free market throwback, bipartisan phooey, and the healing power of baseball...

a few centuries ago a virgin nation struggled to combat pirates off the coast of africa. after that virgin nation grew into the most powerful in the world over the span of those centuries, it once again is struggling to combat pirates off the cost of africa. and this is the beauty of our blind adherence to the "free market" and our force-feeding that adherence to others around the world (but of course only after decades and decades of protectionist policies and utterly un-free markets in the first world had provided the opportunity to get a massive and seemingly insurmountable head start)...we inevitably create conditions that present throwbacks to times long since forgotten (at least by americans...when your nation is only a few centuries old you tend not to have a long-term view of history or the future. in that sense we can be a hell of a lot like civilizations wandering around in the dark before the advent of writing...for coming so far we are still pretty damn close to the starting line). before we discovered (for the god knows umteenth time in history) that the "free market" is a recipe for civilizational collapse, we exported it by force. not military force exactly (although that undoubtedly also added some spice to life), but force nonetheless. "open the market completely or you starve" has basically been the mantra of the first world (of course what the developing world did not know at the time was that it was going to starve regardless...but we needed somebody to give us cheaper shit). and so they did...and so their societies deteriorated and their governments became essentially worthless. and all those starving poor people saw huge commercial shipping vessels heading by, taking their resources for nothing and giving them to us at huge profits. and they felt powerless...and so they did what every group in a similar position has done since the dawn of time...they fought dirty. they picked up a few dusty AK's and a rowboat and sent us back 300 years with the return of piracy. boy, ain't the market grand?

I'm already sick of all the wondering about bipartisanship and whether it will arrive and if obama has shirked a campaign promise. surprise surprise, self-identified republicans hate a moderately progressive liberal. once again, we are blinded by our "gotta have it now" mentality and inability to look long term. whether or not obama "ushers" in a new era of bipartisanship or handholding or bongos and kumbayah will not be clear for some time. hell, FDR was considered a complete shitbag by the right when he was slamming the new deal down their throats. of course now many of those programs are considered models of bipartisanship in their support. already we see signs that obama may be taking the same route as republicans despise him and his policies - while the majority of regular ass people seem to think he is doing a pretty damn good job. regardless...at this point, I am re-convinced that we are all fucked anyway...at least we're not completely embarrased by the fool that represents us...

walt whitman once said "I see great things in baseball. It's our game -- the American game. It will take our people out of doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism. Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set. Repair those losses, and be a blessing to us." and while I can personally vouch for the mr. whitman on the physical benefits a day spent in the sun looking down upon the unmistakable lush green of a ball field, baseball plays a much more significant role than preventing gastrointestinal disorders...it can heal, it is the great equalizer. there are few places in which the promises of the declaration of independence are more apparent than on a baseball diamond. all one needs is a stick and ball to be on equal ground. and so, tomorrow, 62 years to the day since jackie robinson helped to change baseball and the united states forever, all of major league baseball will wear the number 42 to remember how difficult it has been, and continues to be, for the united states to remember the promises of its birth. and at a time when our society again strives to crush equality, I wonder how much the world could change if some future hall of famer went home to join another man in bed each night.