Cheyenne

Hey Folks,

With the election over, and the holidays in full swing, it looks like the time of year when everybody's schedule gets crunched is upon us.

Cubin got taken to the mat, for sure. With the Democratic majority on the Hill, her two years should be a whimper. Its not like she ever introduced important legislation, anyway.

I think the meeting time on December 9th will stand, but I'll probably cancel the last meeting at the end of the month. Christmas time, you know.

Again, I ask for help to keep this blog a viable, breathing organism. Please email posts to be placed on the blog; there are a plethora of subjects to talk about.

Laramie has a new chapter, which I find exciting as hell. Hopefully we can continue to build across the state!

As far as I can tell, the only people still supporting Bush are people who are either benefiting financially from his policies, or believe that he was selected by God to be President. Or both. In which case you have to wonder, has God got a really grim sense of humor, or is he out to destroy us?

If recent American politics are a part of a history directed by God, as evangelicals believe, it's looking more and more like God is not on our side. We don't seem to be getting the breaks.

And if history is being directed by God, then I want to take this opportunity to call a foul. If God is going to mess around with our national destiny, then He (or She) should at least let us work it out in our traditional way. Our whole system was constructed to enact the will of the People. But the people voted in a guy who wants to be, not the King so much, as the CEO. He wants his Way, and he wants it Expedited! If that was God's doing, then God isn't playing fair. But I digress.

These folks think that God is on their side. It's looking more and more like he's using them for some extremely destructive purposes of his own. If George W Bush is God's tool, it makes you wonder what He (or She) is trying to accomplish. Whatever it is, I don't like it much so far.

Republicans keep telling us that they are conservatives. These "conservatives" (it turned out not to be so cool to be a NeoCon after all) have put a layer of political bureaucracy in supervisory control of government scientists, and the bureaucrats have been telling the scientists what they can and cannot say. This is conservative?

Let's see, wasn't the conservative idea to cut down on the size of government by reducing the bureaucracy? So now instead of an administrative bureaucracy, they give us a political bureaucracy? It's like the public affairs department has taken over the conglomerate. If God is involved with this one, I may have to call another foul. Godless science is not supposed to work this way.

Our national government has been semi-sytematically dismantled. The parts of the bureaucracy that were useful to further corporate agendas have been put to those purposes, and the parts that only benefited the public have been broken and discarded.

It's partly because most of us don't want to pay attention, that we have come to such a pass. Sometimes it seems that the only people actively influencing politics are those who want something. It's really time for all of us to grow up, stop watching the Survivor reruns, and take it seriously. Let me give you my favorite example.

George W Bush went to the pre-2000 San Diego Republican Convention with over $200 million in campaign pledges, almost all of it from corporations. This fact was publicized at the time. You should have known about it. And you should have noticed that it was telling you something. America has now, at this moment in history, been taken over by the corporations. Surprise.

The looming election is going to be decided by the independents. There are a number of different varieties, but the commonest are the independents who are sick of the excesses of both parties, and the ones who just can't make up their minds.

This is my message to the principled ones, the ones who are knowledgeable about current affairs, but just don't want to commit to any party: get your butts to the polls and vote. This is serious, and we need your input. I don't really give a damn if it's inconvenient for you to leave your laundry spinning and drive to the polls. Do it anyway. Act like a grownup. And vote in the interests of the Nation, not the Party.

This is my message to the ones who just can't make up their minds: forget it. Let the people who can figure it out, figure it out. Don't just blindly make a choice. Don't just vote for the Elephant or the Donkey. Don't be like the stupidest woman I know, and vote for a president because he looks so great in a suit. He is the suit!

But if you're still on the fence? Can't decide whether to go with that oh-so familiar sales pitch about how the President knows best for the nation, and it's the duty of Congress and the people to support him? My message to you is this: you know what's real, and what's bullshit. You've already seen through the bullshit on several occasions. Those occasions weren't just momentary fantasies. The Republican party really is broken, and it's gonna take a long time to fix it. Face reality. Vote what you know.

Mike Guyot