Mathematically Speaking You Don't Add Up

I've always enjoyed a good title. I guess that's why on average I spend between one to two hours thinking about what the title will be for my next article. Then, once I have a title I spend another hour figuring out the first line. The rest of the post usually takes ten to twenty minutes to finish. I like my posts like I like my politicians - good titles and a good opening but the rest of it doesn't matter much. But it really does matter - doesn't it? The substance of the post is the most important part. And I guess that's what makes me different than many of the other fine citizens in the United States. As I've written numerous times (when I'm not writing about kittens and eating utensils) the average citizen in this great land of ours is half-awake. That can only be the real answer. In the movie The Matrix, we are introduced to the main character as he's asleep in front of his computer monitor. This was way before people were falling asleep with their phones falling out of their hands in bed and hitting themselves in their forehead. Mr. Anderson woke up to find someone typing a message to him on the screen. Then there's a knock on the door. Neo, a.k.a. Mr. Anderson, is a computer hacker with software to sell and a customer wants to make a purchase. In the opening conversation Neo asks his customer "... You ever have that feeling where you're not sure if you're awake or still dreaming?" It would seem our country is under the same delusion. A lot of people seem to be in that dream world. Possibly even the matrix. It would seem even more probable that that is a very possible reality. Because this just doesn't add up, does it? What brought this little thought into my head was the latest approval ratings for a politician in our country that I will not name by name but you've probably heard of him. I don't want to list a name because the machines (in The Matrix it was the machines doing the monitoring but in this world it's the NSA) might key in on that name and voila - wire tap. Or someone will get a court order to review my Googliness. Or my cell phone will be tapped. But I guess what's really bothering me is, after 5(?) years of leadership under this un-named man, our present economic situation, our unemployment numbers, and the various foreign and domestic catastrophe's that lay at the feet of this un-named commander-in-chief of the United States, what really bothers people is the fact that their facebook accounts are being monitored. You can do a lot to people in the United States but don't dare hack into their online profiles they've spent hours putting together and then feel someone has disrespected their privacy. I understand it goes much deeper than that. Google accounts and emails. Cell phone monitoring. It really is pretty disgusting the lengths at which our freedoms (and rights) are being sacrificed. But this is what most "experts" give credit for the reasoning for an 8 point percentage drop in approval ratings for our un-named head of the executive branch of our government. Eight points since this scandal broke and it's actually being reported. I guess the press will only give a free ride for so long. America - wake up. That includes you Pennsylvania. And you Massachusetts. And Rhode Island, I know the other bigger states kick dirt in your face but you matter too. All of you need to wake up. This dream has gone on way too long. I know it's comfortable and the pillow's cozy but a new day is dawning. Another scene from this movie - The Matrix - has an agent questioning Morpheus (actually it's more of a lecture) who is the crew leader who found Neo and woke him up. Agent Smith tells Morpheus that " It's the smell. If there is such a thing. I feel.. saturated by it. I can taste your stink. And every time I do I feel I have somehow been infected by it, it's repulsive. I must get out of here. I must get free". And I guess it's sort of like that. There's a stench to this. I can smell it. It's been rotting away for so long and so few seem to be able to smell it. Or there are actually many who smell it but they've adapted. They're in the thick of it and their senses have adjusted to it. But I just can't seem to adjust. The smell is so thick with injustice and criminality - the absolute failure of our present leaders. I sometimes think it would be simple to just let it go and pretend it isn't there as so many others have done and continue to do. But I can't. It's repugnant. I see it on the national level as well as within our own county courthouse. It seems to be everywhere. I know, I should just let it go, right? But I just can't. Logically, it just doesn't add up. And at some point the math won't work at all. 45% approval rating seems like it's way too high. And I guess it's because I tend to surround myself with others who also don't think it adds up. Because of the smell. There seems to be a lot of people I know who can't stand it either. But I know there's a lot who seem to be attracted to it. There's a phenomenon I used to witness across the road from where I used to live. A pig farmer owned a small hog confinement building and would visit a few times a day to feed and tend to his pigs. Now, living across from such a place gave us, my family, a strong dose of pig stench which would drift across the road and was especially aromatic on hot summer days. They really stunk. I never knew how Mr. Weiss could stand that smell. It was only later, after entering the job force and finding myself so dependent upon earning a wage that the answer started to come. And, after running my own business for awhile, it's something I understand a lot better. Although that stench was at times unbearable for my neighbor he found a way to adapt to it. Those pigs, and the smell that came with them, fed his family and put a roof over his head. And so, as a country, we've grown to adapt to the smell. But I can only take so much. And the stench has truly become unbearable. Many years later, after making a visit to the old home, I discovered the smell was gone. I guess at some point Mr. Weiss decided to give up the pigs. And, at some point, we, as a country, will have to make the same choice. But for now, whether it be on the state level or federal, every once in awhile the pigs are fed and on really hot days when they're all gathered together on a hot summer day, guys like me really can't stand the smell anymore. 45% approval rating? The math definitely stinks. My name is Rueuhy and I approve this blog.