A Day in the Life

There are some people, even though you've only seen them once in two years, and with whom you couldn't have a conversation that one time you did see them because you were too scandalously drunk, that you appreciate just knowing they're alive and kicking. I'm happy to say I have such a friend, and though he shall remain nameless (but by now obviously knows who he is) I can't bear the thought of his remaining voiceless. He emailed me today, exciting a frenzy of response and reflection that I of course used to divert myself from the school work I'm paying to do, and I can't help but quote a portion (I hope he doesn't mind):

I don't know how much of this you can pick up on over there, but a lot of people in the U.S. are scared out of their minds over these terror alerts the DoHS keeps issuing. I think that probably keeps most people from thinking about this situation very rationally, or with much focus.

My cynical side wants to say that this is a plot to keep the population distracted from the fact that the economy is in the toilet and we are on the brink of WWIII (yeah, that's right, the big one).

But the truth is that I think that Americans, federal government employees included, are not used to living with the knowledge that we can be "touched," so to speak, and since this has been revealed to us, we are on edge.

I don't think Bush is really the raving lunatic that he is being made out to be (that's not an endorsement, mind you), I think he's something much more dangerous. I think he's a scared and protective father, who worries about the world his children (and my children and your children) are growing up in, and sees it as his God-given responsibility to ensure the safety of his offspring. A lunatic can be sedated. An angry, worried parent? That's harder.

Remember that Bush is a conservative Methodist, remember that his one big domestic achievement prior to 9/11 was leveling the primary education field so that deserving children could receive a good education. Remember that his wife was a teacher and child advocate, and they both come from very close-knit, pro-family, families.

I remember hearing a broadcast about a year ago where Laura Bush recounted how after 9/11 she and Dubya laid in bed, sleepless, wracked with fear and worry. You think that's subsided, yet? For any of us?

Fathers and mothers, at least the good ones, have an instinct to protect their progeny that's as strong as any animal. I think that factor is in play here as much as those devious political plots or bull-headed foreign relation policies.

Well, maybe it's 50/50.

I didn't know how to respond to this for a while. In fact, I was so befuddled that I had to get some work done before I could respond. Finally though, I came to the conclusion that my friend shouldn't deprecate his cynicism to the extent that he did here (he's a dad, though, so I think I understand, in a vaguely hypothetical kind of way, from where he's coming). My reply, in part:

As for Bush's intentions, I'm not buying it. Is it there? Yeah, probably. But I'm not fooled by his American evangelicalism any more than I am seventy-five percent of the preachers I've ever met. Sincerity in that crowd does not go too deep, I'm afraid; and in my experience, its influence begins to fade when there's money and power involved. So, I'll grant you the fatherly intention of his concern to whip the country into a frenzied panic, but I also think he's a fucking megalomaniac who, with his entire cabinet, not only represents the oil industry, here and abroad, but *is* the oil industry. His intentions, as good as they may be and perhaps as real as they may be, are blurred here; like my distrust of this war based upon deceit and a campaign of fear -- that, yes, I absolutely think is manufactured and manipulated, again, despite some of the best of intentions that I may be willing to grant -- I can find no reason in my heart to trust that his concern falls anywhere outwith the interests of himself, his class, and his party. [ed. I would add here that I'm not denying Bush is human with real human concerns; its just that I don't know him as a human, but merely as a president. The latter assumes the former, to some degree; but not the other way around.]

As for his "No Child Left Behind" legislation. Lovely law, in spite of its flaws. But let's not kid ourselves, Bush's kids our [sic] (a) out of school; and (b) when they were in school, were never in any danger of being left behind anywhere. [ed. The only place they're in danger of being left now are the bars of Austin.] I'm not so cynical that I doubt his sincerity about the woes of American education merely because it's one of the most important considerations for voters; no, I remain sceptical because of his administration's unwillingness to bend its financial tinkering to actually give states the money the need to fully implement the program without hampering their budgets more than they already. Robbing Peter to pay Paul does not help education in the "long run," no matter this administration's insistance that all they do is directed toward that.

And so it goes. Another day, another email diatribe. The only difference being that this one made up for having nothing particularly blogworthy to say.