Election Day USA

Here we are--the election is just a few days away and all I can feel is apathy. I have been beaten into the ground by all the yelling, lying, fingerpointing, and just plain hate mongering. I have seen far more of the ugly parts of my fellow human beings than I could ever want to. It has been a bloodbath of ignorance and irrationality and what's worse is that regardless of what happens, nothing is going to change.

If the Tea Party candidates are elected, we will watch the spectacle of the System teaching them just what they don't know --a process I liken to housebreaking. They'll ride in on the wave of changing everything to suit them and find out just how little the system will let them.

If the Democrats win, it will be more years of Republicans fighting tooth and nail to prevent anything useful happening that will move us forward--not because it is always wrong but because it bears the label of Democrat.

If the Republicans win, they will promptly renege on every campaign promise made because the current system is so personally rewarding for them. They will simply get richer while the rest of their followers are caught up in spurious debates over immigration and healthcare reform, which they had proposed in the first place and then suddenly said were socialism. I guess it's socialism when the Democrats propose the same thing.

I suppose we get what we deserve--but the scary part for me is how we are manipulated through our own vanity. That and the populist, alarmist media who pander to the most vociferous among us. There is lunacy in the air. It is palapable and I despair that rational debate will return in my lifetime.

Mexico and Amigo Care

Poor Mexico. The country is America’s whipping boy, blamed for everything from illegal immigration to illegal drugs, and the State Department has issued warnings about the larger border towns (Tijuana, Nogales etc.), pretty much advising Americans not to go there because of violent clashes between drug gangs.

Poor Mexico—but not just because the US tends to blame its far smaller neighbor for its own problems but because (as with Canada) it fails to recognize the important service Mexico (and Canada) provides. If the US-Mexico border were ever permanently closed, I would argue that the US would be the greater loser.

Some time ago, we visited Algodones, a border town where California and Arizona touch just south west of Yuma, Arizona. The border is quite casual going into Mexico—no documents needed—you know you are in Mexico because of the street hawkers. They’re not offering the usual serapes, ponchos, sombreros, and pottery. Instead, one calls, “Lady, you need dental care? Admit it! You need dental work.” Another calls “Eye glasses? Best price in town. $100 for trifocals and frames.” “Look here! Look here! You need a pharmacy?” Billboards on top of the buildings advertise everything from crowns ($300) to liposuction to face lifts.

Mexico, in other words, has become the cut-rate medical center for US citizens without health insurance. There are no children to be seen, no young adults, no family couples. Instead, the streets are full of US seniors carrying tell-tale purple plastic bags full of prescription drugs (from the Purple Farmacia—the largest in town). The local (very good) restaurants are full of white haired visitors, and stores cater to a more adult taste (no nudes, no skull-and-crossbones t-shirts, and no two-for-one grande margueritas).

Mostly the town is full of medical offices and happy clients: Who wouldn’t be happy when teeth cleaning costs $15? The streets are clean and the buildings in good repair, suggesting not only respectability but prosperity. No one appears to actually live in Algadones, however. There are no food markets or clothing stores. Apparently people live in places like Mexicali and commute to their offices, which occupy a strip that starts at the border and stretches about 100 yards south. The further from the border, the more shabby the offices and the lower the prices. But right at the border, the offices look well furnished, and, if asked, the seniors using their services say they are well satisfied with the care.

Everyone is busy making money and both sides of the border get in the act. Just north of the border are Indian tribal lands, so every car parking pays the tribe $5 for the day. The lot is huge and was packed (the tribe also has a decent hotel-casino where people can stay while having procedures). Coaches from various retirement homes and RV resorts as far north as Colorado come down every three months or so on a schedule to allow residents to make doctor’s appointments and pick up prescriptions. People driving from California to points east plan to stop at this town. Everything is cheerful. The pharmacy clerks call everyone “amigo,” and both sides seem generally delighted with the exchange, although it pays to get references when having something as complicated as a dental transplant.

