I Feel Like I'm in Limbo
I feel like I'm in limbo these days. There are a lot of factors, the main one being the uncertainty of these last few weeks leading up to the election. I'm cautiously optimistic that Obama will win, in fact I feel hopeful, but until the election is held and all the votes are counted, I'm holding my breath.
I found this wonderful article that beautifully describes how I feel about Obama and the possibilities that he represents. On the other hand, this photo is a symbol of all that could go wrong:
That's my friend's Obama yard sign after it got mangled by the township's mowing machine. I think it represents the anger and frustration that some people are feeling these days.
In fact I had an interesting conversation with a psychiatrist the other day. She said that she is quite fearful of how the American public is going to deal with the current economic crisis. She pointed out that Americans are not very good at adjusting and are especially not good at dealing with adversity. There is a lot of pent-up hostility and fear bubbling just below the surface of many people's lives and she is afraid that given the easy access so many people have to guns and their general proclivity to reactivity, America could become a dangerous place. This is a scary piece from the Washington Post regarding a Palin campaign rally that illustrates what she's talking about.
If you think about it, there hasn't been a national calamity of this sort for more than 50 years, since World War II. People really have no frame of reference when it comes to suffering or scarcity or really bad times. Our collective experience has been so good that we may not be able to deal with what comes next.
Which is all the more reason we need someone steady and sure in the White House, someone who can think long-term and doesn't have knee-jerk reactions, someone who will be calm and collected and be able to really lead us through what's coming next. I think you know who I mean!
Surviving the Odyssey--"Something of a Feeling" mp3 off Under the Radar Sampler Vol. 5
Mary Lorson and Saint Low--"Anything Can Happen" mp3 off Tricks for Dawn (buy)
Frou Frou--"Holding Out for a Hero" mp3 off Shrek 2 Soundtrack (buy)
I'm cautiously optimistic as well, but have a niggling feeling that they're
going to steal it again.
interstingly enough, i just read an article that said mccain is pulling the
ayers ads and laying off the attacks about ayers and wright. apparently it
wasn't going over very well with independents, who are the voters he needs
to convert to win. http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/
mccain_advisers_taking_ayers_w.php
so that's another reason to be
optimistic, i hope!
Indeed, I think that most of the US population believes it has an
inalienable right to individual material prosperity and affluence. This
explains much of the borrow-and-buy now / refinance-and-buy-more later
behaviour that the economy has been built on, particularly in the last
10-15 years. When this is threatened, people get angry and seek to blame
and punish. Not healthy...
you speak the truth, mr. fil. people are going to be in for a rude
awakening and it's going to be ugly. there is no quick fix, either. *sigh*
Funny, I don't think the US population was like that before social security
and welfare. We were thrust into this for the greater good, but it blew up
in our faces.
you know it's funny, but i grew up extremely poor and we never bought
anything on credit cards. as i got older, the more money i have the more i
actually use credit cards, etc. i wonder if that's true of most people?
Credit cards are great - if you pay your balance in full each month. We
put most of our purchases on ours to get air miles, then clear it off at
the end of the month. As a longer term borrowing facility they're
dreadful, with astronomical rates and alluringly low minimum payments to
suck you in...
oh yes, i know the pitfalls very well. i guess my point is that when i
didn't have any money, i didn't even play the game, whereas the more money
i had available, the more at ease i felt to use them. i think you can
stretch the comparison and say that really rich people borrow a whole lot
more money to do things--like purchasing homes and developing properties,
etc.--than poor people do, thereby contributing much more to the "buy now
pay later" mentality that's helped get the economy into so much trouble.
RSS Add-Me
