Hmmm, Was I REALLY Better Off Four Years Ago?

I’ve been hearing this question about if I’m better off now than I was four years ago. Well, that depends on what we’re measuring to know if I’m better off or not. Seems to me that the guy in charge at that time was willing to shut the government down for 35 days. It seems to me it was the longest shutdown in history. We just got the government financed for the rest of this fiscal year, I think that’s one thing that’s better than it was back then.

If my memory serves me correctly, I believe we were still in the throes of the pandemic at that time. I think there were some news conferences which were perhaps worse than the virus. I recall one when introducing bleach into the body or maybe bright light, would kill the virus. I remember there were refrigerated trucks lined up outside the hospital to hold the dead. I remember the disconnection from everyone and everything. Then I remember the feeling of relief when the vaccine came available and how people began to reconnect. I remember the joy of going to the park that next year. That joy is still with me. I think that’s way better than it was back then.

Let me see, I think toilet paper was hard to find then. Gas was scarce, lumber didn’t exist, there were fights over baby formula, potatoes were few and far between, for some reason tampons nearly disappeared, and lest we forget, computer chips just evaporated. Now? Last I checked, our Sears and Roebuck catalog is safe and intact. Everyone bitches about the price of gas but having it is a good thing. Without lumber, housing, carpentry, and such are hard pressed to have anything to do. We seem to have plenty of potatoes these days, I don’t hear ladies complaining about needing feminine products, either. And I believe Joe Biden has made some moves to bring chip production up in the US because it’s necessary for national security. That’s all better these days than it was four years ago, isn’t it? When I stop and consider for a moment I think because of the things which were not available then and are available now makes everyone’s life better now than then.

Back then, we were represented on the world stage by a man who threw paper towels to survivors of a hurricane. A man who pushed a Prime Minister out of his way so he could be on the front row of a photo op. A man who denied having business in Russia while his lawyer was in Russia negotiating a deal to put a hotel with that man’s name on it, in big gold letters of course, right there in Moscow. And not the one in Idaho, either. A man who was determined to end a 75-year-old alliance because of cost-as though an alliance has a price tag.

These days, we’re represented on that same stage with an experienced and empathetic man who has garnered admiration of world leaders for his post-pandemic economy. No one in the world has done it better. A man who organized the vaccination campaign that got us out of the pandemic. A man who is content to allow the government to do its thing. A man who, even when he had the opportunity, did not pack the Supreme Court. A man who has faith in the law of the land. A man who has not committed any high crimes or misdemeanors, no matter what Comer Pyle and Jr. Jordan say. A man who is not contentious about how important he is. Or even how grandiose he is. That seems better to me. Kind of like a breath of fresh air. For some reason I’m reminded of ketchup-free walls.

One other thing that is different than it was four years ago is society seems to be more at ease than it was then. I remember the marches after George Floyd was killed on the street. People were unhappy. Everyday there were videos of police beating people or pushing old men down or wailing on some guy for being out with his buds all bitching about the police. There were vile acts on both sides of that shit. That kid who traveled across state lines to end up killing a couple of guys and the looting and destruction that often went along with the high level of social angst of the day. These days that level of social unrest just is not evident. There are some disturbances as there always are but they’re not on BBC as a lead story for nightly news. There is a good deal of social unrest about the effort to control women’s bodies. But it is not erupting in violent outbursts.

I don’t think women are better off now than they were four years ago but what is costing women autonomy are events which took place four years ago. I think overall, we are all better off because we now can make this issue clear enough for it to stick, and to hell with those folks who are trying to force everyone to follow their religion, even if they are on the Supreme Court. I guess some folks just never got to enjoy living in a theocracy. Maybe they should ask the Aztecs how much fun it was to live under the Spanish theocracy. If there were any left to ask that is. That we can see the threat for what it is makes us all way better off than we were four years ago.

Something that I don’t think is better now than it was four years ago is Congress. Nancy Pelosi was Speaker then. Nancy may be disliked for any number of reasons but she never ever put a treaty or an ally in jeopardy just to appease some party hack who had nothing to do with legislation she was pursuing. These days we dwell in the land of temporary Speakers. Kevin only lasted until he passed a budget. The same is about to be true for Mikey. We do have Kevin to thank for elevating the likes of Jr. Jordan and Comer Pyle to sit as committee chairs. He also elevated Marge Green which didn’t turn out all that well it seems. It was Matt who took Kevin down and now Marge is trying to accomplish the same notoriety as Matt. And why? Because Mikey agreed to fund the government. How can anyone in Congress not agree to fund the government? That level of Loonie in congress is not better than it was four years ago.

Then, a Speaker of the House visiting a country carried international weight. Now, the Speaker of the House visiting a country could well be denied because his forked tongue already has a reputation. I don’t think we’re better off with a threat to the international balance of power as the Speaker Representative of the Congress of the United States. “The United States will not honor its agreements,” is not a message which can be issued from that Speaker.

All in all I have to say that I’m better off now than I was four years ago. I have to say the same is true for the government. As for all the age trolls out there who are concerned about Joe’s longevity, take a powder. The guy is old, but that doesn’t mean that he’s stupid. I’m not so sure about the guy who was in charge four years ago. That has yet to be determined even with the aid of cognitive tests. Or it has been determined because of a fascination with the ability to recall five items. But that guy couldn’t remember business he had in Russia, that he had been told that covid was a serious threat or even that his ex did not look the same as his flutternutter. He couldn’t even remember the size of his apartment. But what the hell, I sometimes can’t remember why I went to the store. Especially not while I’m there.

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