Politics...

This is not exactly a post about McSame and Failin' or Nobama and Hidin;' it's a post about where all this political posturing and bullshit begins.

My son, Carlito, was riding on the bus to school the other day (before the election results). He is a dork and kind of geeky, like his mom,(:D) and he was bending some kid's ear about how neither candidate was a good choice, but if he could vote, he would vote for...

and then some older kid in the back of the bus shouted, "Hey, retard! It's too early too talk about this shit! Why don't you shut up!"

To which he responded, "Why don't you?"

And then, "Good one, homo. You're gay!"

"No, you're gay!"

The older kid upped the ante: "Yeah, well your Mom's gay!"

Not to be outdone, Carlito said, "So's your mom!"

Then, the older boy capped it off: "Yeah, why don't you go home and kiss your gay mom!"

But, it ended with this, (DNA is so proud): "Why don't you go home and suck your mom's balls!"

The older boy did not like that very much. He gave Carlito, whom he outweighed about 2 to 1, a cold ass stare, and said, "You're dead."

So, that night, on the bus ride home, Carlito saw the older boy again, who kept staring at him. When Carlito got off the bus, the older boy said, "Good. Now I know where you live."

Carlito then felt physically threatened, and told us everything that happened. (DNA couldn't help but laugh when he heard Carlito give us the play by play. What was DNA supposed to do? Act like that shit wasn't funny?) But, when it was clear that Carlito was scared, and probably was going to get clocked for his mouth, then we had to step in. Then the principal had to step in, and ultimately, the high school kid realized that talking trash to a 7th grader is not something you should do if the 7th grader can make you look like a punk. the principal used the event to teach both boys when not to cross the line with each other.

So here is the lesson in politics: Disagree, posture, call someone out, call someone names, threaten violence, and then beat the crap out of someone. If we're lucky, the authorities step in and keep people civil. But, all too often, the last steps, from threatening violence to committing violence, happens without pause, or without an intermediary there to keep it from escalating.

As rancorous as this campaign has been, as fucked up as our system of government can be, we can't forget that instead of blood in the streets, we had a party last night. Instead of recriminations and gunfire, we had reconciliation and fireworks. Like Carlito and the guiding presence of the principal, our system has its boys and the invisible presence of our guiding principles.




Yeah, DNA couldn't resist that little rhetorical twist. Nice, huh? That what $40,000 of English degress buys you.