Out here in the warm, desert sun, it is quite possible to visualize the original setting of the birth of Jesus Christ. It can get uncomfortably cold at night in the desert but the days are replete with sun and relative warmth in comparison to much of the Northern Hemisphere. Considering the three great monotheistic global religions all originated in the desert, the modern-day geographic and climatic equivalent of the ancient holy land is present-day Phoenix, Arizona, making it quite appropriate for various spiritual ruminations today.
While many Americans cling to a mid-20th Century fabricated snow-filled holiday from times when the majority of us lived in the Northeast and around the Great Lakes, the country has long moved on. The 2010 census will bear this out as a strong plurality of Americans now live from Florida, through Texas and Arizona, and onto California. States that have seen the most population losses during the past 3 decades include New York, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois.
Upstate New York may resemble the Winter Wonderland we love to sing about, but few people really live there anymore. I spent many summers visiting this lovely area while growing up in Northern Ohio as my family had some close family in Oneida and Old Forge. Perhaps the Adirondack Park should be expanded to encompass all of New York State north of Yonkers. Then the state could license Disney, Universal Studios and other private enterprises to turn it into a huge money-making theme park to help close its massive financial mess associated with running its extensive statewide educational, health and welfare programs plus New York City, its boroughs and suburbs.
Recently Americans watched as visitors to Orlando, Florida shivered in unseasonably cold weather while visiting the many theme parks in that part of the country. At least people would come prepared to a New York theme park to enjoy the long and brutal winter with a variety of winter sports. Casinos run by various Indian Reservations would also be worked into the overall park design as they partially reflect our gambling society as epitomized by nearby Wall Street in New York City that has placed trillions of bets (known as derivatives) upon almost everything possible under the sun.
We now have a national economy that produces few goods or services of consequence. Instead we think we can make money by merely speculating on money and charging others various excessive fees and commissions in the financial, banking, insurance, real estate, and related gambling industries. What we have really amassed is trillions of dollars in un-payable public and private debts that will eventually drown us financially.
This expanded NY State Park could bring in more foreign visitors whose free-spending ways might offset the tens of millions of lazy, worthless, unemployed Americans who have no funds to heat their homes, pay rents and mortgages, or even feed their families. The demonization of the poor and unemployed has already begun by our oligarchy and their shills in the Republican and Democratic parties, their media spokespeople, plus many willfully ignorant and nasty people in the general public not yet touched by the economic situation. (The financial crisis was just the fault of all those poor people in Detroit and Cleveland who took out complex mortgages they didn’t understand and that they knew they couldn’t repay. The Government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac foolishly encouraged such loans by banks by buying, insuring and/or securitizing them.)
Many of our political, business, social and religious leaders claim now that the collapse of the American Empire is just the fault of Americans who cannot pull themselves up by their gilded bootstraps just as easily as those who were born into the luck sperm club of the wealthiest Americans. It will take years for the majority of unemployed, underemployed and still employed ignorant Americans to fully grasp how their economic and political systems were completely stolen by the wealthy and far too many jobs were outsourced to low-cost labor countries. The true criminals must be identified, prosecuted and imprisoned or any vestiges of the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution will be rendered completely meaningless. Then real leaders and the general public will have to decide upon appropriate game-changing reactions, policies, and global re-alignments that do not involve too many guillotines and burnings at the stake.
At least the insufferably pointless DADT policy in the US Military was mercifully ended recently. Both Republicans and Democrats realized that members of the GLBT community, plus their friends and families, vote. Unfortunately the overall Federal Law DOMA awaits its final burial by the Federal Courts since few elected officials in Washington DC have any political courage to tackle anything more controversial than approving more tax cuts for everyone. The entire process fully exposed Senator John McCain to be a wholly hollow person – both morally and intellectually. I long ago tired of hearing that his war hero status justified his re-election and it gave a full pass to a nasty, spoiled, out-of-touch, luckily-wealthy, ignorant, old man. There are many other citizens and war veterans worthy of elective public office in Arizona. Please don’t get my started on the state’s other nasty imbecile Senator Jon Kyle.
