George Carlin – The American Dream

/ Tracy Abell
               

I had a crazy day yesterday in which I unloaded lumber in a driving rain storm,
was temporarily trapped in the mountains because of a flooded-out road,
and then while driving home received a call from the neighbors saying our dogs had escaped and were roaming free.
After the final hour and a half drive in a constant downpour, we got home at about 11:30 last night.

That was the end of the day’s bad news, right?
Wrong.

Obama wants cuts to Medicare and Social Security.

I’ve been paying attention and knew that’s what he wanted, but hoped cooler/kinder heads would prevail.
 
Here’s George Carlin from 2005, explaining in his uniquely profane way (warning!) why this is happening:
 

If I don’t laugh, I’ll cry.

 
Have a good weekend, everyone.
Don’t forget to laugh.
 
               

16 thoughts on “George Carlin – The American Dream”

  3. Wow, what a day! I’m so sorry, Tracy. And about the Obamummer news, blurgh. If I don’t laugh, I’ll cry. 😦

    By the way, I sent you a follow-up email to your lovely note of a week ago. Just want to be sure it arrived in your inbox; please don’t feel obliged to respond to it anytime soon…

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  4. Yes, suddenly there’s this weird thing going on in public policy discussions. It goes like this:

    We should cut public-sector pensions, because private-sector employees no longer have good pensions.
    We should make [some set of people] pay more for health insurance, because [another group] already has to pay a fortune for it. And we should have less coverage, too, because some people don’t have any coverage at all.

    It’s this “race to the bottom” argument and I don’t understand it. Why should we want to make our quality of life universally worse?

    Our mothers used to tell us NOT to jump off a bridge just because the next guy did.

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    • It boggles the mind the way we’re getting led to slaughter. As long as there’s someone else with less than us, we’re okay with having the legs cut out from under us. And we absolutely cannot touch those with the most because, by some MIRACLE, we might someday be part of that wealthy club. I have family members who feel that way about the wealthy, not that they’d admit it.

      Depressing.

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      • Fascinating, isn’t it, the psychological aspects of this? Painful to watch & realize. And heym, don’t get me started on how these negotiations conflict with the concept of “compassionate conservativism.” Or more to the point, how political philosophies dovetail (erm, don’t) with the religious ideals that get our leaders elected.

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        • Exactly! The holier-than-thou segment of the voting public that is obsessed with candidates’ spiritual beliefs (and forces them into their phony shows of piety) doesn’t seem to have an issue with sticking it to the have-nots.

          Classic.

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  6. The genius of Carlin

    He really wasn’t funny—he just had a funny way of telling you the truth.

    And like a 5th grader, you’d giggle at his potty-talk. But as an adult, you’d kick yourself and go, “Fuck! He’s right!”

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    • Re: The genius of Carlin

      You’re absolutely right, Kevin. We laughed because of the painful truths he trotted out in his unique fashion. If we didn’t laugh, we’d cry. The man had his finger on that throbbing pulse.

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    • That’s very cool you got to see him live. He was one of a kind, that’s for sure. He came into the fancy men’s clothing store I worked in while in LA to buy shirts for his new tour, and I was dumbstruck. Better to keep your mouth shut than to say something stupid to George Carlin! 🙂

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