A Labor Day Weekend RANT OF DOOM: Stop the Conservative Crazies From Ruining Our Chance For Change!

Holy lord, am I ready for the weekend. Since last week, it's just been nonstop craziness - between my brother's move to LA, my dad's visit to help him move in and get settled, treatments on my ankle, car issues, a freakishly bad bout of hiccups (yes you heard that right), things at work ramping up due to our Fall Preview efforts ... well, I am ready for a break.

But it's funny ... it's Friday, the week is winding down, and everyone is starting to mellow in preparation for a nice, long, three-day-weekend. But, dammit all, today I am channelling my frustrations into a heaping helping of liberal rage.

I mean, what is wrong with our country lately? We should be in the midst of a quasi-utopian era of peace, love, and harmony, but instead the old conservative guard is unleashing the propaganda police, trying to convince every Joe and Jane Sixpack that our President is some kind of socialist demon-spawn. WTF!

Universal health care plans are not a new idea. For years, or decades, Americans have cried out for better health care. So ... what the hell? How is a fairly moderate, not-even-all-that-radical health care reform plan suddenly this evil socialist reprehensible thing?

It's scary - because it's easy to simply lay blame on the Republicans for propogating and encouraging this needless divide in public opinion. But the fact is, real, actual people are buying into all this crap, like mindless sheep. Am I seriously reading about parents who are pulling their kids from school so that they won't be exposed to a "Welcome Back, Work Hard" message from Obama that will play on the first day of classes? Are you kidding me? When I was growing up, sure, I had an inkling of political opinion and was beginning to form ideas about my own political beliefs ... BUT ... kids are supposed to be taught to respect the President and our country's institutions, regardless of politics. Whenever I overhear or hear about parents telling young kids about how much they hate Obama, etc., it just pisses me off. Kids shouldn't be taught to hate one way or the other. I mean, geez, why is everything about demonizing people? Even in the bad old days of George W. Bush, you could call him an idiot, misguided, etc. -- but dammit he was our President, and you don't teach kids to hate him. That's just un-American.

But back to health care ... I honestly don't get it. What is the big fear that people have about reform? For most, reform won't even affect them. How are people so opposed to helping insure those who don't currently have coverage? Out here in Hollywood, for example, there are tons of jobs that provide no benefits - production assistants, office assistants, almost any entry-level media job ... you will not get ANY health care starting out. That flat-out sucks. If I had had my ankle treated like I am now two years ago, before I was made full-time staff at my job, I would currently be in serious debt. Personally, I am sick of the neverending game of political rivalry just for the sake of us-against-them. Who truly stands to lose if health-care reform passes? Mainly, just a bunch of opposition politicians, who will look like tools for putting up such roadblocks.

And for the last time -- can we stop throwing out stupid words like "socialist?" If someone is trying to make some comparison between the Obama administration and the Nazis, all I can say is: "you are an ass." But why is the fundamental principle here so difficult to understand? Nobody is mandating what insurance you get if you already have coverage. Remind me again -- what is the big objection here?

Right now should be a time for great optimism, but it's also a time of dire urgency. There is a health care crisis that is urgent, and there's no good reason not to address it right now and get reform passed. There's environmental crises that need to be addressed or else, in a decade or two, when all of the elderly conservative Congressman are dead and gone, all of us still around on planet earth are going to be monumentally screwed. There are serious global conflicts that we can either make a true pass at resolving, or just throw up our hands in the air and say "%$#* it, let's just build a bigger army and pray to God that if they hit us, we can hit them back harder."

The last couple of days, I've had some really disturbing moments where I had to question what is wrong with America. The election of Obama was a seminal moment, but I'm just hoping that it ultimately proves to be a uniting moment and not the beginning of the end. First of all, I saw John McCain on The Tonight Show - sure, it's just a comedy show, and sure, it wasn't a true, serious policy discussion. But just seeing senile old McCain ranting and rambling made me a.) thank God that we didn't elect him as President, and b.) make me scared that people like him are still so influential in our government. I mean, how many times will we hear the same old song and dance from a guy like McCain? Every time I hear him, he seems to be making himself out to be this great uniter, and lamenting the fact that our government doesn't work like it did in the old days, when politicians would reach across the aisle and work together to form consensus. This is the rhetoric McCain spouts off, but man, in the last couple of years, the man helped to create the current divides we now have, and it's his cross to bear. He was the one who brought Sarah Palin onto the scene - a woman who equated Obama with a terrorist. He was the one who ran a fear-mongering campaign. And he is the one now on the Senate floor who with one hand says he is interested in compromise, but who on the other is presiding over these horrible "town-hall" meetings that just serve to rally the crazies. Remind me again -- what is the great plan that McCain and the other Republicans have to reform health care? What is their sweeping plan for change, to better the country and move us forward? Oh, that's right, the conservative movement is all about maintaining the status quo and/or reverting back to the way things used to be. It's a party for people who are scared, paranoid, risk-averse, and eager for a fight.

And more and more, you don't see "moderate" Republicans. It's full-blown, confederate flag-waivin', southern-fried radicals. It's scary. Yesterday, I went to a test-taping of the new Jay Leno Show. On the show, there was a segment that contained a panel of political pundit-types like Arianna Huffington, Meghan McCain, and ... ugh ... Stephen Baldwin. I know Stephen Baldwin is kind of his own unique brand of crazy, but the disturbing part was that when he would fire off these totally horrible, anti-Obama comments, there was indeed a segment of the studio audience, including these two middle-aged women sitting next to me, who whooped and cheered in approval. I hate that. It's not like he made a clever joke or witty insight, he just made some lame anti-Obama statement and the good ol' boys and good ol' girls in the audience treated it like they were at a professional wrestling match, booing the bad guys. My plea to the producers of the Jay Leno show: PLEASE, do not lower yourself and give an ass like Stephen Baldwin a forum. My plea to thoughtful, smart, open-minded Americans -- recognize that we can't let up now - all of that energy and willpower that helped Obama to get elected is still needed. Because it's scary but true, that whole "escalation" thing that they talked about in Batman Begins, it's happening. We're at a crossroads of potential change and reform, and that unfortunately brings out the crazies in full force.

Now is not the time to flip the off-switch on your brain. Get serious and get vocal.

Happy Labor Day weekend everyone, I'm out!