In Government We Don’t Trust, by Mike Gold – Brainiac On Banjo #132
August 24, 2009 Mike Gold 2 Comments
Why do we distrust our government? I mean, by and large they do a good job of protecting us, Medicare works great, the Tennessee Valley Authority was very helpful, those dams are swell, and they’ll take a some of your paper 3000 miles if you want them to for less than a half buck. Not bad.
In fact, I believe that the second stupidest comment to be uttered during the entire 20th century was Ronald Reagan’s “The government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” What bullshit. What hypocrisy: the bastard said that the day he became head of the government. But that feeling didn’t start with the former spokesman for General Electric, America’s largest war contractor at the time. It goes so far back, it’s in our DNA. Let’s take a look at some of the experiences of just the past four or five generations.
In 1922, President Harding’s secretary of the interior Albert Fall leased America’s emergency oil reserves to Harry Sinclair of Sinclair Oil in exchange for gifts and loans of over a half million dollars, which is about six million today. Fall went to jail for bribery, Sinclair served time for jury tampering, both were fined $100,000, and President Harding got caught by his wife in flagrato with his mistress in the oval office.
His successor, Calvin Coolidge, did nothing to contain the unregulated banking industry, believing prosperity in a free market would go on forever. At the time Walter Lippmann noted “This active inactivity suits … all the business interests which want to be let alone… And it suits all those who have become convinced that government in this country has become dangerously complicated and top-heavy…” Hmmm. Anyway, he left the actual disaster to his successor, Herbert Hoover, who cheerfully told Americans who were losing their jobs, their homes, and in some cases their lives that the Depression was only a blip and that better times were just around the corner. Those “better times” came 12 years later and were called “World War II.”
President Roosevelt the Second, pissy about his New Deal incentives being blasted by the Supreme Court, unsuccessfully tried to expand that Court with his political appointees. His successor, Harry Truman, was a former Ku Klux Klanner who supported the creation of the state of Israel only because he was convinced the surrounding Arab nations would crush the Jews within a year. He fired the highly popular – but highly dishonorable – General Douglas MacArthur and bailed out of a second run for president because he was very good at counting noses.
Dwight Eisenhauer failed to stand up for Americans who were losing their jobs, their reputations, their savings, and their sanity to what we refer to disparagingly as “McCarthyism.” A benign president who gave us the Interstate Highway system not as a means for visiting grandma but for military purposes, Eisenhauer only showed the type of courage he manifested during World War II during his last 24 hours in office, when he made his “military-industrial complex” speech. Even then, at the last minute he changed that phrase from “military-industrial-congressional complex.”
John Kennedy screwed Marilyn Monroe. So did his brother, Bobby.
Lyndon Johnson pulled his dog up by the ears, blackmailed congressmen and senators to get his way, believed the Gulf of Tonkin affair was complete bullshit, and then vastly accelerated the most overwhelmingly pointless bloody war since the Maine wasn’t bombed back in McKinley’s day.
Nixon had that Vietnam thing going for him, choosing to add Cambodia to the festivities. Then he had that Watergate thing. Then he had that “having to resign in office” thing, leaving Gerald “There is no Soviet dominance of Eastern Europe” Ford at the helm for a while.
Carter was doomed with a brother who peed on the tarmac and a mom who came across on television as Endora’s more-evil twin sister. Oh, and he bungled that whole Iran thing.
Does any of this stuff ring a bell? Does any of it sound familiar, as in “damn, don’t we have shit like that going on now?” No wonder Reagan was able to whore out that trust in government crap. The problem, as both Bill Shakespeare and Ed Morrow stated, is not with our stars but with ourselves. We do not study history. We do not appreciate our own heritage. We do not learn from our mistakes.
President Obama probably doesn’t read this blog, but we’ve got a couple mutual friends and I hope they pass it along – if they haven’t succumbed to the same self-absorption that befell Julius Caesar and Marcus Brutus.
