are just trying to hold it together and think of something to be thankful for on Thanksgiving, while our leaders at the Capitol refuse to work and we all watch the White House being demolished on a hideous $300 million golden whim.”
“What?” Carter had stopped talking.
“Oh! Did I say that out loud? I’m just wondering how long Congress is going to play chicken with itself … Are you getting paid right now, Carter?”
“No.”
“How can you afford to work without pay? How will you pay your mortgage?”
“Well, there’s been talk of back-pay.”
Mm, hm. “There it is,” I thought (this time) to myself.
I thanked Carter for his time and hung up with Chris Elliott’s voice in my head, “Each day is better than the next …”
The Republicans are hell bent on kowtowing to Trump and his billionaire-tax-bracket-avoiding cronies by squeezing more money and benefits from the American people, most of whom are already poking an extra hole in our belt to keep our hand-me-down pants from falling off. These clowns are obviously not concerned with protecting our American way of life, as evidenced by their treatment of farmers, veterans and working moms. It would only take one brave Trumpublican to go first and denounce the lot of them, but here we are, watching the destruction of our country: crickets.
And don’t even get me started on the Democrats! These chuckleheads are still dressing up like they have an office to go to. If you thought Bernie Sanders was too liberal, you should go sit down and think about how we got here. By not reacting viscerally to this tyranny, i.e. by trying to take the well-worn path across the aisle and play by Capitalism’s rules — or rather, lack thereof, the Democratic party has thrown us right under their EV tax credit bus.
Both parties pole dance for the almighty dollar, Democrats just like it to take a little longer. Meanwhile Republicans have decided they can’t wait another minute! They’ve gone on a bender, tearing the whole place apart. “Politics is burlesque,” as Chris Hedges said. While Democrats were happy to watch America strip slowly, doing a little dance to the tune of betraying working Americans by repealing the Glass-Steagall Act, Republicans like the fast and furious pace of anarchy — oligarchs up on stage, dancing to the song “Maniac.” In both cases the money flows one way: up, up and away from the American people.
Who on Earth — other than Congress — gets paid for being on strike?! Can you imagine a stripper sitting on a chair filing her nails while the dollar bills continue to fly through the air? No. This shutdown is pathetic. What do these members of Congress think is the main job of government? To go out to lunch with Richie Rich, that’s what. And Richie Rich and his pals, a.k.a. private equity firms, are insatiable eaters. They eat industries built with public funds and then sell us the necessity we already paid for. They can’t get enough: roads, hospitals, electric companies, etcetera. And, of course, they lobby like mad to avoid paying their share of taxes.
Imagine what a world it would be with genuine representation for the people, instead of these ghouls selling us the Band-Aid to stop the bleeding after securing the government subsidy for all knife-wound remedies. The system is rigged for the corporations, meanwhile we have to contribute to GoFundMes for art in school and public radio.
As I mentioned, a favorite pastime of local middle-aged women these days is calling our Congress members while listening to KDNK and enjoying a glass of wine. One of my friends was talking to an aide of Representative Hurd (Carter?) about the elimination of funding for public media. Specifically, she asked him how he thought we would stay informed about wildfires, flooding and other disasters without public radio. Once again: crickets.