Wednesday, November 14, 2012

EXTRA! EXTRA! Women's Suffrage Revoked; Slavery Reinstated....

You who follow me know that I have often mumbled, confessed and ranted about the fact that I was sure I was losing my mind, but,hell,   you all know I was mostly kidding.   Today I am not at all sure about that, or about anything.  I may very well have gone mad, but apparently this country, the good old U.S,. of A  has beaten me to it.

In my last blog I remember saying something flippant about the election like...."We don't need another Civil War".  Then today I bleariily logged onto my email and saw the headline of a news story....."31 States File Petitions for Secession".   WHAT THE FUCK?  Talk about infantile behavior and poor losers.  I am speechless.

Well, of course, not quite.  That is an obvious lie.

Why oh why is it that for every inch of progress we manage to eke out as partially civilized beings there are those who fight like demons (0r the demented )  determined to drag us backward into the slime?

I have read that once upon a time some people arrived at the idea that owning and exploiting Slaves was not a very fair or nice thing to do.  Naturally, the people whose comfortable way of life depended on Slavery did not see that to be true.......hell, they had bought and paid for them there Slaves fair and square and damned if they were going to be deprived of their lifestyle and slave property by a bunch of heads- in- the- clouds Socialists out to ruin the Country.  This meant WAR!.  And war it was.

After much bloodshed and devastating destruction,  Slavery was finally legally abolished, but, I suspect, the idea was never really accepted in certain parts of the country as the right and proper thing for civilized people to do.  Not to mention the fact that the ex-Slaves found that the Freedom they had been granted had a number of huge drawbacks and impediments .......their treatment might even  be considered less than humane..but that is another story.  We will get to that later.

Moving onward there came a time that women (and perhaps one or even two enlightened men)  had the notion that,  since women were doing at least half of the work at maintaining a civilized society and could not be treated as or considered slaves since that had sort of been declared illegal, that perhaps they should be given the opportunity to vote since what the government did affected them too.  An outrageous premise, but since an awful lot of women seemed to like the idea and made a helluva lot of noise in favor of it, somehow the crazy notion became law and,. voila, women were allowed to cast ballots and have some say in the government.  Since I am not quite old enough to remember those heady days, I cannot be sure whether efforts to repeal that law were attempted.  I am pretty damned sure efforts were definitely considered.  And, for that matter, to this very day I see horrific attempts to get women back into their proper place, in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant........

Oh, yes, and then there was the time when some crazy ladies (who may have been sick of their husbands coming home drunk and beating up on them and the kids) decided that Liquor was an evil of the Devil and should be outlawed and I'll be damned if I know how they managed it (I am almost positive that most men were not too hot about the idea) but they actually achieved the passage of a law that prohibited Booze....none, nada, zilch. And, of course,  a bunch of guys who saw a fortune being offered to them via providing that illegal substance that everyone really wanted, formed an organized group or several of them and so was born Prohibition, the Speakeasy, contraband hooch, bathtub Gin and The Mob.  Of course, this No Booze thing  was such a ditzy idea that it had no staying power and was soon repealed, all of which shows that prohibiting liquor had nothing at all to do with progress.......just goes to show how dangerous bible-thumping Church Ladies can be if they get together.   However, the era did give birth to bobbed hair, short skirts, the greatest Jazz ever and the Charleston...... all of which I consider hugely progressive.

As I muse further on what I consider progress I come next to that period in the  mid-20th Century when someone admitted to themselves that simply freeing the Slaves had really not accomplished everything that it should have in regard to respecting human dignity regardless of skin color. Marches were organized, speeches were made, and in spite of meddling wretches like Governor Wallace, schools were integrated.  A process of Desegregation was actually begun.  I am sad to say I do not expect to see that struggle completely won in my lifetime, but I feel that some progress has been made and I pray it will continue.

And that  brings us to today when people around the world are cheering our wisdom, courage and good intentions for the world by reelecting President Barack Obama, the first elected leader of a predominately white country who is not 100% white, and I am forced, before breakfast even, to read that poor sports and misguided fools in 31 states have filed petitions for Secession. from the United States of America. 

Sigh.  You know what I think?   Dammit.....let them do it!
















25 comments:

  1. Lo, I want you to know that your blog is one of the best that I read.
    Keep it up, whatever your topic you always make it so interesting.
    thanks
    Briony
    xxx

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  2. This really is one of your best posts, Lo, and that is saying a lot.
    I'm with you. Let's let those states just go on and figure it out by themselves. Wait- is my state one of them? I hope not. They did finally get Florida's votes counted and we did swing blue so maybe we're not. I should check.

