Another Political Rant – Do Not Read if Easily Offended

I got into a conversation with a couple of other retired guys who lamented a bill they heard had been introduced by the governor of our state that will require every person to register with a particular gas station, be allowed to buy gas only from that station, and will limit how much gas can be purchased in any given month.  Sound a bit unlikely to you?  Not to them.  They knew it was true because they heard about it on one of the talk radio stations.  I wondered if they had verified that by checking some other sources.  No need, they said, the radio commentator said it was true so it must be true.  Now I have got to tell you that these two fellows are not dummies.  They each had long successful careers and continue to be active in retirement. 

They seem to be members of a fairly large group that gobbles up political rumors mostly generated by talk radio hosts.  Preying on the public’s growing anxiety over the state of the economy, they can come up with some of the screwiest of screwball rumors anyone can imagine, each joyfully hyped by a variety of talk radio nuts who, I suspect, half-way believe it themselves. 

Where is all this leading? To Socialism of course.  And what is Socialism?  Apparently it’s anything real or imagined that is not consistent with a right-wing agenda.  The government will own everything, control everything and all our liberties will be lost.  Living in a nanny state will strip us of all incentive to excel, and we’ll all end up like those wussy Europeans.  Back in the McCarthy era (Joseph, not Eugene) we used to get these little red pamphlets warning us of this very thing, and now here it is in all it’s scariest worst.  Oh, if only Senator McCarthy were here today.