Well that is what people say anyway. I however, will be returning home in just a few days. This trip is becoming somewhat bittersweet for me. I am happy to see my family and friends, but I am sad with the state of my home. North Carolina although never the source for free-thinkers and non-mouth breathers, has become an ever-increasing source of ridicule and flawed thinking by its governing party. The right wingers have taken over. They are molding this state into its own warped version of a time in this country that never really existed. They wrap themselves around the flag and claim they know what is best, meanwhile, the unemployed cannot get unemployment. They are viewed as lazy. Obviously, you are not working hard enough to find a job if you are not employed. Education gets pulled by the wayside. Pro-Choice-rs are viewed as scourges who must hate babies as much as they hate God and America. I want to go back home, but I don’t think I want to live there.
As of late, I have become enlightened enough to realize that politicians in general are the problem, not just one specific party, but I cannot help but think that things would be different in the Tar Heel State if the Democrats were running things. Apparently this breed of Republican in NC is a particularly nasty one. As a lot of Republicans are slowly learning, their extreme right view of the world is not gonna fly. Reversing time and making things like they were in the 1950’s isn’t going to happen. The world is moving forward and they do not like it. They are scared children, scared that the world is changing and evolving. Scared that their “morals and values” are being eroded by science and abortions. These same “morals and values” are held by the same people who really don’t give a shit about you and I. If you are different or you do not fit into their perfect little mold, you are the problem. The term “live and let live” isn’t exactly a mantra to these folks.
The older I get and the more I really look at the world, I get so depressed. I see more wrong than good. I guess once you reach a certain age and you can finally remove those rose-colored glasses of youth, you see real issues, real problems. You see people. Not numbers or statistics, but real people. We are all in this together and maybe I am becoming more of a “hippy” as I get older, but I think things can change. I think I could go home again. I think I might be able to help it become a place others would want to come home to as well.
Thanks for reading,
Lefty
Mid-Life Crisis Task Force 