Is there anybody out there? Nod if you can hear me. Just a reminder from Pink Floyd that we should never become “comfortably numb”. The 2020 elections prove that by being “comfortably numb” about voting ensures that the party that can more easily incite their base will win the election.
Wandering bands of Antifa or being shot by Isil are not voting issues that have validity for an informed electorate. Truth is, the informed know we’re more likely to win the lottery and be struck by lightning on the same day than by being a victim of either scare. Sadly, irrational fear is something that comes easy to the uninformed electorate like cousin Bubba and his wife Lulu.
Cousin Bubba lives in Hopkinsville, Kentucky where Bubba makes a modest living doing chain saw art. His skills are legendary, but unfortunately his years of outside work have left him covered with the most raging case of eczema known to man. Bubba used to have health insurance to cover the costs of his ointments, but eventually the insurance company dropped him. Bubba applied to other companies, even tried to get on his wife’s policy, but his pre-existing condition denied him coverage. Appealing his application in person only resulted in traumatizing the clerk, and Bubba was left holding the bag for his $125.00 a week prescription. Bubba was faced with the difficult decision of paying his bills or operating a chain saw while scratching like a mangy dog. Thankfully, along came the Affordable Health Care Act.
The Affordable Health Care Act, Obamacare, was implemented in Kentucky under the name kynect, and provided cousin Bubba and Lulu with affordable healthcare that couldn’t be cancelled and couldn’t be denied for his pre-existing condition. Bubba can now use both hands on his chain saw and when he takes his shirt off it doesn’t look the first snow in the Rockies.
I caught up with Bubba after the election to commiserate with him over the return of Mitch McConnell to the Senate. To my surprise he told me that he and Lulu had voted the straight Republican ticket. After catching my breath I asked what were the reasons for returning a do-nothing to Congress. Bubba mentioned Antifa, how Biden just wasn’t tough enough on crime. Bubba wondered how you could “defund the police” and have somebody show up when the Antifa set fire to your house or business.
Bubba was also concerned that if the market didn’t stay strong it didn’t matter whether you got the Corona or not. Although not an investor, Bubba was pleased that the market was at an all time high. “We just need to get rid of Obamacare which is killing the job recovery”.
Remembering my manners, I inquired, “I thought you liked kynect”? Bubba’s response was, “oh yeah, we love the website, we want to keep the website.” Flummoxed, I wished him happy holidays. Explaining to Bubba that kynect was his personal connection to Obamacare would have taken longer than I had. Maybe in this life time.
When the informed become “comfortably numb” and don’t vote their views, the easily led dictate the type of government we all suffer.
