U.S. Politics: Theater of the Absurd

 

A regular reader of my blog recently sent me an email, asking if I am okay.  He hadn’t seen a post from me since September 23, 2013; quite a departure from my tendency to weigh in with a rant or two during times of national political turmoil.

I had to admit to being in a bit of a writer’s slump.  It’s been going on for several months, but something as dramatic as a government shutdown would normally enrage me enough to vent my apparently weary spleen.  Not this time.

What is there left to say about the antics in Washington, D.C.?  A recent NBC poll showed that more than 60% of Americans, regardless of party affiliations, would fire the entire Congress – every last one of them – if only they could.  Count me in.

President Obama, who has the luxury of never having to campaign for office again, has suddenly found his pliable spine and has refused to blink.  The 30 or so Tea Party members of Congress resurrected their angst over their resounding defeat in the 2012 Presidential election and decided to throw a government-closing tantrum. 

And, although it seems like only yesterday that we avoided the “fiscal cliff” of government default, here we are again, peering into the precipice. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the world powers are smirking behind their cuffs, watching what must certainly seem to them to be the funniest display of stupidity they’ve seen since…well, since the last time.

As I walked my neighborhood this morning, I was struck by the fact that none of this nonsense has changed much about what goes on here on a daily basis.  Today is another federal holiday, so no mail trucks are on the streets, and school busses are inactive, but Atlanta’s booming construction projects are in play.  Large groups of hard-hatted, chartreuse-vested workers stood watching a bulldozer move a large hill of Georgia’s red clay from one end of a lot to the other.

There is so much building going on in this section of our city that the landscape changes caused by demolition of large parcels of real estate has actually created some noise problems for me and my neighbors.  An outdoor live concert venue located 1.6 miles from here can now be heard in various spots throughout the neighborhood.  Not just heard, but felt.  The percussion from the drums and bases can be felt at this distance.  Explanation?  The new and popular Atlanta Beltline, a pedestrian pathway that connects a number of Atlanta neighborhoods, is now “funneling” sound in new and unpredictable ways.  One neighbor reports being able to hear the lyrics clearly, as if he were seated in the audience.

One of the workers at the Fulton County Senior Center I use for fitness classes tearfully begged the seniors in our large cardio-dance class to attend a meeting with the commissioner later this month because, for the first time, the county is talking about cutting the Senior Services budget.  Something about $8 million being held up by the City of Atlanta.  That’s certainly business as usual around here.

Sometimes I feel as if I am the only one of my local acquaintances who concerns herself with the asinine behavior of politicians in Washington.  Well, there is the woman down the street who is furloughed from her job at the U.S. Department of Labor, which is shuttered.  Except for my ex-husband, who is a Republican, most of my readers are ideologically aligned with me.  I haven’t even asked my ex where he stands on all this.  I think I’m afraid to hear the answer.  But for the most part, anything more I have to say would be a clear case of preaching to the choir.

So I go about my day, watch the news channels to see what the idiots are currently saying about the shutdown,worry silently about the world we are leaving for our children and grandchildren and wait for the “miraculous” deal that will undoubtedly be struck by the two grumpy old men who lead the Senate. 

What else can I say?