Arnold Schwarzenneger is going to be governor of my state. He plans to roll back the vehicle tax which helps supports cities, deregulate the power companies again, cap spending. If he doesn't raise taxes for the deficit then services will get cut. Basic services like health care and public transit, not to mention homeless services, are already in trouble and will be in worse trouble soon. As a city employee who provides health care services to the working poor, I feel panic rising up from deep inside me like a big fucking tsunami.
My friend ML thinks there is a move afoot by those who play dirty in order to gain power, that this movement involves derailment of the democratic process, and that the recent recall election was an example of that derailment. I fear he may be right. The outlandish world view in Neal Stephenson's
Snow Crash, with the end of the US Government as we know it and a medieval array of burbclaves and FOQNE's and ruling franchises in a lawless ex-country, is starting to look a little more realistic. Or maybe we'll just end up like mainland China. The next time a group of college students riots for more rights, they'll get shot. Very effect crowd control
I feel like there has to be something I can do to oppose the eroding of our rights and liberties, other than blogging or writing letters to my congressperson. But I feel handicapped by my basic commitment to decency in public behavior. It's the whole don't fuck over other people philosophy I'm teaching my child, the attitude I look for in friends. The thing that makes me weaker than the person whose ends justify any means. Moral superiority feels nice but it doesn't help anyone survive in a totalitarian state. And it sure doesn't counteract this feeling of uselessness. Hopefully this is just a developmental phase I'm going through and I'll grow on into something more effective soon.
