The Second Moon of Adonis

Have I mentioned how warm and fuzzy my jaded little heard feels every time a high-ranking member of the Bush administration gets booted out on his fat, corrupt ass?

It always annoys me that it takes as long as it does, but when it finally happens it slightly renews my faith that there’s a little justice left in the world — and if not justice, at least the tiniest bit of validity still left in the laws of cause and effect.

I’m not going to go into all my thoughts about governmental dishonesty, the war on American civil rights, and why being shifty about what is and isn’t torture annoys the living fuck out of me. I just wanted to mention that it does my heart good to see another one of these guys go down, even if it makes me wonder how many have to leave in disgrace before someone realizes they all had the same boss, and he’s still there.

Published at blog.Adonis.net. You can comment here or there.

I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am about the results of yesterday’s Congressional elections, and the cherry on the cake that was Donald Rumsfeld’s firing today. I’ve spent most of the last six years wondering how so many of my countrymen could, in good conscience, keep the Bush administration and Republican Congress in power. We’ve had pointless wars, endless displays of incompetence, rampant corruption, and they just kept getting elected.

I’m not quite ready to profess total faith in the democratic process. It’s far too imperfect, and any time you have a situation where decisions are made by the majority, you’re bound to get oppression of minorities and a general tendency toward mediocrity. However, since the only better alternative I can think of is benevolent dictatorship, and it’s really difficult to maintain the “benevolent” part of that for any length of time, I suppose our democratic republicanism makes as acceptable a substitute as I’m going to get.

However, I have a little of my faith in humanity back. I believe again that, if the government fucks up enough, they’ll still get voted out. My “enough” bar was crossed several thousand Iraqi deaths and a few personal freedoms ago, but it’s good to know the majority does have a bar, and that they finally realized it had been crossed.

It may still be a while before we know if the Democrats control the Senate as well as the House, but that’s much less important to me than what we already know: there’s a real check against the power of the Executive branch again; a check that’s been completely missing since the start of Bush’s reign. We finally have a House, and quite possibly a Senate, who will stand up and say “no!” when it needs to be said, and that no will have some real bite behind it.

I’m feeling a little better about being American today. I’m not quite ready to give up my self-declared Candianness yet, but maybe we can revisit that in another two years.

Published at blog.Adonis.net. You can comment here or there.

So, there’s been yet another school shooting. I just heard a statistic that it’s the 17th one this year. Since it was so high-profile, I’m sure the debates about gun control have restarted already.

I’m a bit of a rarity as far as liberals go. I’m undecided on whether handguns should be banned or not. It has nothing to do with the Constitution (though I’m of the school of thought that says the “well regulated militia” wording in the the second amendment wasn’t just thrown in there as a red herring), but more with my philosophy of government in general.

I think the government’s job is to keep things running. Keep the streets paved, the relationships with other countries amicable, that sort of thing. As far as my personal life, I don’t think they should have a thing to say about what I can and can’t do, as long as what I’m doing doesn’t hurt anyone.

The more astute among you may realize that, not an incredibly long time ago, that alone would have made me a Republican. Funny how things change, and how the party of small government now seems to have the most to say about what I should be allowed to do and what I shouldn’t.

Back to the point — the reason I’m sitting on the fence on the gun control debate is that handguns are yet another thing many people think the government should keep from me for my own good. I think that list is long enough already. On the other hand, there’s a less philosophical part of my brain that can’t help wondering if controlling guns might not be a bad idea. I’m having a hard time deciding between fewer dead kids and less government interference in my life. It’s a tough choice.

Published at blog.Adonis.net. You can comment here or there.

I’ve decided I’m Canadian.

I’ve only been to Canada twice: once when I was a small child for reasons I don’t recall, and again when I was 13 because my father was attending a convention in Toronto. I don’t have any paperwork to prove I’m Canadian. It’s a matter of will: If I want to be a Canadian hard enough, I’m sure I can become one.

I think I’ve been Canadian since I was a small child. I’ve always been very polite, thrifty in my spending, and I love beer and maple syrup. I’m not particularly fond of beavers or Celine Dion, but I’ll learn to like them if I have to.

If you’re wondering about the reason for my sudden Canadian-ness, it’s really very simple. Americans are embarrassing. The rest of the world figured that out a while ago, I suspect, but I’m just starting to get it. We’re a bunch of obnoxious, loud, overbearing bullies with no tact, little intelligence, and questionable taste. We’re prone to fits of senseless violence, our beer is pisswater, and we can’t provide doctors for our poor.

Need more reasons? Gay people marrying scares the crap out of us, we only speak one language, we get off on blowing shit up, and our country’s overrun with religious nuts who think hating you is God’s will. We insist on driving SUV’s capable of carrying more than even we can buy at one time, environment be damned. We think we’re the good guys, and that justifies a little torture and carpet bombing once in a while. We’re so afraid that one of the people who hates us (and there are a lot of them) will drop a bomb on us that we’re willing to let our government do whatever they want, as long as they tell us it’s to fight evil. We call ourselves the land of the free, then let the NSA tap our phones without a warrant. We’re the home of the brave, but all we really want is soft, warm safety.

I’d rather not be a part of all that. From now on, if anyone asks, I’m Canadian.

Published at blog.Adonis.net. You can comment here or there.