Who's your mandate?

If, as the saying goes, prejudice is the child of ignorance, then ignorance is the father to us all, at least to judge from the prevailing winds of the American political climate.

It's mourning in America, so here's your complete forecast: Self indulgent skies this morning will become dunderheaded this afternoon. Very slight chance of redemption, highs few in number, lows in the suicidal range. IQ's at 5 to 10 mph, except during NASCAR.

While epiphanies are like steroid-induced homeruns in an era of televised talk-show psychology, the shallowness of the mass-marketed balm should not be permitted to detract from the periodic internal fireworks display somehow achieved autonomously and without the assistance of Oprah or “Your Life for Dummies.”

Mine came on he morning of November 3, 2004, as I surveyed the lunar landscape of election results and examined the newspaper for signs of how America had come to this.

Arguably, no nation in human history has been as determined to ignore the lessons of its history by turning its collective back on the precepts that brought it to a position of power and affluence.

Of the 60% of Hoosiers casting their votes for the trickle-down, tinkle-on economics of George W. Bush, how many (a) are sufficiently well-heeled that their tax breaks will magically translate into the sort of community-wide investment that programs like Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) achieve, and (b) are at an income level where the absence of such grants will be keenly felt?

By the way, the necessity of trimming the federal budget to account for the regressive shift of wealth away from what is intended to comprise a permanent underclass has led to a proposal to eliminate the CDBG program.

George W. Bush thanks you for your mandate.

As the Tribune’s Amany Ali notes today, CDBG money funds New Albany’s redevelopment effort, helping to pay for handicap-accessible ramps, replacement windows and new sidewalks.

The White House insists that a revamped grant program will help put the money where it is needed most – in the hands of faith-based initiatives operated by volunteer evangelicals who will insist on loyalty oaths and public prayers before doling out rolls of quarters, designer Bibles and “Saddam Bombed the WTC” coloring books.

Okay, okay … the White House didn’t say that.

Out loud.

Did I mention that Dick Cheney thanks you for your mandate?

From The Nation: The Daily Outrage … What would MLK think?

New Albany could feel brunt of federal budget cut, by Amany Ali, Tribune City Editor