Sports fans, we must begin with a visit from our friendly guardian angel, caveat emptor. I am a charter member of the Sandyriver New York Yankees fan club in the middle of red-stated, Royals country. The location in relation to being a Yankees fan has never been a beast a tame; this town has not seen a winner since Nixon won in 1968 (a dubious history of wins for sure but a discussion for another time).
The cause for pause and vexation today is the close encounter of the…whatever…with that mutant alien, swine beast currently pitching for the Texas Rangers-Cliff Lee. I am 61.5% (sixty-one point five percent) certain he is mostly comprised of very low grade microprocessors that would not have passed QA for a Commodore 64 OS and produced in a galaxy that apparently uses its technological prowess on sending pitching specimens with weird soul patches to this planet to recoil my front lobes in horror. The alien Lee reduced the mighty Yankees (the last representation of true capitalism in this lost country) to a collection of bemused little leaguers with a prime directive of getting candy from Mom after the game.
Get a grip, man! This alien exchange program has gone too far, and it is starting to hit me too close to home. Well, the Ranger’s cannot pitch the mutant every night or the gig would be up and Nolan Ryan would be hung out in a town square of very modest appearance for collaborating with another, potentially hostile, galaxy. There is no need for vibrations of panic yet, providing game 4 tonight ends up being a win for all that is right and true of traditional capitalism and the national character for that matter. If the Ranger’s win the series, it will be a resounding rebuke of our capitalist ways, when the payroll of the two teams are compared ($55 million to $206 million). The Ranger’s would make a good case for limiting the hand of the free market economics. Selah.
Speaking of capitalism but from a perspective of going awry, Brett Arends, financial columnist for marketwatch.com, wrote the following article on the Supreme Court’s decision to allow corporations to donate unlimited funds to candidates DURING an election cycle through non-profit intermediaries. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/death-of-a-democracy-2010-10-19. Yesterday, I wrote that the perpetrators (reads Republicans) of our current economic malaise are asking the electorate to vote them back into power in order to rescue us from the evil doing socialist Democrats, and they, in their penchant for twisting reality in a manner which is almost indiscernible to the average voter, will probably succeed.
If you believe Mr. Arends article, the ante has been upped substantially. This may be the last time we, the people, can actually contribute, in a meaningful manner, to a campaign with either our dollars or our votes and still make a difference in the outcome. In the coming elections, the Supreme Court’s ruling will shift the power of democracy into the hands of the corporate chieftains to influence the election process in the most self-serving manner. I regret to inform you dear reader that our democracy is now a plutocracy. The American electoral process, the underpinnings of a once great democratic process, has been swept away in an opinion from the Supreme Court most likely made to protect the artificial citizens the high court considers corporations to be. Jefferson, upon hearing of the court’s opinion, has been committed to a sanitarium, wherever he made be.
I leave you today with these words of exhortation. Prepare yourself to make an informed vote, get to your polling place, and cast what may well be your last meaningful vote in our lifetime.
Cheers,
OH
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