Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!… You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take this anymore!' — Howard Beale (Peter Finch), Network
Get mad and win
Bill Burr used his "Monday Morning Podcast" to express his feelings about billionaires. He is not a fan. A point he made expletively clear. Burr is not a calm, dispassionate man. Quite the contrary, he is an angry Masshole (I write that with love). Burr would probably agree. He has described himself as "that loud guy in the bar" with "uninformed logic."
In his diatribe, he used a fan's letter, outlining her struggles as a full-time worker and a mother who can't afford simple luxuries, as a launch pad to inform his audience his thoughts on the subject. He put it thus (WARNING: F-bombs ahead):
"The amount of people struggling out there because of these fucking billionaires, and they got us all arguing liberal and conservative. We gotta stop doing that. I'm so tired of hearing about people going to bed worried about what's going to happen next week."
Burr pointed out that the US has enough financial resources for all citizens to afford a place to live while only working one job. In his words:
"There is so much fucking money in this country, and there's so much work being done. If you work a full fucking week, you should be able to pay your fucking rent. You shouldn't have to go and get another fucking- job and still be struggling. It's bad for the country."
Burr added that because some people work long hours to pay for food and a roof, Americans kids do not have the family life conservatives mandate is the only way to raise children. In addition, he suggested a plan to ameliorate the problem. As he put it:
"Because then the kids don't see their parents, and they're not getting the upbringing that they need. These fucking billionaires... They need to be put down like fucking rabid dogs.
Adding,
"They're rabid with fucking greed, and they're going out and dividing everybody."
Burr warmed to his theme of division. He added that bigotry is both a distraction and is shit at improve economic prospects.
"The fucking epitome of this time right now, like how divisive we are that like, the Gulf of Mexico is now the Gulf of America, and people get excited. Like, how the fuck does that help your wallet? It's an empty gesture. And then it's also like a racist gesture."
Taking a shot at the racist-in-chief’s policies, he continued:
"Like that's the white guy saying 'Fuck Mexicans' without saying it. You know, like who has a fucking problem with Mexicans? What is the real problem? This is just such an ugly fucking time."
Bill Burr is a filter-free comedian. He's not a fan of politicians — left or right. His anti-PC rants will piss off progressives. However, he's not like Dave Chapelle and Ricky Gervais. They are two comedians who tee off on liberal excess to show they are witty, weary, and world-wise cynics. (Or to prove their smug superiority if you are not a fan.)
Burr dislikes political correctness because it focuses on words — not on changing behavior. It does nothing to address society-destroying issues like the political power of bankers and Big Pharma. Burr cares about people. And things piss him off. The Democrats could learn a lesson.
Tough times create strong people. Where are they?
Where is their anger at Trump's government destruction? Where is the fire in the belly? Who are their charismatic orators? Please don't tell me the media favors conservatives. Or that Republicans control the government. I know they do. But whining that things are unfair — or that you are not in a position to do something — is weak-liver'd bullshit. Especially, if your leaders are Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries.
Jeffries sounds like a loser. In his weekly news conference on Feb 7, he told reporters:
"What leverage do we have? They control the House, the Senate and the presidency. It's their government."
Worse, he's still trying to work with the GOP like it's 2008. On Feb 3, he unveiled a 10-point plan and said he would work with Republicans wherever possible.
"We want to find common ground. If there was interest in doing the things that matter, like driving down the high cost of living in America. Republicans have no interest in doing that. The American people at the end of the day will hold them accountable."
Please make it stop. "Hold them accountable — at the end of the day?" Who the feck thinks that motivates resistance? He might just as well have said, "I wrote a letter to the Editor". I don't want a 10-point plan. I want a rhetorical iron fist to an orange jaw — rinse and repeat.
Chuck' school marm' Schumer is even worse. For starters, can the guy get LASIK or wear his glasses on the top of his nose like a wild thing?
Winner Not a winner
Sadly, Schumer is doing his best. In an interview with the NYT, he told Mara Gay the Democrats were taking the action the American people wanted:
"They want us to beat Trump and stop this shit. And that's what we're doing."
The Democrats are ‘beating’ Trump and ‘stopping his shit’? I must live under a rock. Chuck, can you do whatever you are doing so people will notice? Schumer continued by stamping his feet quicker — and invoking dear old dad.
"I'm getting more and more furious. At first, the voters were just down in the dumps, but I think they were like me when they saw how bad this was. They said we can't just — you know, my father taught me a lesson.
He said, 'When you're doing something important, look in your heart.' He would say, 'Make sure it's the right thing to do. And then persist, persist, persist and don't give up, and you will succeed.'"
Again, please make it stop. I feel like I'm living in a self-help hell written by Horatio Alger and illustrated by Norman Rockwell.
Winning the future with the lessons of the past
Dear Democrats, if you want to know how to fight, look to history for clues.
In 1940, the British faced Nazis across the waters from Northern Norway to Normandy. Britain stood alone, staring down the barrel of the Nazi war machine massed in Calais and Rotterdam. From France's Atlantic Coast to the demarcation line with the Soviet Union at Poland's Bug River, the Germans had subjugated a vast swath of Europe. Hitler wanted to add the United Kingdom to his collection.
Faced with calamity, Churchill stood on his hind legs in Parliament and willed the British to fight. The British war effort had many leaders and a population dedicated to its execution, but they needed a rallying call.
Who will rally the Democrats?
