Going After Idealism With A Cheese Grater

I’ve been trying to make the general tone of these entries kind of upbeat. But circumstances at the moment seem to necessitate a bit of, I don’t know, outrage? Maybe disquietedness? Is that a word? (Word says: yes)

I’m just so AAAARRRRRGGGGHH!!!!!!

Here’s the thing: our government appears corroded and corrupted beyond repair. And I’m not really even talking about the people in it (but they definitely deserve some blame). The system itself is so saturated with money; I can’t even deal with it!

I’ve had the misfortune to be taking a class here at the Washington Center laughably titled “Washington Ethics.” And through this class I’ve been reading a whole bunch of articles from the reader (like you do), and in the section on campaign finance reform, I just about macvasinated.*

Politicians (both red and blue) take so much money from wealthy corporations and individuals that they can’t help but be beholden to them. And these articles had all these smug quotes of these empty suit business douches saying things like, “We pay for access.” and “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

So these guys pay the parties hundreds of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and then they get to go to these exclusive parties with the political mucky mucks. And that’s the “access,” having a flirtini with Karl Rove or James Carville and getting to “elbow elbow, nudge nudge” your point of view to the guys making decisions that effect everyone.

And everybody does it, because they all figure that, if they don’t, then they’ll lose because the other guys will. Which is probably true.

So there’s really nothing I, or anyone else, can do about it. Fear of the actions of others will continue to maintain the status quo at the expense of everyone.

Great.

This is a depressing town. I am ashamed to be a person right now.


*mac-vas-in-ate v. 1. Describes the feeling of wanting to gouge out your eyes and stab pencils in your ears in order to escape an unbearably frustrating or morally heartbreaking situation 2. May also be used in excruciatingly boring situations.
When Marsha’s wrist watch alerted her that the politician’s speech was entering its third hour, she began to seriously consider macvasination.