It was actually a fairly pleasant day in Streeterville, and at the outpost in Back of the Yards. Sunny and clear, 32 degrees at the Mini this afternoon. The Ryan Expressway was a piece of cake. The lake was a bit calmer than in previous days. Then they told me. It's supposed to start snowing tonight and last into tomorrow. 6-8 inches they say. OK, enough is enough. I'm ready for shorts and t-shirts. I'm ready for going to the beach weather. Winter's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. If I did, I would've stayed in Minnesota, maybe moved to Alaska. Nope. Nix that. Couldn't take a state that elects some nimrod like Sarah Palin as the Governor.
Come to think of it, that might rule out California as well. They not only elected Ronald Reagan as Governor, but Arnold Schwarzenegger. Oh and, My God, that rules out Minnesota categorically too. They elected a friggin professional wrestler as Governor (Remember Jesse, The Body, Ventura? Governor of Minnesota.). Hey, Iowa sent Gopher from The Love Boat to Congress. I'm withholding judgement on the fact that Al Franken of Saturday Night Live fame is in all likelihood going to be a U.S. Senator from Minnesota. He actually seems to have some sense, despite being an actor and writer.
Who are these people out there who are electing actors and wrestlers to run their governments? Is it only a matter of time until Mickey Rourke becomes the darling of one of our national parties? Man, he hits all the right buttons. He's an actor and he's played a wrestler in a movie. He also tried his hand at boxing professionally. Not sure that quite worked out for him. Politics must be the next stop, unless he does something dumb like winning an Oscar and jumpstarting his acting career again.
That being said, Thank God I live in a sane state where we have perfectly normal corrupt politicians who serve time in office and then serve time in a federal penitentiary for assorted briberies, tax evasions, etc. Hey, we produced the current President of the U.S., and he's a Harvard Law grad and pretty much squeaky clean. That is not to say that some of those he has nominated to his cabinet who withdrew are all squeaky clean. Why can't rich, powerful people just pay their damned taxes like the rest of us? Oh wait. I did that rant already....yesterday. Well you get the point, though.
I was thinking that it was a good thing the whole country doesn't go for goofball actors and wrestlers and such, but then I remembered that the U.S. elected Ronald Reagan as President. Not just once mind you, but twice. How could an entire country be that damned stupid? He created the largest national debt in history (At that point. It took GW Bush to top that one. Another Republican.) while cutting taxes and gutting government oversight of business and building up the military to unheard of proportions(Once again, it took GW Bush to top that.). He also claimed that ketchup is a vegetable and that trees are some of the largest polluters. (GW Bush just denied global warming exists and that evolution exists, or that science really exists, I guess. When I was growing up, we had a word for guys like GW Bush. It was dumbass. And he ran the country for two terms...into the ground. Makes the country kind of look like a bunch of dumbasses, for electing him twice.)
I guess I'm just trying to get my head around this thing that allows an entire country to elect celebrities, actors and wrestlers and such, rather than people who are actually trained and educated to handle governance. Apparently, an awful lot of people are susceptible to advertising campaigns, and ad campaigns are the babies of celebrity. People, for some reason, are drawn to people they've seen on TV or in the movies, whether they have any sense or not. If they can create a sound bite that sounds good (if you don't examine it too closely), the electorate will elect the SOB.
Then there is also a distinct anti-intellectual bias in the country. Respect for intelligence? "Nope. Rather elect someone I could sit down and have a beer with and talk good common sense. We all know that intellectuals got no common sense whatsoever. I heard that Einstein couldn't even tie his own shoes..." Where does that come from? I know a lot of smart people, and on the whole they are more competent in all areas, as a result of their smarts. They make smarter decisions. Some can even tie their shoes several different ways. They could run our government in a smarter fashion, and some smart people actually look good on camera. Go figure.
Of course we could just elect Mickey Rourke President and continue bashing the French. I hear French people revere intellectuals.
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