as the giant lizzard peeks its head out!!
So... I arrive back in the states. I was out of country for the better part of half a year and for the mid term elections. Here in Florida there was a medical marijuana referendum and some train stuff and oh yeah, a governor to unseat. Nationally there were seats up for grabs, with our future in the balance. On the night of the elections I was sitting in a local cantina with a group of ex pats. As we watched the sickening results trickle in over the bbc. I sat stunned So when the conversation restarted and I had washed the vomit from my big lebowski t shirt. What really amazed me about this group, and really all groups of displaced Americans I have met in my travels, is... they are mostly conservative. I don't know why this is a surprise. To live outside the states takes money. Money to get there. Money to buy a place. Money to live. Money to drink. Liberals tend to vacation, then return home to regale us with stories of eco hotels, long hikes to meet indigenous peoples or shopping in Paris. Conservatives abroad are largely successful, with well thought out portfolios that have rewarded them with a choice of lifestyle.
The group I was sitting with, ran off when Obama was elected. They sailed their half million dollar boats to Mexico, got a 180 visa and never went home. They believed he would wreck the country and no manner of truth would ever sway them. There was open racism, it's easier when you are around a group of people who only know enough of your language to get you a beer or some tacos. It is far less veiled in Mexico and I was in the minority. Never one to back down from a good discussion. I pointed out that the nation was better off six years later. That Obama care sucked but it was the first insurance I had had since the days of benefits with jobs. They in turn complained about estate tax changes and rap music. that the president had been on the tonight show and played basketball. Some were birthers, others believed he was a Muslim and the most informed thought he was a slick Chicago politician who scammed a poor illiterate minorities and women into buying into his dream through "black guilt".
But how, could they explain Bush...the thievery, the lies, the war in the sand, the huge national debt. He was a rich Texas idiot, they said. Silver spoon puppet controlled by old rich guys. They made no attempt to defend him. They blamed him for Obama. For creating a situation so horrible that even a black, Muslim could get elected president. These were the republicans that left America behind, disgusted by what she had morphed into. And the ones that were left..." crazy Christian psychopaths"
So when I got home and heard that Jeb Bush, the quiet lizard, had thrown his hat into the ring I was not surprised. JB was very popular in florida. The middle and northern parts of the state is a sacred ground for the far, far right. Jeb is their wunderkind, they danced in the streets. These are the folks that voted down medical marijuana and a bullet train to connect the west coast to the east coast. Braniacs... My problem is Jeb isn't stupid, he reads books right side up. And yet a couple weeks into his foray for a presidential election bid. A bid in which he is likely to face the first female presidential candidate. A monumental task in a country that is no longer white, or predominantly male. He lets his handlers choose his brother for middle east advisor, and then stands and defends his brother egregious choice to get us into a decade old conflict. I stood my mouth agape. A generation of damaged youth returning home from a war with no reason. Brothers, sisters moms and dads lost to a war that no one wanted. You would think that a smart man, a man who wants to convince a nation that his party, the party of creationists, overt racists, sexual discriminants and religious fundamentalists is in touch with the rest of us in wanting a new tomorrow. Jeb would separate himself and be smart. Find the middle, run screaming from the core. But the consensus at the bar, over tequila and Indicas was once a Bush always a failure. The other consensus, the corruption in Mexican government is right
out there, there is no attempt at disguising it and here in America its exactly, thanks to the Koch brothers and their ilk, the same.
The group I was sitting with, ran off when Obama was elected. They sailed their half million dollar boats to Mexico, got a 180 visa and never went home. They believed he would wreck the country and no manner of truth would ever sway them. There was open racism, it's easier when you are around a group of people who only know enough of your language to get you a beer or some tacos. It is far less veiled in Mexico and I was in the minority. Never one to back down from a good discussion. I pointed out that the nation was better off six years later. That Obama care sucked but it was the first insurance I had had since the days of benefits with jobs. They in turn complained about estate tax changes and rap music. that the president had been on the tonight show and played basketball. Some were birthers, others believed he was a Muslim and the most informed thought he was a slick Chicago politician who scammed a poor illiterate minorities and women into buying into his dream through "black guilt".
But how, could they explain Bush...the thievery, the lies, the war in the sand, the huge national debt. He was a rich Texas idiot, they said. Silver spoon puppet controlled by old rich guys. They made no attempt to defend him. They blamed him for Obama. For creating a situation so horrible that even a black, Muslim could get elected president. These were the republicans that left America behind, disgusted by what she had morphed into. And the ones that were left..." crazy Christian psychopaths"
So when I got home and heard that Jeb Bush, the quiet lizard, had thrown his hat into the ring I was not surprised. JB was very popular in florida. The middle and northern parts of the state is a sacred ground for the far, far right. Jeb is their wunderkind, they danced in the streets. These are the folks that voted down medical marijuana and a bullet train to connect the west coast to the east coast. Braniacs... My problem is Jeb isn't stupid, he reads books right side up. And yet a couple weeks into his foray for a presidential election bid. A bid in which he is likely to face the first female presidential candidate. A monumental task in a country that is no longer white, or predominantly male. He lets his handlers choose his brother for middle east advisor, and then stands and defends his brother egregious choice to get us into a decade old conflict. I stood my mouth agape. A generation of damaged youth returning home from a war with no reason. Brothers, sisters moms and dads lost to a war that no one wanted. You would think that a smart man, a man who wants to convince a nation that his party, the party of creationists, overt racists, sexual discriminants and religious fundamentalists is in touch with the rest of us in wanting a new tomorrow. Jeb would separate himself and be smart. Find the middle, run screaming from the core. But the consensus at the bar, over tequila and Indicas was once a Bush always a failure. The other consensus, the corruption in Mexican government is right out there, there is no attempt at disguising it and here in America its exactly, thanks to the Koch brothers and their ilk, the same.
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