A POX ON BOTH THEIR HOUSES

Monday,  9:30 AM.  24 degrees F, wind W, moderate with stronger gusts.  It is still snowing.  It began about 8:00 PM yesterday evening and by this morning we had a good six or seven inches on the ground.  Fine, granular, crystalline stuff, although the flakes falling now are a little larger.  I awoke to the sound of a snow blower directly outside our bedroom window.  Sam, our young Coast Guard neighbor was clearing the worst of the accumulation from the driveway, while his two boys shoveled a path to the front door.  I accept the kindly act with gratitude, as I still  had plenty to do cleaning up around the edges,  and shoveling the porch and decks.  Joan had an eye doctors appointment in Duluth but this is a real blizzard and we will not chance the roads, even with the truck.
        I don’t know about anyone else, but I am tired to death of hearing about, and arguing about, the rich, the poor and the fiscal cliff.  As for the latter, if it weren’t for the consequences to the military budget and national defense, I would just as soon we drive over it as continue to discuss it.  Neither side in the argument seems that fearful of the result, and perhaps the consequences would be better than the present situation.  At least we would begin to cut the size and expense of the federal government.  And, it might turn out to be quite an adventure.  Perhaps it would even spawn a new party, since if the politicians drive us over the cliff one might hope they would all perish in the process.  Less government, less debt, a balanced budget and all the obstinate  politicians eliminated.  Too much to hope for, I am afraid.
        But as for the rich and the poor, or more correctly in today’s political lexicon the upper class and the lower class,  I have a modest little proposal.
        Since vast numbers of the American population do not consider themselves either one or the other (even though most of us in the middle are being driven inexorably into poverty), I  propose that we who are caught between this rock and a hard place secede from both classes, and let those two extremes take care of each other. 
        By “take care of” I do not necessarily mean eliminate each other in actual battle, but rather that they go off by themselves and argue with each other as to who deserves what, and who should pay for it.  The wealthy 1% can certainly afford the 10% or so that are truly poor, so let them duke out the details.  As a matter of fact, the truly upper class should be required to hire the truly lower class, and pay them a living wage and benefits, thus leaving the rest of us to take care of ourselves, which we can do I am sure if we no longer have the burden of the two extremes.
        But for myself, I do not just want to be separate from both these parasitic classes in a philosophical sense, I wish to be physically  separate from them. I think they  would all fit nicely within the state of California, and if there is any overflow Portland and Seattle would welcome them, although those climates are not conducive to either surfing or living on the street. I am sure the current occupant of the White House would be quite comfortable in Sacramento, which could be their capital, and he would be well rid of the rest of us who he really doesn’t like very much, and we of him.
        The upper class and the lower class after all appreciate pretty  much the same life styles; legalized pot, perhaps some occasional blow, kinky sex lives, living on the edge, not working or doing much of anything that is productive.. They should get along very well together in general, I believe.  I would be loath to give up New York City, however.  It is too genuine. I am undecided about Chicago and Detroit, but being as  they are Midwestern I still hold out some faint hope for them.
        Finally, I will quote Shakespeare’s Mercutio, the unfortunate character in Romeo and Juliet, who gets in the middle of the sword fight between Romeo and Tybalt and says as he is dieing, “ ’Tis not as wide as a church door nor as deep as a well, but ‘twill suffice.”
        I am afraid that the wounds this incessant, politically manipulated class warfare and resultant debt and inflation are causing the rest of us will also  “suffice, ” and that we too shall perish.
        Thus I echo Mercutio’s final words; “A pox on both your houses!”