Be Afraid People...Very Afraid

I have put this blog off as long as I could. And I dread writing this now.

Could not bring myself to watch the State of the Union Address live. I watched it late Wednesday afternoon, and even then, I just forced myself. The father I get away from teaching government, well, watching and paying attention to what is going on in Washington D.C. and to a lesser extent Austin because, well, it's sort of like work....Seriously.....I do listen to the news. I do read a few papers online in the morning, but an all day event like it was back in the 90s, early 2000s, well, that's a thing of the past. I had rather read about  something that happened 300-400 years ago. ( Got to remember, History major, Government/Economics/Speech triple minor.....1. Didn't know I had a speech minor?  Easy class.....And does anyone except Harvard and UT-Austin still call it "Government?")

So, I watched the speech.....( And I know Rush is sick...But the Presidential Medal of  Freedom? Read Mitch Keeler's blog on the topic.)

All I could think of was petulant children....Both parties.....

It so put me back to an event in antebellum America in which Sen. Charles Sumner made a speech attacking Senator Andrew Butler of South Carolina for supporting slavery.

Butler's cousin, a member of the US House by the name of Preston Brooks walked over to the Senate chamber with another member of the US House by the name of Laurence Keitt and proceeded to beat Sumner with a gold-handled walking cane....When other senators tried to stop the attack, Keitt produced a pistol and stopped them from doing so. ( Keitt 2 years later tried to choke another representative)

Sumner wound up with what we would call PTSD today for the remainder of his life. 

Butler was kicked out of the US House, and was tried and convicted of assault, and fined $300 ( $8000 of today's money)

Re-elected the next term, Butler died of a painful lung illness before he re-took his seat. ( Karma man, karma)

The US Congress is close to fisticuffs. Especially the knotheads in the US House.

If that happens, how close are we to shooting each other?

I seriously have looked at liquidating everything, converting everything to CHF ( Swiss Francs) and getting the hell "Outta Dodge."

But where would I go? Britain would be my first choice, but they got as big a mess as we got, if not bigger. Ireland might be a choice, but the Cost of Living has jumped up considerably there. Australia and New Zealand's immigration status is "Out of the question." Canada? Portugal? Uruguay? Convert to Judaism and move to Israel? ( That's a big no there for several reasons including I hate the desert....and that whole mohel, well, let's just say I need all I got now.... ) 

I'm serious here.

A Civil War will destroy this country. The economy will fall to pieces. You'll be afraid to go to work, much less send your kids to school.

And don't think it can't happen here...