Friday, January 20, 2012

A Pet Peeve of Presidential Proportions

I wish I could tell you that I’ve been absent from the blog because really exciting things had been happening, but the truth is, it’s just life. A half-written essay about the history of my family sits on my computer, abandoned while I worked on edits, did critiquing for the two groups I belong to, sewed one sleeve of lace on the very fancy dress I started as a Christmas gift for my granddaughter, went with said granddaughter to a fashion swap meet in the Chicago suburbs, went with my husband to his cousin’s funeral in Southern Illinois, and spent a day lying on the sofa whining because the room wouldn’t stop spinning.

And this week’s GBE2 subject is pet peeves. Friend, neither of us has the time to go through all my pet peeves! I’ve had many decades to form and collect them. They range from young whippersnappers who call me honey instead of ma’am as befits my rather advanced age to people who misuse the word “comprise.” And in between are people who don’t know the difference between their/there/they’re, to/too/two… Well, you get the idea.

So let’s just settle on one pet peeve, shall we? Given the year, I have to say it’ll be long political campaigns bankrolled by big business in order to elect politicians who make any promise they think will get them elected, knowing full well that they can’t do a darn thing without the OK of all those other politicians who are trying to line their pockets at the expense of the rest of us.

So in that spirit, here’s a poem I wrote to express my bad attitude:

The Woes of  a Presidential Election Year

All hail the coming election spring!
It doth the fruits of politics bring!
Throughout the land, the song of the lyre
Is heard in volume ever higher.
The telephone pole one year of four
Brings campaign poster blossoms forth.

O how happy we all will be
If we can only survive to see
November bring the winds of change
And the political leaflet begin to wane.
The snows of silence will gently fall
Alike on winners—and us losers all.


13 comments:

  1. May I just say, "Amen" and bow to your correctness?

    Love it, love it. ♥

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  2. Love the poem and the sentiment. You guys have my sympathies and I wish you strength to get through the election nonsense!

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    1. Oh, we'll survive. Most of us are too ornery and stubborn to do otherwise. : - )

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  3. I love this, Angela--especially the last line. Yes, somehow we always turn out to be the losers, no matter how hopeful we might (!) feel when we vote. I dread the election season, too, particularly all the negative ads. I would love to vow never to vote for anyone who uses negative ads, but then I wouldn't be able to vote at all. It's strange that everybody says they hate negative ads, but politicians use them because they say they work. Go figure.

    Oh, and I love your comment about "comprise"! The rule I always remember is "the whole comprises the parts, not the other way around." Thanks for this interesting and fun post!

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  4. Losers all...how sad and how probably true. An honest and intelligent leader or a whole bunch of them is probably not going to happen in our lifetime, but a girl can sure wish.
    Nicely done.

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  5. I'm with you Angela. I'll bet if I commit to exercise each time a political ad comes on, I'll have six pack abs by election day.

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  6. :( yup depressing!

    reminds me of the cat picture someone posted on FB with the "meek" looking cat with big eyes; pre election and the cat post winning "Sly" slit eyes.

    Was going to "like" the photo, but thought it actually blemished our beautiful gift from God; the cat.

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  7. And in spite of all my negativity, when election day rolls around, I will be at the polls waiting to vote. Because I still think we have the best system in the world. It strays a bit from time to time, but just needs some tweaking right now to prevent big money from having so much influence. (Of course, in the recent internet censoring fiasco, big money and their pet politicians were a bit surprised, weren't they?) And the truth is, these mud-slinging campaigns we all get so sick of are nothing new--they've been around since the beginning. I guess I would just like to see a little more nobility of spirit and concern about the average American out there. Call me naive--my middle name is Hope. : - )

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  8. I always vote, but by the time I go to the polls, I'm not a fan of of them.

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  9. No man can accomplish anything with the other party working just to see him fail. Is this what our founding fathers meant when they created checks and balances?

    Joyce
    http://joycelansky.blogspot.com/

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  10. Thats pretty good, for a journalist. LOL

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