One reason why the DREAM act failed (despite being passed by a clear majority in the House and favored by a clear majority 55-41 vote in the Senate) is that unconstitutional Senate procedural rules require a super-majority to do anything in order to ensure the unfettered indirect rule by our minority Oligarchy. In addition, the DREAM act failed because those hurt by its failure simply can’t vote as they remain illegal aliens.
We can now look forward to upcoming ASU Graduation ceremonies being monitored by Maricopa County Sherriff Joe Arpaio and his Posse to immediately arrest many graduating seniors who don’t have their papers so they can be sent to ICE for deportation. Now that the Arizona Cardinals Professional Football Team is out of the playoffs, we can enjoy this new vindictive sport on the most vulnerable living creatures among us. It doesn’t matter that these young people might help our country and economy due to their advanced education and military service. Rather it is more vindictive to sent them back over the border to be new targets in the out-of-control drug wars in Mexico. This mess is principally fed by American-made and smuggled guns, plus our citizenry’s insatiable desire for all types of illegal drugs so we can forget how messed up our country has become.
Arizona has some spectacular scenery, public parks, and many pleasant cities for those with decent bank accounts. It is a miserable place for poor and middle-class people, those with children to be educated, and those without the money for health care and insurance. Its economy is principally based upon tourism and serving retirees. Its economy used to have a strong component of “growth” meaning endless construction and real estate speculation, but that ended in 2007. Both residential and commercial property values (and increasing vacancy rates in both) are effectively shells of their former selves. Thousands of people whose livelihoods depended upon such ephemeral industries have been displaced permanently. The bad Arizona economy has sent more people (legal and illegal) out of state than the misguided, wasteful and nasty SB 1070.
Arizona used to have a healthy libertarian streak in its politics. Republicans, who have controlled much of state government over the past 20 years, now hold an absolute lock on all statewide offices and the legislature. They have moved well beyond that live and let live attitude to an aggressive, nasty, vindictive, angry, short-sighted, and nihilistic attitude towards everything that has to do with government and the general public. But alas, the politicians we elect – no matter how foolish or proudly stupid – merely reflect the electorate that put them in power – and the majority of Arizonans who vote are not people worthy of any democratic republic. The disparity between the bigoted, selfish, nasty, and greedy attitudes of the old white retirees and the fast-growing multi-ethnic youth in Arizona is the largest in the nation.
Republicans in Arizona exist solely to pursue draconian policies that merely negate anything that might come from Democrats, Washington DC, or from independents trying to find some common sense solutions. Barry Goldwater would be appalled by the many current perversions of his conservative and libertarian ideals.
My family and I have only lived here 5 years and I don’t plan on staying in Arizona for the long term unless the economy drastically improves and so do the attitudes of many residents. I don’t suffer nasty imbeciles for too long. My challenge is figuring out where to go next in the U.S. that still has a moderate year-round climate – and I’m for constructive suggestions and invitations from TMV writers and readers.
I don’t mind the commercialism and secularism of the Christmas holiday. Some very solid religious researchers have suggested the birth of Christ probably took place in July and the holiday was merely a replacement for the Roman Empire’s Bacchanal-type festivities surrounding the pagan Saturnalia. The commercialization and secularization of the holiday makes it more readily accessible to those who do not share its religious underpinnings, which is good for overall national camaraderie in a diverse country and world, and a noteworthy financial stimulus for both the global and national economies.
I would even propose adding more days to giving gifts during this season so as to permit people to spread their spending over a longer period of time and thereby take advantage of more retail sales. We should encourage that gifts be presented both on Christmas Eve (24th) and on Christmas Day (25th). We could also add December 6th – the Feast of St. Nicholas (who was the original Santa Claus, being a 3rd Century famously kind and generous Bishop of Patara in Asia Minor which is now part of Turkey).
The expanded season of gift-giving could officially start with December 6th, swallow up the multi-day holidays of Chanukah and Kwanzaa in which all Americans would participate, and also encourage more gifts on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The entire spending season would nominally end on January 6th – Epiphany which is the official Orthodox Christian Christmas when the 3 Wise Men arrived with their gifts to the infant Jesus and his parents.
