It's been awhile since I have written here. For the absence I apologize. We have done some traveling. And the good thing about traveling is the wealth of new exposures and experiences. For example, last night I went down to the barbecue area. As one older woman put it when she joined the group of mostly men burning meat over gas logs, "I was afraid this was a 'guy only' area." She and I and another woman had invaded the male "communal fire" camp to grill, watch the grilling, or socialize.
She, older woman, with a drink in hand was a watcher. I had two steaks to grill. and I had forgotten to bring a tray so I had no hands free to bring along a drink. So I guess I was just a griller. Plus, I thought I could last without a drink for as long as it takes to grill two steaks.
At the grill, I met folks from all over the U.S. and Canada. The State of Washington, Lake Tahoe, and Vancouver were represented at the grill, to name just a few. And as often happens, along with talk of grilling techniques and choice of foods to be grilled, talk turned to politics.
The third woman brave enough to invade the male-only grill, we'll call her "Lake Tahoe" or LT for short, held forth on her views of the economy, the current presidential administration, and also explained in detail her understanding of the American system of government.
Ms. LT claimed credit for adding ten million dollars annually to the nation's economy with her construction business. Counting suppliers, employees, and lots of trickle-down folks affected by her company. Then she proceeded to talk about the current president in derisive tones as the cause of all that is wrong in the U.S., as well as the rest of the world. LT added that the economy was in the toilet because the President had grabbed all of the power from the people and the states. I had to think: quite an amazing accomplishment for one man in less than a single term. More about her explanation of American government later.
LT ended her discussion with her fix for the economy: buying a bumper sticker she had seen at the car wash back home and affixing it to her pick-up truck. The slogan, with an Obama insignia, "Does this ass make my truck look fat?"
After LT made this proclamation she gathered her steaks and headed back to her condo. The other woman at the grill gave me an embarrassed look. I raised my eyebrows back at her in shared disbelief.
The most amazing part of LT's tirade was her discussion of the U.S. form of government. LT explained, in loud tones in case any of us should miss the civics lesson, that our Founders had been smart enough to establish a republic with the states having checks and balance of the federal government to keep the feds from taking control of the nation.
Apparently when LT was in grade school she had been out sick during civics classes. She must have missed the part of the class where they covered our three-part federal system: judicial, executive and legislative which is the "checks and balances" to which she referred. And I guess she completely missed the discussion of how the loose federation created by the Articles of Confederation was replaced by a Constitution that created a federal system. I guess she also missed the Civil War that was fought over the meaning of that system. and that the union prevailed over individual states.
I suppose you don't need to know all that much about civics to run a construction company. And everyone is entitled to their opinion. That also is part of our Constitution. And I don't mean to call anyone stupid. So maybe the title of this blog should read "Uninformed Is as Uninformed Does." But not as catchy. Next time I might have to bring a drink along for the socializing and discussion segment of the grilling.
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