It's all about freedom: the freedom to be wrong, the freedom to be right, left, off-center, or anywhere in between. That's what this is all about — my unalienable right to make a complete fool of myself in America. This is a precious right at the very core of our country's foundation. And is one right I am about to make full use of.
So I embark on this new venture on the eve of a day that will define my country's destiny. Tomorrow is Election Day. Tomorrow we will all exercise our collective right to be wrong and right and left and right and anywhere in the middle.
Except that this is one time when there is no middle ground. Our politics have become so polarized we aren't meeting in the middle because there is no longer a middle ground in America.
Church should have no more say in how I vote as State should have in how I pray. Yet in a country founded on separation of Church and State, we seem to be forgetting this basic tenet of our Constitution when we applaud those who believe government should have a say in a woman's choice of whether to become a mother or not.
Ironically, these are the same people who moan and groan about the dystopian future that awaits us if we let "big government" take hold and rule our lives.
These are also the same people who want plenty of freedom to do as they please with all of our money, as government is anything but efficient and proves a hindrance to economic growth and progress. If we let government get too big, we end up with Socialism, which is just one red flag away from Communism ... And we've all seen how that turned out for Russia and Cuba, to name a few.
On the other hand, these people who want all kinds of freedom to have their way in business and a free-for-all in Wall Street, don't think it's an oxymoron to let government get big enough to come and bail their broke asses out when they mess it up so badly for all of us that they put us — and the world's economy — on the brink of collapse.
All of a sudden, their ideal of small government seems to blow up like a salt-sprinkled bullfrog into a government large enough to cover all their losses so that they can go back to business as usual.
In other words, these people want an inflatable government that they can deflate down to nothing to do as they please and run the show, but when it is convenient for them, then they can blow it up like a balloon to cover their tracks.
Really?! Thanks, but no thanks. Leave me be with "big government" in the style of most of the Nordic and Scandinavian countries or even our own neighbor up north. Canada was smart enough not to allow deregulation of the banking system, and — miracle of miracles — its banks are still doing healthy business just fine and never needed any bailouts, thank you very much.
So don't let those people fool you with their empty promises of business-savvy leadership. They're savvy alright, and they sure know plenty about business — the business of getting richer and richer at the cost of Middle America. On the other hand, the great thing about government in a democracy, whether small, medium or large, is that every four years we get to exercise our right to be wrong or right, and vote those we don't like out of office, and those we do like into office — or keep them there.
In the end, the choice is ours. Do we want to vote for those people who want Wall Street to govern us and turn our Democracy into a plutocracy? Or are we going to vote for THE PEOPLE?
You can vote right, or you can vote Wrongney. But please, vote while you can.
And while I may be wrong many times, tomorrow, for once, I'll be right. Right left of center, that is.
