We're Just Another Brick in Trump's Wall?

It’s pretty much 2017. And if I read that aloud, my mind has trouble processing that number as anything but a year in the distant future. Because, it seems like it was about 20 minutes ago that I was going to the bi-centennial parade in Kentwood, Michigan on 7/4/76 and theorizing that I was born at just the right time to have an outside shot at living to see the tri-centennial in 2076.

41 years later, I don’t think it’s a longshot to say that I have a better chance of making it to 2076 than America as we know it has to see its 300^th birthday.

I was talking to the kids the other day about a book I read in high school, “The Ugly American” and the idea that there’s a way we see ourselves and there’s a vastly different way we’re seen by other countries. Just an utter lack of self-awareness of who America is collectively. We thought shit was bad when that book was written in the 50s, but how much worse are we perceived now and I shudder to think what we'll look like in another 60 years unless something changes.

Like the old saying about looking around a poker table and not being able to identify the sucker, likely means that you’re the sucker. We suck, bro. We’re an absolute embarrassment. It’s like some kind of horrible reality show/prank that has become our actual way of life.

Our President is as apt of a mascot as we could possibly have to represent everything that’s wrong with us. Corporate greed. Twitter wars. Pussy grabbing without consent. Bullying. But, that’s our tradition, right? Fuck the Indians. Fuck black people. Fuck women. Fuck gay people. Over and over and over rich, white men prove that they are the literal worst.

We’re the only major country without universal healthcare. But, big pharma wouldn’t make billions of dollars if the system wasn’t rigged, so we set shit up to favor the Man, which leads to our current situation…Fuck poor people. Aka fuck me. A few years ago I was paying $100 a month to insure myself. Now I pay $350 a month and just got a notice saying I won’t have the option of my current plan next year. Within a few years it more than tripled, so what’s to stop my premiums from tripling again in the near future? I can’t afford it now, but if I don’t pay up, I get penalized on my taxes for being uninsured.

And I think that alone is the perfect argument for America not being around in 2076. My premiums will triple again, because rich white men are the deciders. It’s not “we the people”. It’s not common-sensical. It’s having someone more powerful than you telling you how it is.

I watched the movie, “The Big Short”, a while back and there was such a great build up as the movie went on to the inevitable happy ending for which Hollywood movies are known. the bad guys would be exposed and get what they deserved. and that made the actual ending the biggest wtf ever.

The truth about the housing bubble came out. Sweet. I can’t wait to see how those greedy fuckers were forced to pay for their sins. wait, what? that really happened? Oh hell no.

Not only did virtually no one got punished, they fucking got bailed out. it's a rigged system. and now big banks are doing the exact same fucking thing, but they call those bad loans by a different name.

That’s us. that’s the US. rich, white people make the rules. And if they get called on their bullshit, they change the rules. this whole fucking thing is a shell game. Smoke and mirrors. A house of cards. Yeah, the house is rigged it in their favor, but the whole god damn thing has to implode at some point. The rich can’t keep getting tax breaks while the poor get insurance taken away from them indefinitely. Piss off enough poor people for long enough and eventually the script will get flipped. There will have to come a breaking point where this whole thing topples.

It’s insane. All of it. Is this what our forefathers fought for? Maybe. This land was going to be ours no matter who already lived there. Run over the weak and call yourself a hero. That’s the real American dream.

In 1976, I was told we were the land of the free and the home of the brave. Half a lifetime later, we don’t have any fucking idea who won our presidential election. The Russians probably interfered. But, really…do we deserve to be able to pick our own president when we’re not only dumb enough for hacking an election to be possible, but also we nominated two of the least likeable humans on the planet?

Hahaha. Oh shit. I really need to get back to blogging. I misfired here, just randomly sounding off about a bunch of random shit that I needed off my chest, but I actually sat down to type a facebook status and it got too long, so I opened Word and out came this.

My premise was actually supposed to be about how I had a sign in my dorm room freshman year of college that said “sleep’s for fags”. And slurs like that were the norm in the 90s and somehow considered funny. It is nice that I’ve woken up as a human and we have to some extent as a nation. If anything, I think “for fags” should be considered a compliment these days. For example…Pride’s for fags. Can I get an amen?

And then somehow I was going to say something about how stupid the phrase African-Americans is because there are black Norwegians. But, we’re so god-damn ameri-centric that we think we’re doing black people a favor by calling them American? Come on man…that’s a worse insult around the world today than “fag” was in the 90s.

We’re all in the same boat. We’re all human beings. We’re all fucked up. And right now we’re all in legit danger of watching the good ship USS America go down in flames. Are we capable of all standing together and fighting the establishment? It felt incredibly sad and confusing to recognize that as our reality as I wrote that. Rich, white ass-holes dictating what’s what? Fuck that man.

During every election, you hear people say “if x candidate wins, I’m moving to Canada.” But no one ever does (except maybe rosie o’donnell). and maybe that’s because we assume it’s not as bad as it really is. But, it is. It really fucking is.

When you’re contending with big corporations, lobbyists and the Donald, what the fuck does one vote or one voice matter? god damnit! Fuck rich white people for making us think like that! We can’t let our country’s story end as shittily as the Big Short. Right now we're on course to live out a Rocky movie where Drago wins. No. We have to keep fighting, even if the game is unwinnable in its current state.

Seriously…for those of you as painfully old as I am, think how fucking great it felt to watch the berlin wall come down. It is un-be-fucking-lievable to realize that there’s a much bigger wall that has been built in America. And not that used car salesman line about having mexico pay for the wall that trump used to get racists to vote for him.

The wall is between the rich and poor. Between big banks and big corporations and the little man. Between the haves and have nots. I’m on the wrong god damn side of the wall. And it’s scary to think of how much worse things have gotten for people like me just in the last few years. get that rich, white ball in motion and unfortunately, it’ll take a fucking superhuman effort to get that ball to come to a stop and start rolling it backwards over big corporations and dickheads who upcharge for cancer drugs that any decent country would make sure that its people get for free. But, to get there, we have to speak up.

God damnit. I got so worked up writing this protest song, that I forgot that my fb status was supposed to link the phrases “for fags” and “African-american” to the idea that “cute as a button” must have been an insult when the phrase was coined. Buttons are not cute. To use that phrase is not fair to people who are actually cute. And frankly, it’s not fair to buttons. Buttons are functional, not cute. Our president is none of the above. The end.