We're Not Dumb

The Katrina anniversary has reminded me of some thoughts I put down a couple of years ago (November 2005) to be more exact.

WARNING: IF YOU ARE A TRUE BLUE DYED IN THE WOOL GEORGE W. FAN, PLEASE DON'T READ ANY FURTHER.YOU MAY TAKE OFFENSE IN THE WORDS.


HOW CAN 59,054,087 PEOPLE BE SO DUMB?

A year ago (NOVEMBER 2004) that was the headline on the British "Daily Mirror".

I've got good news for the people who did not vote for George W. Bush in the 2004 election,

good news for those who voted for him because the choice was so limited,

good news for all of those who are becoming more and more disappointed with his entire administration.


The good news is that at least one voter has changed his mind.

I've known a few dumb Yankees during my life, but hardly any dumb southerners.

We aren't dumb. We may be gullible, but not dumb.

Some of us believe that wrestling is real, while the moon landing was fake, but we're not dumb.

For decades we have voted for everything from rural, racial bigots to cufflink millionaires, but we're not dumb.

We enjoy the comfort of conformity with our neighbors, but we're not dumb.

We are quick to rush to judgment when we don't have all the facts, but we're not dumb.

Like most Americans, we don't like the widespread use of abortion, but we're not dumb.

We may have trouble shaking the last iota of racism from our segregationist past, but we're not dumb.

Many of us believe that every able-bodied person should be working for a living, but we don't like the sight of poor, hungry children or old folks living below the poverty line without decent housing, without good public transportation, without a little discretionary change in their pockets. We are not dumb.

We recognize that there have always been a few millionaires at the top and a lot of struggling wage earners at the bottom, and we all like to see ourselves as "middle class," but we don't have a good feeling when someone who has worked all his life loses his pension or loses the value of his health insurance, as premiums and co-pays keep increasing. We are not dumb.

All my life I've heard voters say "I don't vote for the party. I vote for the man (or woman)." We care about our vote. Most of us give it a lot of thought. We believe in democracy. We believe in kicking 'em out when they do a bad job. We are far from dumb.

Now, about that one voter who changed his mind.

He voted for George W. Bush, and he defended him and his administration until recently.

All it took was Katrina to change his mind. He's still so mad at this time that he might never vote for another Republican.

That reaction, or lack of reaction, (by the President) was enough to reveal the real George W. Bush and the cronies who surround him.

That voter ain't dumb.

We wanted to believe that our President is just regular folks. He is not.

Follow the money trail. He is greedy. He supports benefits for the ultra-rich because he is one of them. He pretends religion, but he has never had a record of regular church attendance.

He doesn't care about the poor (working or not).

He is a snobbish prep-school silver-spoon, who never did any real work in his life. I predict that in the next three years the "W" administration will be revealed as one of the most corrupt, self-serving in history.

If you could redo history the "Daily Mirror" headline would read "59,054,086".

At least one person changed his mind. Are there others?

Posted by Bill Ricks of Soperton