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  3. Lo, I don't know your political affiliation, but I'd like to point out that the party of the president who you favor is the same party that fought tooth and nail against freeing the slaves and then granting them their civil rights. Remember that Lincoln was a republican. I've always wondered why the black people who lived under segregation in the south still vote for the democrats who are the very ones who held them back. As far as the other party holding women back by now wanting taxpayers to pay for their abortions and contraceptives, that's a simple case of expecting individuals to take responsibility for their own actions. If liberals want the government to stay out of their bedrooms, they should not want the government to pay for their bedroom activities.

    I can't comment on which party was responsible for prohibition or the right to vote since I have not studied those subjects.

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    1. Sigh. Nobody is asking for taxpayers to foot the bill for abortions and birth control. They want insurance companies (that they pay into, not the government) to cover them as they would any other medical procedure or medication.

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    2. I'm with you Cathy. We're not alone.

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  4. As i noted, i thought the secession question had been settled. Maybe your idea has merit -- let them see how hard it is to run a country.

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  5. That aside, I don't comment often, but I enjoyed this post, as I do almost all of your posts.

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  6. Somehow all you have to do is sign a petition. I think we're safe that though enough poeple can sign a stupid petition for almost anything the overwelming majority of people in all these states are imbarassed by the whole silly protest. Kind of like a bunch of entertainers years back who vowed to become ex-pats if George Bush won a second term. THey all stayed and we are still here. On the plus side, in my opinion, this silly protest is less about race than many people want to make it to be.

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  7. Insurance companies pass their costs on to ALL customers, We ALL pay for their activities.

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    1. I sure hope you don't smoke, drink or eat junk food or work with/near anything that can cause health problems, then. Because then we're all paying for your activities.

      Anyway, I'm done derailing.

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  8. Maybe we need to re-think what it is to live together in community. Thanks for the reminder Lo.

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  9. Good riddance... Fabulous post, Lo!
    Hugs ~~~

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  10. I figure they just will need to leave because they couldn't even pony up a downpayment on all the infrastructure in place in the territory they intend to suceed to. Babies.

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  11. Wow. What passions I have evoked. I guess if a blogger wants comments they need only write about politics. Tomorrow I will have to write about religion........(NOT).

    I usually resist commenting on comments, but this time I feel I must. I hate to be misunderstood or misinterpreted and I dislike being the victim of what I call crooked thinking.

    It is sheer foolishness to take my remarks as attacks on or support of either political party. I was talking about ideas which lead to progress. The Republican party of Lincoln obviously had the right idea and the Dems of that time the wrong one. I don't give a damn what name a party carries.....the name is meaningless. What matters is the ideas they support.

    One very important point which I failed to make clear was that, as I understand it, the poor losers who want to secede from the USA are scattered among both the red and the blue states. As I recall, I think even California was mentioned as one of the states with the petitioners.

    My position (a delicious fantasy) is clear. Anyone who wants to secede should be granted their wish. Of course, they would relinquish their citizenship and become illegal aliens. They do not have to pay higher taxes....probably no taxes at all. They will escape having the dastardly Universal Health Care forced upon them...they will be free to figure out a way to obtain health care on their own as non-citizens. I do not know how that would work out.

    Of course, they will no longer be eligible for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps or any sort of government subsidies but that shouldn't bother them because they seem to despise anyone who happens to need such crutches.

    The difference between them and the other illegal aliens in this country would be dramatic. The illegal aliens who generate so much furor and hatred come here hoping for a better life. The new breed of illegal aliens already enjoy that better life but apparently are quite willing to give it all up because I guess they want an even better one. I am not at all sure that seceding is the right way to get that, but I would wish them good luck and godspeed. And maybe good riddance. I am too old and tired for this crap.

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  12. I'm on a different land and it's not that big though a lot of people cram into it....but the north...who were my mother's folk have managed to get a gigantic sized pair of scissors and are cutting them selves loose from the rest of us...well that is except the sons and daughters who could only find work in the bottom bit of the land and then ...oh no...met up with a partner from it and ...there you go the kids are half and half and don't know where they belong!!!...calm down gerry it's only life!

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  13. and if you write about religion...well I grew up in northern Ireland....say no more!!

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  14. Religion is quite interesting. Mine is that of Mr. Romney's (& Mr. Reid).
    I believe that all 50 states have submitted petitions.

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  15. Strange. All of my comments were removed.

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    1. Double strange..they are back. Must be my meds.

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  16. My state was one of those who petitioned to secede, but I dont remember anyone asking the voters first. This puts the petitions in the category of "publicity stunt" -- or else they are just plain illegal.

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  17. All the progress we made over the last few decades here in the U.K. to help the very old and the very young, the disabled and the poor and those needing a leg up, is now being eroded by our present Government. Apparently, the econpmic crisis is all our fault and we must pay. We seem to have to carry the burden of taxation whilst the rich evade taxes.

    Any civilised society would welcome social reform and steps towards equality but we are slipping back into feudalism here.

    At least we were cheered by the outcome of your election so thank you for your good sense and wise choice.

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