H.L. MENCKEN AND ME…

12/7/11

My nephew, an insightful observer of and participant in the political scene, recently shared a thoughtful letter concerning the “housing crisis” that he sent to the Chicago Tribune. One of his fans (and there are many) responded that he ought to run for president. I decided to reproduce my reply to this worthy observation because this reply so encapsulates the, if there is one, overriding theme of the Insightful Pontificator. As loyal readers know, that theme is not sunny optimism based on chest-thumping while chanting “USA! USA! USA!”:

12/7/11

I agree that Jay ought to run for president and if I had any money I would be an enthusiastic financial contributor.

Unfortunately, Jay would go nowhere with such common sense and keen insight. The "American people" just want to be told that nothing is their fault. It's the greedy banks, the evil derivatives traders, the barnacles on the ship of state in Washington, those damn Chinese, anybody but them, who has caused our problems. The new American motto is no longer "Don't Tread on Me" or "Live Free or Die;" rather, the new motto is "It's Not My Fault." It is our right to spend money we don't have on things we don't need in order to impress people we don't care about, send the bill to someone else, and go back to anesthetizing our brains with the like of "Two Men and A Boy," "Dancing with the Stars," or Jay Cutler's thumb while whining about how everyone has it in for us and voting for the guy who either has the best sounding name, features the slickest thirty second commercial, or who promises to protect the programs that benefit us while promising “fiscal responsibility.” And Americans will only elect politicians that feed these tendencies and provide anodyne reinforcements of the crazy notion that no one is responsible for his or her actions; they have no use for the likes of Jay (or his uncle) who tell the truth.

This ain't your father's America any more; it is Alec Baldwin's, Paris Hilton's, Glenn Beck's, Sarah Palin's, Dick Durbin's, Barack Obama's, Jesse Jackson's, Keith Olberman’s, Michael Moore’s, Lady Gaga’s, or any number of excerebrose celebrities' you can name, America. It's over and it ain't coming back.

On that happy note, everybody have a wonderful, blessed Christmas (in today's materialistic, silly, and self-obsessed and idiot celebrity obsessed America a herculean task, I know) and a prosperous new year (equally difficult).