The only downside is the wait at the border to get back into the US. Last year, it took us over an hour to snake through customs. Still, even that had its amusing side as people compared what they had paid for various things and had a chance to giggle at some of the strange things going home. Every western and northern state and all western Canadian provinces were represented in the line—along with a few stragglers from New York and Maine.

Looked at from the senior point of view, Mexico provides an incalculable benefit to US residents, who gladly avail themselves of its services and have a good meal while they’re at it. I think we can call this Amigo Care.

Tuned in to the US Elections?

The other day one of the readers of this blog reminded me that I have international readers who aren't that into American politics. Make that interested in or involved with. Fair enough. I'm from a smallish island nation (Britain) that was very self-involved, so I think a degree of tunnel vision probably goes with the territory of being human. We all tend to think ourselves the center of the universe and try to make the appropriate arguments ("But because it's so economically huge (substitute whatever measure you wish), the US HAS to be the center"). Ain't necessarily so, as the song goes.

All this leads me to an interesting question: if at this time and place, the rest of the world isn't much interested in US politics, is this a good thing or not?

Right now, the US is undergoing a raging battle for its national soul. Everyone is unhappy in one way or another and, according to a Japanese proverb, when elephants dance, the grass beneath them suffers. This is not to say the rest of us are the grass, but it does imply that the clash of large forces tends to create chaos as it happens.

Chaos is what's happening in the US and no one here can relax until this clash somehow finds resolution. For that reason,I do believe this is something that the rest of the world needs to watch. Let me explain--in my own prejudiced words and views--why I say this.

There are at least three sides to the clashes occurring in this country.

One is a so-called Tea Party that claims a pedigree stretching back to the founding of the country. According to the polls, this is the party of the previously empowered (older white males) who see the emergence of new elements (minorities, non-Christians) and they don't like it. It's a rebellious group that is proving itself rather incompetent in selecting respectable candidates (they're shooting off their mouths in crazy ways). It's hard to be credible when all you want to say is either no or to hell with it. Unfortunately (and take note here, World) these are the kind of people who once in power are likely to send in troops to places with orders to kick butt.

These people are closely linked with corporate interests because the party advocates little to no government (for other people, of course, as they have no intention of giving up their government pensions). Corporations love smaller government as it means less regulation on their ability to make money. For the rest of us, and the rest of the World, it means if the conservative Republicans, of which the tea party is part, get into power, we can be once again at the mercy of these unregulated corporations--as we were before with the global financial meltdown. If the Republican party (and these tea baggers) get back in, we can look forward to more of same. If that happens, I'll be looking for a remote patch of land to live on and grow my own food.

Opposed to them are the so-called liberals, who traditionally have supported unions and social programs. Corporations are seldom found in this group, for obvious reasons--they are asked to pay for the programs, which cuts into their profits. The liberals are usually called "bleeding hearts" by the conservatives, because they favor universal health care, free public education, and support for the elderly and infirm. Conservatives want all support to come through churches (probably with a good dose of evangelical prosletyzing and judging who's really worthy of help along with the care packages).

Somewhere in the middle, opposing both sides, are what are generally called moderates who try to weave their way through the mess of ideology created by the other two. This moderate group tries to be practical about the nation's future, favoring steady as she goes over (1) an angry, judgmental godhead who wants people to suffer if they don't plan for their futures and (2)a nation committed to "social justice" (hence labeled socialist) for groups that the conservatives don't like (homosexuals, minorities, illegals). All many people know about socialism over here is that they don't like it.

So, yes, rest of World, I'd keep an eye on what happens next election here. It could very well determine US foreign policy. It could also happen in your own country if you have corporations that can buy lobbyists and legislators, as they have in ours.

So, as I say--this is not just a political election, it is an election about what kind of USA there will be in the future and how it will react to the rest of the World. This election, World, I'd stay tuned if I were you.

Ranging ag