The most recent Newsweek poll says that while a whopping 86 percent of voters say they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States, 10 percent of voters say they are satisfied. Not accounting for the 4 percent who were perhaps too dumbfounded to speak, who are these 10 percenters? By what index do they figure the country is headed in a positive direction? Perhaps they didn't have any money invested in stocks. Or a house. Or a mortgage on that house. Perhaps their job hasn't been shipped overseas. Perhaps their wages aren't stagnant or they have somehow kept up with their cost of living. Perhaps none of their family members are hurting financially or serving their country in a misguided war. Perhaps they have affordable health insurance that covers all their ills. Perhaps they don't drive a lot so the price of gas isn't that much of an issue. Or perhaps their fundamental idea of success is an economic meltdown unparalleled since the Great Depression.
Whoever the Ten Percent are, I don't know them. I don't know where they live, I don't know where they work and I sure as hell don't know where they bank. But I do know they are part of the 25% of us -- that's 1 in 4 -- who still think that President Bush is doing a heckuva job. Some of these people must think that supporting our President in a time of war is our Patriotic Duty, and their love of country is as pure in intent as it is completely misguided. First of all, we haven't declared war since World War II. We may occupy Iraq and Afghanistan and battle Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters but we are not at War with either country. We are in a War on nouns -- Terror and Drugs being two of them -- but both have been fought so poorly and with such bad judgment that we are now less safe than we were after 9/11 and able to get all the drugs we want. Perhaps if we combine the two and get the terrorists completely high, they'll forget about fighting over anything other than a bootleg Pineapple Express DVD and bowl of hummus. Just a thought...
People are mad as hell and they are under no delusions who got us into this mess. Well, at least 86 percent of us are. As to the Ten Percenters, are they the reason we hold back on impeachment, on war crimes charges, on prosecuting the corruption that has infiltrated the highest levels of government? Are they the reason that President Bush is able to go about his business with the impunity that has been a hallmark of his administration? As the Ten Percenters become more and more marginalized, the far-from-mainstream fringe that represents the ignorant underbelly of our country, the solid majority that wants change from the status quo will make their voices heard on November 4th.
