As I walked into the restaurant my dad was already there shaking his head in disgust.
"Bart, these people are out of their mind," he said in an exhausted sigh. "This uh, Dave Mustaine (Saying the name aloud for the first time) from this group called Megadeth said that Obama staged those shootings in Colorado and at the Sikh Temple so he could crack down on gun control. I'm not saying he has to like the guy, but don't go spreading that type of propaganda."
"Yeah, I saw that shit." Warrick ran into the restaurant late (As usual). "It is pure racism and disrespect of the presidential office. You got that lady in Arizona putting her finger in Obama's face, that clown yelling out while he's giving a speech and a bunch of coded word racism on Fox News on a nightly basis."
"Why is this allowed?" I asked my dad. "Why are they able to get away with these type politics?" I asked again, becoming impatient for a reply. "Well," He took a deep breath "This is nothing new in politics. Fear is what seems to resonate most with the public. There are many that fight against change. Everything from slavery to civil rights of blacks and women to gay and lesbian rights. Immigration. It's always something. And after their "We've always done it this way" message starts to be ignored, they recite the constitution and even the Bible when it helps them make their point."
"They are afraid of change," I chimed in, not sure what my next point would be. "There has always been talk of change, with the democrat nominees taking the black vote for granted. I understand that I have been the beneficiary of the white side of my family. My mom's family has introduced perspectives that I've never gotten in all the summers and weekends spent with your mom, Warrick, or any of dad's family. Black people don't always understand the principle of teaching a man how to fish. Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, but teach a man to fish and he can eat for a lifetime. The black side of my family wants credit for every little thing they've done and hardly ever wants to share information and resources," Warrick shook his head but didn't have enough to prove me wrong. "The white side of my family taught me to share resources and by sharing what you have, that encourages sharing amongst everyone. I had a black friend of mine who'd help me with tying my tie every Tuesday and Friday. We had to wear a tie on "game days" in high school," Dad seemed sad while I mentioned this, because he knew he wasn't there much for me. "One Tuesday my friend wasn't there and I didn't know what to do about my tie so I asked one of the white dudes in my first hour class. He said, 'Let me show you how to tie it.' That was when I truly started to recognize the differences between us."
"All I know is regardless of color," I guess Warrick felt like he'd been quiet long enough, "Rich folks don't care about any of us. Brown, black or poor whites. The bottom line is this: Make money and don't depend on the government to take care of you. The problem for people like me who have felonies, is they only give us one option. Well maybe two...either start your own business or get your money illegally. That is why so many black and brown folks want to become rappers. Our backs are against the wall."
At this point dad stepped in, "There are more options on the table," typically having an answer to what seemed like every question we've ever asked, he seemed to be at a lost for words, "Obama is trying to help out everyone..." Ole Abe was stumped.
"President Obama showed that change can actually happen in American politics," I came off the bench to help the old man out. "Presidents have been trying to get free healthcare for everyone for years, Since Harry Truman, but Obama was the only one to actually pull it off," I used my "ace in the hole," which is Obamacare.
"Obama actually gave me hope," Warrick was setting up his point, "When he talked about passing healthcare for everyone and then actually delivered, that was awesome. But as soon as the republicans realized he was actually trying to make a difference, they went into total shutdown mode. God forbid some things actually get done in Washington. I think politicians believed we as the voters would start asking for them to deliver on all of their promises. We went from 'Yes we can' to 'Under no circumstances will we let you'. It's all about them keeping their funders happy and trying to keep their spots in the senate and congress. It ain't about the people."
"There are about eight or nine political parties in France. The amount of money funding the republicans and dems here in America don't allow any other parties to have a fighting chance at winning office," My dad was back! "Nobody with a real chance of winning an office goes too far outside of the standard platform's stances on issues. They try to fit us in a box and most of us have some conservative and liberal views. Liberals are becoming more moderate and appearing more extreme because the republican party is so far right. Democrats are not innocent in these matters. They have their big business backers as well. The amount these millionaires pay to support their candidates could be used to hire folks and help this awful economy." Dad seemed frustrated after hearing his words aloud.
"The Tigers should change their names to the Detroit Tigers Threaten But Do Not Score," I was murmuring to myself as my hometown team ruined another scoring opportunity.
"I wonder how much they could get if they traded Miggy," Warrick pondered while trying to help me change the subject.
"Trade Miggy? Dad took the bait (Maybe he was done with the subject himself). He'll go down as one of the best hitters in MLB history. For a player so great you'd never get fair trade value."
"Austin Jackson and Verlander will be due big contracts and they can't pay everyone," The conversation never ends. And for the rest of the afternoon we talked about Pistons, Tigers and Lions. No more politics that day. I think all three of us felt defeated in a way after assessing the future of our great country. There seems to be so many issues and nobody in Washington seems terribly interested in working on any of them. I guess we can tackle that again another day.
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