Ho-hum.

Ho-hum. No exclamation mark there. I yawn. I stretch. I pry open the lids covering my political eyeballs in order to see the foibles of our politicians and the pressing issues of our times.

There is Rand Paul. He starts out by saying that we need to take our nation back from the special interests. And how does he propose to do that? His answer is to remove all regulations governing those interests. Huh? Such a non sequitur should get the old political juices flowing, but it does not.

There is Arizona threatening to boycott anyone who is boycotting it over its absurd immigration law. It should be amusing watching John McCain trying to do the breast stroke in the muck thus created, but the humor elicits the faintest smile.

Ah but I live in California. Here we have Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman. If you listen to an attack add, you might think the one being attacked actually has something to offer. The problem is that the rebuttal to the add makes you realize they are both pushing each other so far to the right that they are both running out of shoulder. This means that they are both in danger of going over the cliff. This is a blue state, you know. Normally, I would be amused by them, but I am not.

Then we have congressional candidate Vaughn Ward running against the Obama administration while plagiarizing one of Mr. Obama’s speeches. All right, that brought a smile.

Last but not least is the idiot right wing, clueless about the facts as usual. They are accusing Obama of being the only President not presenting the customary wreath at Arlington to honor our fallen heroes. I suppose he is the only one if you are not counting Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.

Normally, any one of those things would have required a spirited response from me. Have the absurdities of the right wing become so common that they no longer have any impact? Yes, they are that common. No, they still require a response. I cannot really explain my blasé attitude at this time. The California primary is next month. Regardless of whether I am still in a funk at that time, I will vote, and I expect to be in fighting form by the time we receive the results of those elections. I am part of the Democratic base that needs a bit of energizing right now, but the motivation will be there. If we want a government that will deal with the pressing problems facing this nation, we must elect people who will act on our behalf rather than acting on behalf of the special interests. I have had enough of spill baby spill, among other things.

The Census

I do not know enough psychology to understand the paranoia of the extreme right wing, and I must say that what pushes their fear button frequently amazes me. Even more amazing is the fact that their illogical clamber seems to influence people who should know better. I recently heard someone who is usually rational complaining about the census as though it was part of some nefarious government conspiracy to take over our lives. Perhaps a bit of history will help me understand this fear.

The first census under our Constitution was taken in 1790. Of course we all know how autocratic our founding fathers were. President George Washington was even accused of wanting to be the king. That must be why he wanted a census taken. Planning you say? Roads and mail delivery you say? Nonsense! The right wing knows it was all about taxes and big government. Forget the first ten amendments. Yes, they did restrict the government and guarantee fundamental rights to the people of this country. But did you know that one of those amendments provided for the separation of church and state. Thomas Jefferson supported and campaigned for the first ten amendments, including the separation of church and state. He was also involved in establishing the census. What a terrible, Godless, man he must have been! So let’s all panic. This nefarious plot hatched by our founding fathers has been tolerated far too long, and we can all see how dangerous it has been to our freedom.