Armchair American. Do You Like Barack?
Armchair Americans by Senator Tony
Everywhere I traveled yesterday in my beloved city of Columbus yesterday, people were talking about it. At the malls, in the bars, even in the adult video stores, discussions abounded about it. What was it everybody was talking about yesterday? Ohio State football, which, ladies and gents, is now only two months away? No, it seems that the Scarlet and Grey fever hasn't caught just yet. Everybody was talking politics.
Normally I don't spend much of my time on Saturdays talking politics. If anything I spend it in various states of drunken stupor, on one of the shopping kicks I've been on rather recently, and if it happens to be a fall Saturday in Ohio, I'm watching my Buckeyes tear up yet another opponent on the gridiron (we'll get Florida back one of these days)
One particularly interesting discussion took place in Lion's Den, which is an adult video/book/toy store here in the capital city of Ohio. One gentleman was up on his soapbox, telling a tale of woe about how the Man's foot was on his particular neck. I'm sorry folks, but my mind cannot shift gears fast enough from searching for my latest installment of Jenna porn to politics. Call it my Achilles' Heel. I can't do that when I'm sober, which certainly didn't qualify yesterday.
Later on that evening, as I sat at the bar (big surprise there) I witnessed another interesting discussion on Barack Obama's name- particularly its similarities in spelling to Osama, and his middle name, which he happens to share with our old and late friend Saddam Hussein.
I bit my tongue so much yesterday that it is a surprise I still have a tongue left. (Do not fret ladies, my tongue is still intact, and could use a workout one of these days.) I wanted to ask the man in the adult video store if he voted. If he checks the voting records and stances of those people he elects into public office, if he calls his Senator or Congressman when they do something that pisses him off. I wanted to ask the gentleman at the bar- name aside- what is it particularly about Barack Obama that pisses you off? Couldn't be because the man is black, could it? Surely he's done something in his time in the U.S. Senate, or even before that in the Illinois legislature, to upset you so.
Being an American isn't just about shooting off fireworks on the Fourth of July or slapping a "Freedom Isn't Free" sticker on the back of your 4x4. (saw about half a dozen of those yesterday too) Too often, politics is like the weather, and we all know what Mark Twain said about the weather. Everybody talks about it, but nobody ever seems to do anything about it. Voting is essential, as is getting involved. Figure out what your candidate stands for, challenge him or her on the issues, call Congress or email the President if you are severly pissed off. Whatever you do, don't allow the politicians to assume that you are one of those millions of Armchair Americans- people who talk a big game when it comes to politics- but when the time comes to get their hands dirty, they're absent from the scene.
We The Bosses, as it says in the Preamble to the Constitution. How many bosses do you know fail to interview potential candidates for a job with their company? We get the leaders we deserve, and when more time is spent voting for the best singer on American Idol than is spent at the polling booth on Election Day, then my friends, we have a problem.
