Live by the Sword...

My least favorite time of the year is car inspection time. I look forward to it with impending dread for months and every squeak and creak that my six-year-old car makes seems to herald financial ruin. Car repairs are EXPENSIVE and can cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars and who, in this economy has that kind of money just sitting around?

It only complicates matters that the rules and regulations are set up in such a way that it only hurts the consumer. Yes, I understand that it is necessary to have your vehicle inspected from time to time to ensure that you are not polluting the environment or at risk of hurting yourself or others, but the fact remains that the person inspecting your vehicle has a vested interest to see you fail. If you fail inspection he makes money and in all my years of car ownership I have not passed a single inspection on the first try. I am always in for at least $300 worth of repairs. The above is just one example of how modern American society places a proverbial sword of Damocles over your head at all times, just waiting to smite you if you drop your guard.

And, yet, when I think about it I realize that I am one of the lucky ones. I am a single man, I make decent money and I have no health problems. I have a friend who works 60 hours a week cooking for a local restaurant chain. He probably makes at least 20% less than I do works twice as long and gets no health insurance. He has to support his two children and his girlfriend (marriage being reserved for the rich anymore) on his meager salary and has to rely on social programs just to get by. He is no rocket scientist but he does his job well, pays his bills, and obeys the law. Last night when he came over for a visit he mentioned that he has a bad tooth that keeps rotting away in his mouth splintering tooth fragments into his food.

“My God,” I thought to myself, “and I thought I had it bad with $600 in the bank and an old car to get inspected!” A car for him will always be an unrealized dream. He can’t even afford to rid himself of the agonizing pain of a rotting tooth. The sword floats above this man’s head 24/7.

President Obama is trying to push through a half-trillion dollar jobs bill that will be funded by taxing the top 1% of Americans. It will no doubt be opposed by reactionaries that will pompously defend their “right,” to retain their overwhelming wealth at the expense of people like my friend and I. How dare low-income Americans expect things like healthcare, marriage and a living wage as rights? These things are privileges; privileges that can be lost at the drop of a sword.