Beyond the South End

Common Sense and Politics?

 

I don’t do politics. Common sense dictates that if you want to keep a friend you don’t discuss two topics with them: Religion and Politics. Who can make any “common sense” out of what our politicians are talking about today anyway?

Here in Georgia the political ads are driving me crazy. I sit with remote in hand during the evening so that I can mute them every time they come on. It’s just one backstabbing statement after another it seems. Who wants to listen to that and, even more importantly, who wants to vote for the politicians who “approve this ad?”

That being said, I must put my thoughts on paper and disperse them out there on the internet this one time because things are getting out of hand up there in Maine. If I am going to be repatriated to my beloved State of Maine in the near future, there is one thing you all have to do for me before I get there. Get rid of Governor LePage!

There I’ve said it. Does this man ever say anything nice about anybody in Maine or any institution in Maine? He has essentially called Maine’s college graduates idiots and says that out-of-state corporations will laugh at you when you apply for a job if you say you graduated from a Maine college. Well I’m here to tell you that I graduated from one of those same Maine colleges and I have never run into any potential employer who scoffed at my education when I applied for an out-of-state job.

Publisher of the Courier Gazette, Reade Brower, recently quoted the Governor in one of his columns. It was the last straw as far as I was concerned because it struck home big time this time around.

It seems Governor LePage thinks that Social Security and Medicare are welfare handouts. The quote goes something like this: “It doesn’t matter what liberals call these payments it is welfare, pure and simple.” He calls them handouts disregarding that most of the money put into Social Security comes from contributions of working Americans and is taken out by the same.

Excuuuuuuuse me? I collect both of those benefits for which I contributed to for all of my adult working life. By the way, Medicare doesn’t come free. A certain amount is taken out of my Social Security each month to pay my portion of it. On top of that, I carry supplemental health insurance because Medicare doesn’t pay for everything.

The man who calls himself governor of my beloved State of Maine, is THE most misinformed man I’ve ever come across. Who is feeding him this stuff? I see by his bio that he went to Husson College in Maine and the University of Maine. Was he ever afraid to apply for a job out- of- state because he was a Maine college graduate? I know he had a difficult childhood and was basically a street kid at an early age and I applaud him for getting through all that and being a survivor, but this Governorship ride has to end for him now. He was a businessman before and I’m sure he can start his own business after stepping down and do well at it.

LePage put in papers to run for Governor again in 2014 way back in 2011. Guess he figures he needs to try to gather up his cohorts early on. I sincerely hope his campaign is not successful this time. I’ll smile and wish him well as he steps out of the Governor’s office door one last time up in Augusta.

According to Brower, the Governor tried to backtrack of his statement about Social Security and Medicare. However the press release containing this statement was written by whom? Why the Governor of course. He says he was “misunderstood and that the meaning of what he meant distorted.” What?

I’ve come to think that this man makes these outrageous statements just so he will make the evening news that night in case we forget who he is. Well he’s succeeded in that respect at least. As for myself, I can’t wait for him to be long forgotten.

As I said at the beginning of this tirade, I don’t do politics. Therefore I do not want to get into any political debate with any of you. Don’t send me email please. I just wanted to vent. I don’t care who is elected the next Governor of the State of Maine as long as it isn’t LePage. I also don’t care what political party they belong to as long as they don’t have the same views as LePage. Can you all up there do me this one big favor and vote for an informed man or woman this time around? I would appreciate it greatly.

(My muses for this blog were the comedians George Carlin and the sometimes funny Lenny Bruce. Maybe I should look into being a stand-up comedian myself.)

Thanks for listening.