Don’t Be Scared…It’s Just Politics

As the Joker so famously said: "Let's turn the clocks back a year."

                Last October seems so far away.  America  had a mortgage crisis that nearly put us into a depression, we elected the first African-American president, Bernie Madoff nearly bankrupted the Mets*1, Sarah Palin resigned as governor of Alaska,  Congressman Joe Wilson shouted "You lie!" in a joint session of congress, and just recently Glen Beck's "Buzzword Army" marched on Washington.  I didn't even mention soon-to-be household name Max Baucus and the ruckus he's causing.

                So what the hell happened?  The ‘08 mortgage crisis almost put us back in the Stone Age and there's no specific reason as to why it happened.  There might be 100 people that played a hand in the collapse, but we can't charge one specific person with all of it.  People panicked and the unemployment rate skyrocketed.  Everyone was afraid to spend money because they might lose their jobs.  The hysteria and paranoia spread nationwide.  Things went from bad to worse. 

Most democrats blame corporate greed.  And all the while, as the sh** *2 was hitting the fan, young people started to become politically aware.  They got interested in politics right when Barack Obama was calling for change.   College students saw their bright future slipping away and decided to make their stand.  A generation of pissed off youths did something that no one thought they were capable of; they turned the tide of a presidential election.  That's how Barack Obama became the president.  Well, that and Oprah. 

A few months after Obama took office, something happened.  College students stopped caring.  Young people ceased to mobilize for their cause because they were too busy with school and work.  Obama wasn't giving speeches every night because he was behind a desk trying to fulfill his campaign promises.  His message of hope and change began to fade.  Obama fever went away. 

Then Sarah Palin gave conservatives a game-changing opportunity.  The former vice-presidential candidate used Facebook to voice her concerns about Obama's healthcare plan.  The plan called for a government-run public option that Obama claims would drive down healthcare costs and create competition in the marketplace.  Palin felt the new plan would force hospitals to ration resources to the elderly.  She used the term "death panels."  Say what you want about Palin, but that term may have been the "Uncle Tom's Cabin" to this healthcare debate because it gave conservatives a renewed vigor.