It’s a Big Club… and You ain’t in it

 

 

 

It is a bizarro world of politics in this country.  Tariffs are being imposed and relaxed.  The federal workforce is being ‘right sized.’  Funding to colleges and universities is being slashed.  There is talk about suspending habeas corpus for non-citizens and eliminating birthright citizenship.  A big tax cut which includes no longer taxing tips or Social Security is bouncing around Congress.  A foreign government wants to gift the US and President a palace in the sky to serve as Air Force One. 

The Republicans are forging ahead somewhere in between having a plan (did someone say Project 2025) and the ever-changing unpredictable whims of the President.  Central Casting has given the Democrats the role of ‘deer in the headlights’ and they may well get an Oscar for the clueless best supporting actors mired in a leadership vacuum.  They sure are embracing this role with gusto. 

I am trying to decide if I am dumbfounded or not.  It varies from day to day.  Today, I am not.  Today, I am feeling like my prediction during the Great Recession has come true.  That prediction is that we would emerge from the Great Recession a different nation.  We would be more like a European nation with its glory years behind them… and it wouldn’t be one of the better run countries.  This is exactly what it feels like to me.

There is another thing.  The country seems manipulated by forces in the background.  It is like we on our way to being run by oligarchs… if we already is aren't.  It reminds me of a George Carlin bit that resonated with me the first time I heard it and every time since.  “It’s a BIG CLUB…AND YOU AIN’T IN IT!

This comes from a 2006 monologue called ‘Dumb Americans.’  He talks about the dumbing down of the population, the rise and current dominance of consumerism, the sorry state of our education system, and that our country is being run by that club that we are not part of.  Ever since Carlin’s comedy turned to politics and the state of our society, he resonated with me and many others.

The big open question here is this?  Is Carlin right?   Is there a big club running things?

I know one thing for sure, if there is a big club running things, I am certainly not in it. 

Oh sure, many card-carrying liberals attempt to smother me with guilt laden ideology that I am a beneficiary of the white privilege club and part of the institutional racism big club.  The other end of the political spectrum will use similar tactics to belittle me as they push their agenda of making America a place where… well… where we are now.

Carlin certainly had a gift to make people think.  But truly, he was a comedian, an entertainer, and this was how he made a living.  This was his shtick much as it was for Will Rogers and, arguably, Mark Twain.  Neither of these fellows used their celebrity to cross-over to becoming politicians.  They just liked to observe, point out dichotomies with humor, make us all think, shake our heads, and buy tickets to their shows.  It was their jobs, their professions.

I do think there is a big club that runs things.  $5.5 billion was spent on the presidential election.  That is a lot of money spent to create on ads and polarizing, confirmation bias, social and news media.  Getting elected and pushing agendas not necessarily based on truth, justice, and what we once claimed was the American way.

 

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Transcript of the full monologue:  https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/comedy/george-carlin-dumb-americans-transcript/ 

 

Part of the monologue