Foreboding?

For some reason I can't quite put my finger on, I have this sense of dread, of foreboding about 2016.  Maybe it's because we are sinking more and more into the abyss, maybe with no way out.  Maybe it's because it's a Presidential election year and, if either of the two front-runners now are elected, we are doomed, that there is no way out of the abyss.  Maybe it's because we are in such cultural decline, often redefining behavior that used to be anathema so that it's very acceptable today.

I heard a voice on the radio this AM that struck a chord.  It was something like, "I don't care who the Republican nominee is, I'm voting for him."  I guess I'm still stuck on this one.  Several Presidential elections ago I said I was tired of "holding my nose and voting for" the Establishment Republican candidate.  I refused to do it.  Of course, the chorus came out--"You threw away your vote!"  "It's because of voters like you that Obama was elected."  I've explained my views on this, more than once.  First, in voting the way I did I was expressing my viewpoint and, if more had done as I did in the past three or four elections, maybe we wouldn't get stuck with the lousy candidates all of the time.  And, I think, in voting for Obama or Romney, those voters "threw away" their votes.  And, because Republicans have presented us with "hold your nose" candidates who I refused to vote for, it's my fault Obama was elected??????  That reminds me of Lincoln's words at his Cooper Union Address, "A highwayman holds a pistol to my ear and mutters through his teeth, 'Stand and deliver or I shall ill you and then you will be a murderer!'"  Yep, the highwayman cleared his conscience all right.  Besides, we sent the Establishment Republicans to Congress with sizable majorities in each house.  How did that one work out for us?  It's like the former Czech premier warned us, it's not the "prince of fools" (Obama), but "the vast confederacy of fools" who elected him and the others we have elected.  That, my friends, is us.  "We have met the enemy and it is us."

I heard some folks decrying that Trump is so popular.  C'mon......  What is so surprising about his attraction?  After all, this country is addicted to so-called "reality television."

We are deepening the cultural abyss.  Note how we redefine things that used to be unacceptable, even evil.  "Abortion" is now "a woman's right to do with her body as she wishes" and "planned parenthood."  Even "lying" isn't lying any more; it's "misspeaking," "lies" being "misstatements."  Oh how easily Nixon could have been home free had he only realized this.

In this same vein, we see to have lost our respect for human life.  You can guess what I mean.

In an online discussion, in passing someone mentioned the "gun problem."  I agree that we have a problem with guns.  But is it the guns themselves?  Or is it the people, dare I say animals?, who use guns in criminal and even murderous ways?  I have neighbors who have guns.  They hunt, take target practice, shoot skeet, etc.  I imagine some out here in suburbia think their firearms are for protection, although I'd guess the former reasons are more relevant.  So, some animal (yes, animal) who thinks she has been "dissed" uses a gun to shoot up a house, killing a 7-year old girl and seriously wounding her 8-year old friend, and my neighbors who shoot only for sport have to give up their guns?  OK, if you buy that one, then let's outlaw cell phones.  Sure, most people don't cause accidents with them, although I'm convinced practically every person with a cell phone at one time or another drives while using it.  That's not the point, is it?  I've been, as I noted, rear-ended twice by cell-phone using drivers.  Once, the car was totaled and the responding officer noted "how lucky" I was that I wasn't seriously injured or even killed as my car was totaled.  (And, just yesterday while running, a lady on a cell phone pinned me in to a barricade, coming within a yard of hitting me.  Oh yeah, she was talking on the phone had no idea I was there, even after I yelled.)  So, ban guns, then ban cell phones.  I haven't been almost killed by a person with a gun, but more than once by a person on a cell phone.

I see some of the manufacturers are putting more toys on cars, in the form of electronic/technology advances.  That's just what we need--more distractions for drivers.  Why, if we are concerned about saving lives, don't all these technological advances get banned?

And over the Chris holidays, a shooting took place in one of the southern states, in a mall.  A 17-year old was killed, shot by an off-duty police officer who was working security at the mall.  The 17-year old was, predictably, "a good kid" who "everybody loved."  Of course he was.  I'm not at all suggesting he deserved to die, but consider......  He had multiple run-ins with the law, including drug and weapons charges--yes, more than one.  He had been involved in an incident around Thanksgiving when his brother was shot.  He had a loaded weapon at the mall this time.  Witnesses counted at least 10 shots fired by two opposing parties at the mall, the crowded mall.  They also reported the off-duty officer fired only after the 17-year old pointed his gun at him.  "A good kid" who "everybody loved" also has a baby he fathered on the way.  Again, we have redefined our vocabularies.

While dropping off Karen at the collision/bump shop (thanks to a cell-phone using driver) this AM, I got a kick out of the local radio jocks now insisting that the Lions' coach deserves to stay.  Weren't these the same people howling for his scalp just a month or two ago?  I don't know if he should stay or go--and don't care.  But they remind me of weather folks on television or radio.  "We have a slight possibility of a chance of rain" or "snow" or whatever "in some areas."  Yeah, right.  Unless the Lions have a distinct change of character, they'll likely get rid of Calvin Jackson, their wide receiver who is apparently still all-world.  I forget who once said it, "You can always get more money.  You can't always get another..." in this case, Calvin Jackson.  Speaking of sports, why in the Detroit dailies is it so hard to find local high school scores, just scores, yet there's coverage of some soccer league in Britain or some third-string quarterback at Podunk U's pulled quadriceps?  I wonder how many people--or how few--actually read the sports sections any more.