Frustration

Every time I see the news, frustration is the theme. One side is frustrated that America has lost its way on the vague but golden path it started to take in magical, idealized years past. The other is frustrated that most of the country is still living in the past, unwilling to give up a little more freedom to deal with the problems of our evolved, enlightened society. Everyone is frustrated. We each see the problem plain as day and wonder why everyone else can’t do the same.

Half of the people beg for economic freedom, freedom from over-regulation and over-taxation. They ask for the government to quit meddling and let them revive the economy with their industry. I can relate to them, but I can also relate to the other half. They beg for the government to prevent corporations from behaving badly. They ask elected officials to stop the greed and share wealth with those less fortunate. If either side got what they wanted, I could probably learn to live with it and be happy. The actual result just breeds frustration.

Want liberty? The government will give you the freedom to fail, but it’ll still give your biggest competitors subsidies and a blank check for a safety net. It’ll institute universal health care, but it’ll give you freedom to figure out on your own how to comply with all of the new insurance requirements and tax laws. You’re free to screw up and pay the penalty.

Want charity? The government will redistribute wealth, but it’s all going to go to the very corporations that got us in this economic mess. The middle and lower classes now get to share their collective wealth with the super-rich, give alms to billionaires. Universal health care means we’re forced to get insurance from and line the pockets of corrupt, greedy companies.

I feel like US politics are nothing more than a bad remake of Bedazzled with the federal government playing the role of satan. Everyone keeps getting what they wish for, but it’s always in some twisted, ironic way. I guess that’s what happens when you make deals with the devil.

I don’t have a solution for any of this. The country is clearly divided, with one side militantly demanding Coke and the other militantly demanding Pepsi. The government keeps giving everyone crappy Phoenix tap water, but no one quits toeing the Coke/Pepsi line because we’re all worried the other side might win.

Self-awareness would be better, but mass frustration is probably an appropriate reaction.