The State of the Union

President Biden is getting ready to issue his State of the Union address, the annual report card on the nation. Well, that is if he doesn’t fall off the podium, or forget where he’s at. At the same time, Trump will be glowering into a TV set in Florida, spit running down the side of his mouth, muttering about how the election was stolen. Joe Biden’s speech will mumble and stumble around, tell you everything is great; AOC and the Squad will applaud because we’re one step closer to the age of Aquarius and across the aisle MTG and her right-wing wackos will boo and hiss because they’re pretty sure the whole country is going down the shitter. Most of the rest of the audience will sit there with a bored look on their face trying to keep from falling asleep on live TV. Take a good look, because it’s like the line from the Tears for Fears song, Everybody Wants to Rule the World, “...welcome to your life, there’s no turning back…” So, from a street level view, if there’s a problem, it’s time to stop the pissing, moaning, and whining and own it, because we caused it. We elected these people and gave them money to run their campaign…and this is what we got for our money?  We’re mired in “identity politics” and it’s controlling our voting. If you’re on the far left, climate deniers, cigarettes smokers and Christian Conservatives are major terrors. If you’re a staunch conservative, you worry about gun rights, COVID vaccines, and funny looking little brown people who don’t speak English, The remaining 40% of the voting public just shake their head and mutter under their breath, “fuck me sideways”… can we maybe talk about inflation, taxes, crime, grocery prices, gasoline prices, anything but why it’s important that the one legged, mixed ethnicity, trans woman who has sued in federal court to play on the men’s lacrosse team at an ivy league college is the lead story on the nightly news. We’ve had our shot and it’s time to move on, let a new generation of younger candidates run things, it’s their world now, our generation has passed its shelf life, Biden and Trump are proof of that. We live in a complex, fast-moving world interconnected by commerce and electronics and a new generation is better equipped to manage it. We had a good run, but it’s time to go. Like Eldridge Cleaver said, back in the 60’s “…you’re either part of the solution or part of the problem…” and I’m afraid, as proud as I am of my generation, that we’ve become part of the problem…