On Tuesday morning, as I was peddling my bike around the neighborhood where I live, I was thinking, which I do on occasion, contrary to what you may have concluded; and what I was thinking about this time was how people like to cast blame whenever things aren’t going so well for this country. Like now, for example, everyone is casting blame and saying that so-and-so is responsible for the following conditions:

1. The quagmire in the Middle East
2. The deaths of over 4,000 American troops
3. The deaths of far, far more innocent Iraqi citizens
4. The Blackwater scandal
5. The sub-prime loan fiasco
6. The declining market values of homes
7. The continually escalating price of gasoline, heating oil, and fuel in general
8. The oil companies posting record-breaking profits
9. The continually escalating price of groceries
10. The continually escalating price of, well, just about everything we voracious consumers consume on a daily basis in the United States
11. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer
12. The lack of healthcare in the United States
13. The increasing unemployment rate
14. The overall pathetic state of the American psyche

So who exactly is to blame? Well, according to people I have overheard (I tend to eavesdrop on occasion; plus, I do read the newspaper) and depending upon whether those people are on the Left, on the Right, or somewhere in the Middle, it’s either the former administration, the current administration, Osama bin Laden, the religious fundamentalists, the oil companies, an ogre called Capitalism, American materialism, the fast-food industry, elementary school teachers, extraterrestrials, or Paris Hilton. However, I really don’t think any of these people or conglomerates or beings are responsible for the current dismal situation here in this country.

“You don’t?” you say. “Then dare tell us, just who do you think is responsible for this mess?”

All right, if you insist, I will tell you who I think is responsible. It’s the 50.7% of American voters who cast their ballots to put George W. Bush into office, that’s who. And, yes, if you, dear reader, voted for Bush, that means I blame you. Indeed, it’s your fault our economy is in the proverbial toilet; it’s your fault this pointless war is being fought in the Middle East; it’s your fault people are dying; it’s your fault people are unemployed; it’s your fault prices are skyrocketing; and it’s your fault a large segment of American society is depressed, stressed out, despondent, and, as a result, dependent upon Prozac, that is, if they have healthcare and can afford it. 

Back years ago there was a public-service announcement on television, in which someone dropped an egg into a frying pan then someone (maybe the same someone who dropped the egg, but maybe not) glumly said, “This is your brain on drugs.” Well, I think it’s time for a new public-service announcement, except in this one, we’ll see an egg plopping into a frying pan then someone will glumly proclaim, “This is your brain on Bush.”

And that’s it for tonight. I have had my say. Good night and sleep tight. Try not to fret too much. Maybe you’ll still have a job when you wake up tomorrow. Then again, maybe you won’t.