I rarely comment on political blogs. Most of the time I just can't muster up the energy or the desire to speak to the ignominious ramblings that pass themselves off as defense or attack of whichever party is up on the block at the moment.

 However, after reading ocularnervosa's entry this morning, entitled, Why Republicans Need Healthcare to Fail, along with the ensuing comments, I can't stop myself. I am compelled to respond in some fashion. I began this entry as a comment in that blog, but it soon became apparent that my comment was a blog in the making, so here we are.

It was the title of the blog that caught my attention (kudos to ocularnervosa) and I clicked on the link hoping to read a well-considered presentation of facts and the intellectual discussion that was sure to follow in the comments. Silly me. 

Instead, what I found was more of the same old blame-game and name-calling between proponents of the two political parties that originally made me swear off any blog with political leanings. This is one of the primary reasons we, as a nation, have arrived at the place we now find ourselves. Where is this "place," you might ask? This "place" is a place of vulnerability, of seemingly insurmountable problems with nothing but stock answers given by the very people we look to as our "saviors." The very same "saviors" who have navigated us into this place to begin with; and now that the wheels are falling off and we are sinking ever deeper into the quagmire into which they have led us, we blindly spout the rhetoric espoused by whichever party we have hooked our wagons to, and for good measure, follow that up with a healthy dose of name-calling and belittling of those who have aligned themselves with the other party. 

Allow me to boil this down a bit; let's leave generalities behind and get into specifics. The Republican party maligns the Democratic party and vice-versa. The American public, or at least a portion of it--that being those with any form of platform--follows suit. We rant, we rave, we repeat to each other what our particular "saviors" have touted as the only answer to our mounting problems. One of the main differences here is the fact that those in power in the two opposing parties malign each other in public, while cutting deals in private. They publicly vilify one another and then go out to dinner together later. And they get paid to do this. 

Being the sheep we are, we pick up their "offense" and run with it. As adherents to a particular political party, we malign the opposing party, publicly vilify one another and cast aspersions for good measure. And we do it all with a genuine passion. We are speaking out for the good of the nation, after all, are we not? Crucial difference here--not only do we not get paid to do this, no matter which side we align ourselves with, we suffer the consequences along with everyone else while the political machine plows forward, promoting their agendas and, once again, getting paid to do it. 

Let's look at this rationally. I know that may be a stretch, because we have been conditioned to plug into the machine (see aforementioned political machine) and absorb whatever manner of gibberish it spouts. But, try to unplug for a moment and THINK. I believe that there was, at one time, a distinct difference between the two political parties. There was a time when honorable men with real convictions aligned themselves with men of like minds. Both parties worked for what was good for the nation and they believed in what they preached. That was before the age of professional politicians.

Now, a bit more drilling down. I won't go back very far with this--it serves no purpose. Let's just look at this administration and the one before it. George Bush spent our country into oblivion. He spent and borrowed money like it grew on trees and had the attitude that he didn't answer to anyone. He was the President, by God, and that's the credo he seemed to live by. It would be impossible to argue that our current President has not followed suit in that department. His thinking seems to be that we already have an unmanageable national debt, why not just add to it by the trillions? And, to keep his mind off it, lest he should begin to fret about it, he has all those foreign countries to visit. Fire up Air Force One--I'm outta here. Mr. President, everyone is clamoring for an answer to the healthcare crisis. What shall we tell them? .... "Hmmm, let's see, someone mentioned socialized medicine, throw them that bone. But, for God's sake, don't call it socialized medicine. Give it some fancy new name. They won't know the difference. Now, get out of my way. My plane is idling on the runway."

And all the while, the American public is busy waging war against each other in the manner of "my dad can beat up your dad." In fact, we're so busy with that, we don't even notice that the Political Machine (mind you, it is composed of POLITICIANS--NOT Democrats or Republicans) is steamrolling ahead, turning our country into a place none of us will recognize in a matter of years. Truth be told, if we weren't so busy defending our positions now; were we to take a good, hard look at our country right this very minute, we would realize it is unrecognizable already. 

And that, my dear bi-partisan friends, is the real truth of the matter.