—
Mike Gold performs the weekly two-hour Weird Sounds Inside The Gold Mind ass-kicking bizarro music and blather show starts up Sundays at 7:00 PM Eastern on
, replayed the following Thursdays at 10:00 PM Eastern. Likewise, his Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind rants pop up every on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday exclusively at
. The regular Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind rants continue every Monday and Friday on The Point podcasts, available right here at
www.michaeldavisworld.com, as well as at www.comicmix.com, www.getthepointradio.com, www.zzcomics.com, and www.ravenwolfstudios.com. You can subscribe to The Point podcasts at iTunes by searching under “The Point Radio.”
Gold is also a regular contributor to www comicmix.com, and edits their online comic book content. Check out the all-new GrimJack: The Manx Cat #3, and Jon Sable Freelance: Ashes of Eden #1, now being solicited in the IDW Publishing section of this month’s Diamond catalog.
Marc Alan Fishman
August 24, 2009 - 9:39 am
No man is perfect. No president is either. They can only strive to be. Selflessness and desire to make this country the best it can be should be the motto of the commander in chief… But, we don’t live in Aaron Sorkin’s America. We live in the real world, where men cheat on their wives, take bribes, help their friends gain wealth and power… and we send our own children to die in the scorching desert in the name of “democracy” when we actually mean “the oil reserves”. President Obama appears to me atleast, as one of the more idealistic Presidents in recent memory. Slick Willy Clinton had a silver tongue, and a libido to boot. GW2 was… well… akin to Norman Osborn running SHIELD, er… HAMMER. Obama at least SEEMS to want to work towards to the good of the nation. To be informed of the global situation, and form our country’s actions to be for the good of all of us in our collective future. Or he may be in it to get all his Chicago buddies into seats of power, and be yet another puppet playing the game.
I see my country’s glass is half full. I hope for the best.
Mike Gold
August 24, 2009 - 9:47 am
Or maybe President Obama is just a pussy who can’t stand being left alone. The longer he’s in office, the more disillusioned I get. His policy on Afghanistan is repulsive, we still have an eighth of a million mercenaries (not U.S. armed forces; I said and meant “mercenaries”) in Iraq, careers are being put to death at the detriment of our national security under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the health care plan has been waterboarded into meaninglessness, and Barack hasn’t taken to the airwaves to tell Joe Lieberman to shut the fuck up. Time will tell, but lately when I hear mewing coming from the teevee, I notice our housecat is asleep.
Mike Gold
August 24, 2009 - 9:49 am
Oh, and I don’t really mind JFK screwing Marilyn — I mean, outside of concern for his back problem — but passing her along to Bobby was just tacky.
Steve Atkins
August 24, 2009 - 12:37 pm
@ Mike Gold
Here’s a pop culture reference that (I think) sums things up:
The current situation with the U.S. government is like the gathered survivors in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.
Everyone is childishly arguing over who’s in charge of the house (which none them actually own) and who’s right or wrong about the best way to hide in said house.
NONE of them deal with the real problems.
Problem #1 – Their own BS, which prevents them from getting together and doing ANYthing useful with ANY of the plans/viewpoints.
Problem #2 – THE ZOMBIES! These slow-moving shamblers are only a threat if stand around having pointless arguments and allow them to gather in overwhelming numbers…which is what happened.
Marc Alan Fishman
August 24, 2009 - 1:00 pm
Ash for President: 2012
pennie
August 24, 2009 - 1:04 pm
Agreed Mike, our leaders are supposed to provide examples in a positive light. Instead, we seem to settle for mediocrity, electing those who exercise poor judgment–with many repeat offenders. A conveniently revolving moral compass. Integrity as a theoretical concept rather than a reckoned force.
I share your disillusionment with Obama. I campaigned and voted for him simply because he appeared to have real convictions that dovetailed with my hopes for a better America and world.
That honeymoon is long over. Does Obama love his wife and kids and act dignified in public? Yes. Does he routinely utter stupid and loathsome statements? No. But this is not why I voted for the man. For me,your list of political shortcomings rings true but is only part of the story. Since ramrodding the stimulus money through in February, Obama has waffled on nearly every crucial issue dear to me. In his attempt to appease all sides of the spectrum, he winds up pleasing no one. Stubbornly clinging to the high road, he comes off as professorial. But this is not the Harvard classroom.
