PTA: Parent, Teacher, Asshole

Happy Birthday America

So, our beloved nation turns 231 years old today. Doesn't she look great! She really is a beautiful, proud lady. Coming up on an election year, I can't tell you how much I love this country. What's an election year got to do with it? THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS, BABY! I love elections. I love the political debates. I love that every four years we get to say who we want to run the country. And really, if you consider that some offices have elections at different intervals, we get to help steer this great land more frequently than that, but it's the presidential election that really gets me jazzed.

I think that's something that people tend to forget. No, not that I get pumped up about presidential elections, but that we all get to step up to the ship's wheel and turn the country in the direction we want it to go in. Now, we all get the chance to step up to the wheel, so just because I say, "Arr, me harties, let us turn to starboard," someone else might come up and say, "Ahoy, ye evil genius pirate, I reckon we would be better served goin' to port," and if more people say "port" than agree that we should go starboard, well, we go port. I'm ok with that.

But some people aren't ok with that. Some people don't want to take a turn at the helm because they don't like how the wheel looks. Some don't think it matters if we go port or starboard. Some want to go in other directions but don't think we can. We can go in any direction assuming enough people want to go that way. Some don't even care to take a turn at the wheel. Fair enough. Participate in the navigation of our country to the extent that you are comfortable.

But then there are the complainers. Do they have the right to complain? Sure. But that doesn't mean they have a platform to stand on. Complain when our captain breaks a law, fine. Complain when the majority of us say "head to port" and we're taken to starboard. Fine. But complain when you're not in the majority?

I'm going to stop with the nautical analogy to make sure I'm understood here. I know a lot of people feel the last couple of presidential elections were "stolen". I understand the frustration. I mean, the second election so many people were complaining about the President, how could he win again? But then no one hears the people who are content. No one content shouts to the heavens that something must be done. So maybe what we heard wasn't reality. Maybe the content just outnumbered, barely clearly, the complainers. Or maybe some of the complainers were those who chose not to participate in the Democratic process.

We now return to our nautical metaphor...

But despite my opinion about the rampant complainers, what I love is that they CAN complain. SOme ships, you complain about the captain, you're walking the plank, or keel hauled, or run through. We can say all that we want how the captain is the biggest fucking retarded baboon to ever walk in a suit, and we're suprised that he doesn't slip on his own drool, and that we'd rather jump ship and head to the HRMS Canuck, and not worry that we will be made an example of. We don't have to worry that the captain will help us on our way to the HRMS Canuck by throwing us overboard. Most countries' citizens don't have that kind of security.

I love this old 231 year old ship and feel she's holding together pretty well. She's not perfect, but she's one of the best ships out there. Some think she's on the verge of falling apart, but I have confidence in us, her crew. She'll sail for 231 more years, assuming the oceans last that long.

posted by Bodog @ 5:33 PM