Hunter S. Thompson and the Senate

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070327/D8O4P0TO2.html

The link above leads to an AP story covering the Senate's 50-48 passage of a non-binding time line for troop withdrawals from Iraq.

What a resolute congress we voted in! It seems the only thing they care to take a stand on are non-binding bills. Although they do pack in a lot of pork with those bills. Weren't they suppose to put an end to that as well?

In any event, these are days when its difficult to feel good about our political leaders. Certainly I don't let them get me down and despairing. I don't allow them to have that much power over me.

For instance, I just finished reading Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness--Modern History from the Sports Desk by Hunter S. Thompson. Its a collection of his columns on ESPN.com's Page 2 covering a little over 2 years, late 2000 to early 2003. As with any of these types of sports columns turned book, there really isn't anything of importance inside the covers. However, the reader can get a sense of the rhythm of the writers life, his modes and behaviours.

This has nothing to do with the non-binding resolution of today, other than to read of Thompson hysterical embellishments of the Bush Administration's reach into our private lives and freedoms, is like reading of an account of Hitler's Germany of WWII, or Stalin's Soviet Union, and when an environment like those awful regimes is portrayed, it tends to lead people to support opposition. In our case, it led to the 2006 elections, which has left us with this limp noodle congress.

I intended to write about my faux pity for all these poor souls who allow politicians and loyalty to a party run rough shod over an otherwise normal perspective of reality. Returning to Hunter for a moment, if those years during which, and in, he were writing about, were that bad, i.e. oppressive, then honestly, he wouldn't of had the freedom to put those words to paper, or web for that matter.

Yet he does his darnest to frame reality as very bleak and dark. Sadly, people all across this country also bought into this idea, and as I said, it tends to lead people to gravitate to opposition forces. And while that does potentially provide a balance, when their voting decisions run only as deep as "electability", then we're all screwed, because we didn't vote for anything, just against something, or someone in this instance, and the politicians mirror our principles and they in turn stand for nothing.