Mamas, don�t let your babies grow up to vote for cowboys
February 27, 2004 ~ 1:45 p.m.
My boss just gave me some advice. After finding out that I still have the right to vote in American elections, despite official U.K. resident status, he said:
�Well, don�t vote for John Kerry. And don�t vote for George Bush either.�
�OK,� I said. �That leaves Ralph Nader.� (No, I am not serious.)
Hmmm � on second thought, maybe Lyndon LaRouche. Why not? Can you imagine telling people here that I voted for a candidate who�s best known for embracing a theory involving a world conspiracy by �the British Oligarchy� and its �stooge,� the Queen? (This reminds me of a former colleague of mine at the university newspaper who told me he voted for LaRouche. When I nearly choked on the coffee I was drinking, he defensively stated, �I didn�t know about him, honestly, he was just a fringe vote that appealed to me!�)
Ah yes, the fringe vote. It�s becoming more of a factor in American politics�before John McCain, there was John Anderson and Harry Browne. People harp on about Dubya not getting the popular vote, with Nader taking votes away from Gore, but I remember in 1992 when Clinton won with 43 percent of the vote. Forty-three percent. And in 1996, that figure went up to an impressive � 49 percent. Impressive, I said.
Anyway, I saw something today that made me want to scream: A cap that had the Yankees symbol on the front, but in the back, just above the adjustable strap, it didn�t say �YANKEES� or �NEW YORK� or�surprise, surprise��ADIDAS,� but something so much more disquieting.
It said �AMERICA.�
You know, once again, nobody knows anything about baseball over here, so it�s quite fitting that people see the New York Yankees the way we see the Harlem Globetrotters: namely, that they always win and that it�s every other team�s job to lose to them. I mean, for Chrissakes, if they even paid attention to the fact that the Yankees haven�t been World Champions for three years (and hopefully counting ad infinitum ), they�d know this.
And I dare to wonder why they can�t get the trains to run on time here? Heh heh. Oh, Lordy, I kill myself. Maybe they�d like Hillary Clinton in charge of British Rail.
� M.E.M.
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Copyright � 2001-2007 by M.E. Manning. All material is written by me, unless explicitly stated otherwise by use of footnotes or bylines. Do not copy or redistribute without my permission.
AMERICA FOR TRUE AMERICANS!