Remember the movie Network? In it, Howard Beale famously ranted, “I’m mad as Hell, and I’m not gonna take this any more!”
Indeed.
If you’ve not seen the Paddy Chayefsky classic, rent it. It’s a great flick. Peter Finch gave the performance of a lifetime (one of his last performances, too, as he was the first – and so far only – actor to receive an Oscar posthumously for the role). What really struck me is the on-air speech he made after finding out he was being put out to pasture. Thanks to the fine folks at iMDb.com, here’s a transcript:
[ Howard Beale ]
I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It’s a depression. Everybody’s out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel’s work, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there’s nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there’s no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV’s while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that’s the way it’s supposed to be. We know things are bad – worse than bad. They’re crazy. It’s like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don’t go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, ‘Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won’t say anything. Just leave us alone.’ Well, I’m not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don’t want you to protest. I don’t want you to riot – I don’t want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn’t know what to tell you to write. I don’t know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you’ve got to get mad.
As in Beale’s fictional America, We the Sheeple have been willing to accept less and less. In the end, we huddle around our PCs and beg that we be allowed to keep what few rights, privileges and property we have left, after allowing their erosion by the government.
In a nutshell, that’s why I’m so angry about this. We deserve better.
Congress has blown it. That’s nothing new, but like the Sheeple in Network, we keep diminishing our expectations…and are STILL constantly disappointed. We want “great” – we get less than great. We then expect “good” – and get mediocre. We say, “okay…we’ll accept mediocre” – and we get “bad” in return. We deserve better – but only if we demand it.
The only way to fix this is to let Washington know that the status quo is no longer acceptable. And since Congress seems to think that calls running 80% against a bill doesn’t merit their vote against it, fine. We can get their attention another way. We can fire them. Understand this: This upcoming election is our best chance to send a clear message to Washington that even they will understand…Just Say “NO” to Dopes. (The kind we elect.)
We don’t have to settle for corrupt politicians like William Jefferson. We don’t have to settle for conflicts of interest (Barney Frank, Chris Dodd). We don’t have to put up with pork (Ted Stevens, and virtually every Democrat in Congress). We can insure that the days of “business as usual” are over. But only if we fire the guys that are up there now.
The fine folks in San Fransisco have the chance to tell Nancy Pelosi that she’s done a lousy job with running the House. (a 19% approval rating is not exactly covering yourself with glory, Nancy. Give up. Go home. And let someone else have a try.) My U.S. Rep – Mac Thornberry has done…um…nothing, as far as I can tell. He’s lost my vote. My position is that whoever gets elected couldn’t possibly do worse than the bunch of clowns up there now. If we clean House, we could very well force all the lobbyists to start over, end partisan bickering, and blow a hole through the cancer that is “seniority.”
When our Founding Fathers formed this nation, they believed that Senators and Representative would serve their country for one or two terms, then go home and let someone else assume the burden of service. They NEVER intended Congress to become anyone’s career. The entire concept of a career politician was foreign to them. Remember, they’d just gotten rid of a King – the last thing they wanted was a bunch of petty despots ruling over a bunch of mini fiefdoms.
Do you want to make a difference? Are you satisfied with the way things are? Do you think Congress is doing a good job? Are you looking forward to more of the same from Congress? If so, go back to sleep, re-bury your head in the sand, and forget about America. If not, join me in working towards a House with 100% new members, and a Senate that has 1/3 new blood.
America will thank you for it.
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