Deadlines are great and terrible things. Great because they ensure something gets done. Terrible because they often result in things getting done in a slapdash manner that a monkey at a typewriter could probably pull off if it really tried. Well…it’s that time for me to be the monkey again.
I’ve not yet really decided what the central theme of this blog is going to be about. I really don’t want to make it about myself. There are enough blogs out there with people telling their life stories. Mine is no different or more special than anyone else. I could entertain you with all the crazy shit that happens in my day to day life, but really…that’s just not that important or interesting. My life is just another one in seven billion and I hope that maybe by the end of it I’ve accomplished something that makes at least a ripple in the pond of eternity. It doesn’t even have to travel far. I’d call it a damn good success if I make it through this life helping more people than I hurt. If I leave the world with a net plus of happiness then I’ll die happy. Strangely enough, this week’s column seems to be turning into an autobiographical one even as I criticize autobiographical blogs. Ah, hypocrisy, my good friend. You are so good at pointing out how blindly we walk around these days.
Hypocrisy is a great lead into where I really wanted to go: politics. It’s a strange, weird world where people consider it normal that the most hypocritical behavior comes from our elected representatives. What does that tell us about our society that we end up electing these people as our representatives? Do we have some serious self-loathing going on that we want these people to represent us? Do we elect these people because we secretly like the feeling if fucked up people can succeed, so can we? The fun in the news cycle today isn’t even focused on the current GOP primaries. There’s plenty to look at there with Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and the others clinging to their 15 seconds of fame until the next round of primaries. The argument against Mitt Romney these days is that his business Bain Capital sometimes would lay off people after acquiring a business. Bain Capital laid off people to increase profits. The “free” market allowed Bain to cut some excess off the companies and turn them into faster, leaner, more profitable companies…with the standard low paying jobs for most workers, well paid executives, and outsourcing of jobs. Republicans are criticizing this. Everything that was touted as part of a well-oiled capitalistic society for so long is now being criticized by the people who pushed it so long. These days it is all about “job creation” and anyone who is involved in laying off people is a marked man in the political arena. It won’t hold probably because even hypocrisy has a tensile strength. The strength of the criticism will break and everyone will forget it ever happened in favor of the newest piece of juicy hypocrisy.
Local politics aren’t immune from hypocrisy either. Besides the “I won’t run as mayor in the next election if I am appointed interim mayor” from now elected San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, San Francisco and their new sheriff, Ross Mirkarimi gets his time in the hypocrisy spotlight. It’s really a spotlight reflected off a disco ball attached to a spastic washing machince drum. In seconds, it will go from all dark to blindingly bright to ghostly sparkles dancing in front of your eyes as you try to recover from whatever madness that just happened. Mirkarimi has been a San Francisco supervisor since 2005 and did a good enough job that he got elected to sheriff in the last election cycle in 2011. Sounds remarkably uneventful. It was until he came under investigation for alleged domestic violence. Yep. San Francisco’s new sheriff is being investigated for misdemeanor or possibly felony domestic violence. That’s some high level hypocrisy you got going there Mr. Sheriff, sir. Sounds like you’re preparing yourself for some national level offices. Why even run for sheriff? You should aim for a higher office than that if you can manage that level of hypocrisy so early on in your career. Obama might still trump your hypocrisy with his signing of the National Defense Authorization Act and complete reigning in of his pledge to shut down Guantanamo Bay, but you’re still getting started. A couple more years of practice and you’ll be raring to go play with the big boys in 2016. That is provided you get to keep your job if found guilty of the domestic violence charges. A sheriff who can’t carry a gun because of a domestic violence conviction? That’s so bizarre it almost qualifies as a failed sitcom from the 1980s. But who knows…it might just add to that wild-eyed crazy charm San Francisco flashes to the public to draw people into the city. Come! See our gunless sheriff after touring the legal public nudity of the Castro District and marveling at the slope of our streets which give mountain climbers pause!
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