Nov 4, 12

Who remembers the way back time before the arrival of the ubiquitous ATM machine, when if you wished cash money to go out for pizza on Friday night, you cashed a check to get it? As long as you had money in the bank to cover the check, this was a viable system. You flashed your ID, or the cashier recognized you as a frequent customer of the store, or because she went to high school with your dad, and that was usually enough. This system depended upon a degree of trust, which generally worked out back then. You could trust some people back then.

Other people violated that trust. On the board behind the cashier, fastened by thumbtacks and on display for all to see, resided a few of the checks that had bounced because they were presented by folks who knew there was no money in their account to cover said checks, and yet they cashed them anyway. You’d see names of people you knew, and from this you also knew that you would never again trust them, for anything.

This leads to the story I’ve told before, of the little girl living with her mother. It was that end of the month moment, when the checking account was close to nil, but the little girl still wanted pizza for Friday night dinner. The mother had nixed the idea, but the child persisted. Mother stated that there was no money, for she knew the reality. The child, not understanding, wondered why. 

“Why can’t you just cash a check?”

A reasonable request in her child’s reality, for that trick had always worked before. The mom was frustrated, for there was nothing for her to do. She had already used up whatever trust remained with her family and friends, and they no longer would loan her a few bucks until payday. And she couldn’t even count on that ole float, where the check she cashed on Friday wouldn’t hit her bank until Monday, and she could deposit her paycheck in time to beat the bounce. For that Monday was further in the distance.

So the child fumed, and the mom raged at the un-fairness of it all, and life went on for everyone else.

I faced down four hungry cats this morning. Part of this was my fault, for it was my duty to bring home the food from the clinic. I knew the supply was perilously low. I knew where the food was stored in the clinic. I knew it was my responsibility to see to it that the cats never go hungry, for they don’t like that. I forgot and left the cat food at the clinic yesterday. And I feel real bad about it, but I ran out of food last night. There was none left for this morning.

And to make things worse, the clocks changed at 2 AM, and so I selfishly slept in for that one extra hour while the cats slowly closed the circle around our bed, silently tapping their toes on the carpet. Watching me as I slept. Watching me.

I stirred in my sleep, and suddenly three cats appeared on the bed, watching me, prodding me, beseeching me. Breakfast was already one hour late, and someone was going to pay. 

COME ON!!! WAKE UP!!!

GET YOUR FAT ASS OUT OF BED AND FEED THE CATS!!!

There was to be no more sleeping for this fellow. So up I got and I walked down the hall. Assuming that food was FINALLY forthcoming, four tails accompanied by four swinging prodigious bellies led me toward the kitchen. They were in a hurry. They kept looking back. HURRY UP!!!

Cats differ from dogs. Dogs ask for food. Dogs beg for food. It’s as if food magically appears when the person produces it. Cats don’t ask. They demand. Ya see, dogs have masters, and cats have staff. They say jump, and we persons are supposed to ask, “How high?” Cats demand food and they expect obedience. Cats have entitlement.

Cats expect to be fed. That’s kinda my fault too, for I once began to feed them, and then from that point on, the cats decided not to chase and catch to eat mice and such. Food showed up in the bowls every morning and night, and that was how it was gonna be. Worked out fine for the cats. The heck with the mice. Entitlement.

So, I lied to the cats. Lying to cats is OK, for lying is part of their culture. I lied and said I needed to wash their food bowls, so while the bowls soaked, I drove down to the clinic and came back with cat food. So I got to live. I didn’t end up like the crazy cat lady who runs out of cat food, and all the people find later are picked over cat lady bones.

There are lessons here. You can’t have pizza every Friday night if you can’t afford pizza every Friday night. You should watch how much money you have in the bank, and know when you can refill the bank, and not spend more money than you can expect to find in the bank. And you shouldn’t feed so many cats that you face all those angry faces when you run out of cat food.

Which brings us to this election on Tuesday.

Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but California can’t afford pizza this Friday night. The kids still want pizza, but California cannot afford it. Hasn’t been able to afford pizza for some time. And California is trying to feed way too many cats. And the cats aren’t finding a full bowl whenever they want. The kids have come to enjoy pizza every Friday night, and the cats are, as always, entitled. And now they are all pissed off.

When the kids and cats are both annoyed, you will hear from them. They will, in fact, nag you.

Somebody runs this state. Poorly, but somebody runs it. Nobody wants to admit to screwing the whole deal, but somebody did it. They screwed it up. They ran out of money, stupidly and irresponsibly. And now they want to be re-elected so, they say, they can fix it. That makes sense.

The teachers’ union, the public employee unions, and the various folks  who don’t hunt mice anymore because we feed them better when they don’t, are all getting shortchanged since the government ran out of money. They are angry. They are nagging. Those folks who don’t work for the government, but are responsible for paying for the government, are just a bit miffed too. Because we know what comes next.

What comes next is the folks who don’t work for the government, but are responsible for paying for the government, are gonna be told to pay much more. For certainly the children are not going to ask for less pizza, and the cats are still going to feel entitled. And we sure as heck aren’t gonna see the people actually responsible for this mess volunteering to stand down and let others give an honest and intelligent effort, rather than the stupid and crooked performance we generally get.

We can vote some people out of office. And should. We can vote against the propositions that are nothing more than higher taxes on the folks who didn’t create this mess. We can vote to limit the power of the unions that orchestrated most of this mess. We can disappoint the people who have run the government for their own benefit, and our loss, who stupidly let this mess happen. And on a national scale, we can depose a President who guarantees our children will be saddled with a similar disaster for generations to come. 

Or we can stand by impotently and watch a way of life die because of greed and incompetency. Our choice. We get the government we deserve.