WELCOME TO THE STATE OF CONFUSION
I do not know when it first began. I do know that with the election of President Obama it is becoming more common. I am talking about that odd feeling you get after waking up in the middle of a French film with Japanese subtitles.
As a fan of the old Twilight Zone television program it is almost as though Rod Serling wrote the script for the world I now live in. In all honesty does much of what is happening make sense?Chrysler, an American automotive manufacturing company that a few years ago became a hybrid German automobile company now becomes an Italian company. The federal government institutes a stimulus program for CEO’s where they are amply rewarded for poor management that leads to the bankruptcy of their company.
To big to fail is the mantra of the day. Where was that philosophy when Studebaker, Packard, Nash, Hudson, and Auburn were on the ropes?
There was a time in this fair land, not so long ago, when innovation, not intervention, was the salvation of a company. Does anyone remember American Motors, the Phoenix that rose from the ashes of Nash and Hudson?
Some years ago I was working on a ranch in southern New Mexico near the Mexican border. An old cowboy philosopher I worked with had an odd, and even warped, outlook on life that seems so fitting today.
“If you think today is a bad day wait until tomorrow when its worse. Then you can look back on today with fondness.”
That about sums it up. I suffered through the rebellion of the 1960s where the mantra was to throw the baby out with the bath water and survived the disco era. During those years, even in my wildest imagination, I never imagined there would be a time when those days would be looked upon with fondness. Now, here I am longing for those confused, goofy times.
I suppose what is needed most at this time is to roll the rubber along the old double six. At least there and along the other old two lane highways you can still find the welcoming glow of neon after a long drive, folks who prefer their change in the pocket, and remnants from a time when the world made sense.
In a closing thought eight seconds is not really a very long time. However, when that chute opens and that horse is spinning on a dime it can seem like an eternity.
Well, cinch it down tight folks as the chute is about to open and I have a feeling this will be one hell of a ride.