Instead of the strong man who possesses the intestinal fortitude to proudly proclaim his convictions and rally a majority of the American public behind him, this Neville Chamberlinesque manner is a near reversal of his dynamic electioneering.
Health care is all muddled because he permitted it to get that way. At first, it was presented without specifics like a trial balloon instead of a well-designed program.
“Let’s float it up and see reactions…”
There were certainly enough historical references from which to draw. The effort now appears to be gasping–on life support, in need of cardio.
His treatment of the GLBT communities has been just as lifeless and despite the recent gains in some states, Obama continues to support the very foundations of DOMA. As you noted, the promised removal of DADT has been another dead-end. How long do the Queers remain at parade rest?
Our foreign policy has not provided a shining example either.
Afghanistan has all the makings of the most recent Soviet incursion and then there’s our own unlearned lesson in SE Asia. In fact, if one looks back, since the Korean War (not more than a few years after the end of WWII), this country has had too few years of a real peacetime without involvement in a foreign incursion. Eisenhower’s military/industrial/congressional complex, eh?
We so need a president with balls–or ovaries. And I do not mean in the B.Clinton/JFK/RFK conjugal sense. It is one of the main reasons I voted for Obama. I don’t have to agree with everything the man does. I would simply like him to exhibit the character of his professed convictions.
I do understand my opinion matters little to the power brokers. It never stopped me from speaking my mind.
Mike Gold
August 24, 2009 - 1:52 pm
Speaking about Obama getting his Chicago buddies nice powerful jobs… The city is known for a great many wonderful sayings about social relationships. “You can get more with a kind word and a gun than you can with a gun alone,” and “”He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That’s the Chicago way.” Both said by Al Capone, although David Mamet gave the latter line to Sean Connery in the sci-fi thriller, The Untouchables. “Good government is good politics.” Richard J. Daley said that, and actually, he was right. Mr. Dooley (Finley Peter Dunne) pointed out “Politics ain’t beanbag.” “We don’t want nobody nobody sent”” remains the city’s political mantra, coined by ward boss Timothy O’Sullivan.
One of the best-known (locally, at least) and most important utterances was framed by Chicago alderman and political ward boss Paddy Bauler: “Chicago ain’t ready for reform yet.” There’s a reason why Bauler was right 50 years ago, and Barack Obama damn well better figure that out fast. Rahm Emanuel should know better. So should David Axelrod. Get your heads out of the sky and work the precincts of America, pals. All politics is local.
Reg
August 24, 2009 - 1:57 pm
Maike… As the old adage says…”Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.” The problem is that history is only important to those who understand and appreciate the absolute vital necessity of its purpose…gift and warning.
Thanks for remembering, man. And yes…I really hope and trust that President Obama is a student of same. And still has ears to hear.
Alan Coil
August 24, 2009 - 6:07 pm
Mofo’s been in office 7 months and he’s already getting treated like he’s Jimmy Carter.
30 years of destructive economic policies and 8 years of neglect and totally destructive policies, yet here we are, feeding on our own in his first year.
John Tebbel
August 24, 2009 - 7:12 pm
Deliver me from “strong men” of the left or right. We need someone, maybe this guy, who can wean us from our yen for aristocrats to lead from Olympus. Hosshit. They’re all just humans. It took some millions of years to get into this hole and we all need to get at the hard work of pulling it out. Politics and the country are not a spectator sport. Get busy right now in your community on one issue and stick the fuck with it. See how far you get in four years. Probably not to perfection. Buncha whiners.
pennie
August 25, 2009 - 5:20 am
Yeah John and Mike,
That grassroots local thing is dear to my heart. Do it every day as I have for decades. Hardly a whiner John, I refuse to relinquish my belief that leaders are supposed to lead. Dylan’s “Subterranean” line notwithstanding, I don’t follow them–my life and politics are wholly intertwined.
I do expect leaders like Obama to represent and act strongly on policies he/they proclaimed as vital. I’m hardly holding my breath but I am disappointed by the outcome so far. That doesn’t prevent me from continuing to work to represent my beliefs and values wherever I am. Think you know that.