The original 12 days of Christmas were those dozen days between Xmas and Epiphany. How much would 12 lords a leaping and 9 ladies dancing cost now? Today they might be 2 full squads of wealthy basketball players and a bunch of exotic pole-dancing escort girls which could only be fully financed by some select members of our oligarchy. Everybody loves disgusting and ostentatious shows of wealth during the holidays to justify our shallow 24/7 info-entertainment news media.
Why should the American and global economies and many retailers around the world depend upon just one or two days in December and January to keep our crazy and unsustainable consumer-based economies going? We really need a complete orgy of spending, gift giving and gift expecting to re-charge the global economy that is only recovering in parts and for just a few people. A better stimulus effort would be for the Federal government on each Thanksgiving to send a $5,000 gift certificate to each U.S. Citizen that would expire by the end of February (we could keep the spending orgy going all the way through President’s Day and Valentine’s Day.) It is besides the point that our entire economic system really needs a complete retooling away from short-term spending and financial speculation towards long-term sound investments, savings, and wise economic and environmental policies at the global, national and local levels.
With the recent tax bill passed and signed, it is painfully clear that no one really gives a damn about deficits or financial solvency in Washington. It may reflect a national denial of reality and a refusal to accept adult responsibilities in running a global empire. Just as we constantly perpetuate the silly Santa Claus myth to our children, we think that Uncle Sam can forever give gifts, public benefits and tax cuts to every citizen – and that no one has to ever pay for them. Of course the federal government’s spending is warped and distorted in favor of the priorities of a few wealthy citizens and large corporations so the endless diversion of circuses, food and puny tax cuts keeps the masses from rioting. There’s nothing like revisiting the Roman Empire for justifications to recycle defunct public policies and to remember the many Holidays that were created during its glory days.
Since money is very tight and consulting work hard to come by this past year, my spouse and I won’t exchange any gifts but we will buy a few things our 11-year-old son really likes and wants as opposed to only providing what he needs during the rest of the year. He has long known that Santa Claus is not a real person but a spirit of generosity and kindness towards others that has been completely lost in a world of selfish narcissism. He realizes the economy and our family situation are not very good. He is mature enough and generally in a very good mood to appreciate the times we share with family and friends. He has saved some money over the past year to get a few things for himself when the post-Xmas sales begin. His strong focus on his schoolwork, helping around the home, and overall good behavior, humor, empathy, and kindness towards everyone he meets is a special and private joy to his parents. He’s not a sociopath which may limit his financial success in the future as that personality trait is highly valued in America today.
The Christmas season is not joyous for those who have lost loved ones to endless wars, accidents, diseases, and other man-made and natural calamities. It is also very difficult spiritually and financially for those suffering from physical and mental injuries. Moreover the massive family and person setbacks that have occurred during the past several years involving lost jobs, homes, friends, colleagues, social networks, overall health, many of the small and sentimental possessions that make up parts of our lives, and overall sense of security in the present and future, are all very hard to fully ascertain by those who have not suffered similar losses. Unfortunately our political, business, and social leaders are completely oblivious to the suffering of others and instead selfishly and callously complain about the inconsequential fear of financial uncertainty, as if anything in life is really predictable.
I apologize that my post has wandered all over today and I tried to be a bit jocular, but it is not easy summarizing some thoughts at the end of 2010. To see that those who trashed our political and economic systems for their selfish aggrandizement have already fixed the entire system so they perpetually profit from and continue to live large at the expense of the deep suffering of so many people in the U.S. and around the globe is appalling and reprehensible from any moral, ethical and social perspective. For those who argue that this merely reflects life over which we have no control and the results of necessary and unfettered capitalism, I feel sorry for your lack of consciences and overall inability to see there are far more important parts of life than making money.
I cannot in good conscience wish every person on earth a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and New Year 2011, but I certainly can and will do so without reservations to all my colleagues and the many readers of TMV.
Posted on 12/20/10 by Marc Pascal from Phoenix, AZ. My goal for 2011 is to write enough controversial stuff to get me on the unconstitutional FBI watch list. As a start, let me state that I fully support Julian Assange and his multiple disclosures of classified government materials thru Wikileaks. We need a lot more of them so human beings will fully understand the corrupt, power-hungry, narcissistic, destructive, and wholly short-sighted economic and political systems we have permitted to grow into malignant cancers on humanity and our planet.