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The quest for power in our lives is one of the basic needs of man according to most psychoanalysts. Just like breathing or eating it is a need. To what level varies with the individual, but in all of us we need to feel it no matter how big or small the degree.
If you have kids, parents have the power, it’s automatic. But as we all know, when they turn around 14 years old that power begins to diminish. We may think we still have absolute power over their lives but, even in the best kids, they start realizing their need for power and start searching for ways to exert it. They are usually successful, slowly at first, which is the point I am at now. But I can see the writing on the wall; soon I will have zero control over anything she does.
Many people get a dog, not just for the companionship but because they are an animal they can control. That is once they have been trained. Unlike your kids, a dog is the one who is in control when it is young and untrained. Its power? Puppy eyes. Our puppy, Ruby, may dig up a section of the yard and I may get mad, but it is brief. All it takes is a little tilt of her head and a look from those puppy eyes and the anger just melts away. Until she is completely trained she is the one with all the power.
I’m not saying that power and control is a bad thing, many people deal with it well. And then there are those that don’t. The current recall election is a perfect example of power gone awry. Gray Davis’ mishandling of his job and the power that it yields has put all of us here in California in a position of having to choose a new Governor and put his ass out on the street at the same time.
What is really scary is the way he has gone mad with his bill-signing pen. As the recall draws closer he appears to becoming more manic in his decisions and more radical in his choices of legislation that he is signing. It’s as though he sees that his time is coming to an end and he is grasping at straws that will appeal to fringe voters in a last ditch effort to save his job. None of these pieces of legislation is more bizarre than his signing of bill SB-60, driver’s licenses for illegal aliens. This was a piece of legislation that he had refused to sign two months ago.
The first thing that I was told when preparing to get my driver’s license was that to get a license was a PRIVILEGE, not a right. What kind of message is this sending to everyone around the world? Come to California illegally, and not only will you be able to get food stamps, emergency health care, and government assistance for housing, but also as an extra-added bonus we’ll give you a driver’s license. What the hell, let’s just disband the Immigration Department, the Border Patrol, and take down the fences at our borders because there will be no stopping the flood that will be invading us from all sides.
Proponents of this bill contend that this will compel illegal aliens to get car insurance. Are you kidding me? What makes them think that a migrant farm worker or someone who snuck into this country in a freighter bound from the Far East will be able to afford car insurance just because they have a driver’s license? Did they legalize pot in Sacramento or are they just insane?
Also on the Gray Davis driving front, this last Wednesday, the bill he signed raising the car tax 300% went into effect. On Tuesday there was a mad dash to purchase new cars. The local news stations heavily covered the story with little sound bites like “I will vote against Gray Davis as many times as it will take to make this go away!” He ought to be voted out of office just for bad planning and his inability to refrain from shooting himself in the foot, which he continues to do every time he picks up a pen.
Oh and by the way Gray, get off the “Arnold won’t debate me” whine. First of all you chose not to attend the only debate that mattered a couple of weeks ago when Arnold and the rest of the candidates were there. Secondly, Arnold doesn’t have to debate you because he’s not really running against YOU! You are running against you, Arnold is running against the rest of the candidates. You got that straight now?
I know I have said it before, and like my grandparents before me, I am a registered Democrat, but not during this election. I have never been one to vote the strict party line anyway, I vote for who I think would do the best job regardless of party. I said it last week and I feel more strongly about it this week, and I have to say it again, there is something spooky about Cruz Bustamante.
He is already the second most powerful person in the state but there is something that makes me think he will be crazier with the pen if given it from Gray. Most of us just ignore the TV commercials that run during a political campaign because they are generally bogus. But the next time you see the one with Cruz and his family, watch it. It is as though he is trying to hypnotize you through the TV. There is something in his eyes that makes you think if given the chance he would eat your brain. His family already looks like they’ve fallen under his spell and are auditioning for the remake of the “Stepford Wives”.
Maybe this comes from spending too much time with Mark Macarro, Tribal Chair of The Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians. You know, he of the commercials that persuaded us to allow Indian gaming here in California and Bustamante’s biggest financial contributor. If you watch Macarro’s current commercials and think back to his earlier ones, his delivery is identical to Bustamante’s. Maybe their relationship goes beyond that of political contributions, maybe they are part of some cult together. As spooky as these two are, they might make good Halloween costumes this year.
So as we prepare to pass the mantle of power on Tuesday let’s not forget how we got here and try to make the best choice we can.
The Shrub Speaks: Sometimes it's not easy to be the friend of George W. Bush -- I know that. If you know what I mean. Houston, Texas, Sep. 12, 2003
B.D.’s response: Huh.
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