Mike Gold
August 25, 2009 - 6:35 am
Alan, I appreciate your point but I hope you noticed I do not take Obama to task for those issues like the economy that could not possibly be resolved in seven months. I take him to task for those issues that could be resolved by now: for not repealing DADT, for not getting rid of the mercenaries in Iraq, for not pursuing prosecution against those who tortured and, as we now know, killed prisoners of war, for expanding the war in Afghanistan… and, most of all by far, for being needlessly conciliatory and leaving over 100 million Americans who are uninsured, underinsured and victims of “pre-existing conditions” swinging in the breeze.
We should hold Obama to a higher standard than Bush. Barack’s intelligent and knows how to organize. So does his brain trust. But this health care thing has been handled like a Boy Scout troop encountering a lame bear. Expand Medicare to all, hold the necessary 60 votes to the fire the way LBJ did, and be done with it.
Pennie: “Don’t follow leaders, watch the parking meters.” Words to live by.
John: “Don’t mourn. Organize.” Words to live by.
R. Maheras
August 27, 2009 - 7:19 pm
Steve — Your “Night of the Living Dead” analog is pretty good. Does it mean we’re all doomed?
Mike — Lenny Bruce supposedly said, “Chicago is so corrupt, it’s thrilling.”
Below is a URL for a cartoon published in the 1903 book, “Cartoons by McCutcheon.” McCutcheon, who won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartoons in 1932, was an editorial cartoonist for the “Chicago Tribune” from 1903-1946. Prior to that, he drew editorial cartoons for the “Chicago Record Herald,” which is probably where this cartoon first saw print. The cartoon was titled “Our Chicago Aldermen in New York,” and it pokes fun at corrupt Chicago aldermen way back THEN. In the cartoon, they basically out-shyster the shyster New York politicians who greet them.
http://home.comcast.net/~russ.maheras/McCutcheon-1903-Chicago-Alderman-72dpi.jpg
Mike Gold
August 28, 2009 - 7:26 am
Which is how Chicago got the name “the windy city.
” it refers to our politics — specificly, how we out maneuvered New York and Philly to get the 1892 World’s Fair. It was coined by the editor of the New York Sun, an ex-Chicagoan.
McCutcheon was a great, great cartoonist in the classic style. The last rest stop on the west-bound Indiana Toll Road is named after him. No art on display, sadly.
Jeremiah Avery
August 28, 2009 - 8:26 am
Sorry I’m late to this conversation (long week at work). While I’m not completely distrusting of the government, I am a bit cynical. It’s hard to listen to politicans spout off about the sanctity of marriage and about personal responsibility when they themselves have committed adultery and seem to shift blame once things hit the fan.
I think I have a better grasp on how to spend my money than a group that has racked up record deficits and continues to increase said deficit with each passing day so why the heck would I want to give them more for their pet projects? If it was legitimately going to help those in need, then no problem.
We shouldn’t have an “all or nothing” approach to this health care debate. We do have death panels already, only they are run by the insurance companies. More regulation on the companies would be a step in the right direction but since none of us have the money to buy off the politicians, there’s less of a chance of that happening.
Mike Gold
August 28, 2009 - 8:36 am
We’ll get a great health care bill long before we get effective regulation of the insurance racket. WAY too much money on the line for that to happen.
A couple weeks ago Rick Oliver made a compelling argument for why we’ll have single-payer in 10 years. If he’s around and has the time, it would be great if he would repeat it here.
Of course, in 10 years Rick, Linda and I will all be on Medicare.
Jeremiah Avery
August 28, 2009 - 9:46 am
I grew up without health insurance and as someone who wears glasses, that didn’t help my family much who were scraping by. Extending coverage to people for basic health needs doesn’t seem like it should be such a taboo subject. How is the government using taxpayer dollars to help people have access to medical care a bad thing and yet paying farmers (with taxpayer dollars) to not grow crops acceptable?
R. Maheras
August 28, 2009 - 10:25 am
Mike — Here’s a blog entry I made about McCutcheon a few weeks ago, titled, “When the Editorial Cartoonist was King.” For a cartoonist, he was incredibly flamboyant and larger than life. An amazing, amazing character. Someone should make a movie about him!
http://open.salon.com/blog/r_maheras/2009/07/31/when_the_editorial_cartoonist_was_king