Hello? Is anybody home?

The current issue of Business Week had a telling article about the nature of the Republican party. The article John McCain Is Way Behind Online shows that the party is out of touch with reality.

Of course, we don't need McCain to tell us that. Way behind is what the party is about. It is a party that is against progress. It is a party that is against thinking "outside the box." It is a party that would have kept us in the Stone Age had it been the ruling party back then.

"I am an illiterate that has to rely on my wife for all of the assistance that I can get," McCain said, referring to his lack of computing knowledge. Very telling. How can this country elect a president who can't use a computer? This is 2008, not 1908!

The older I get, the less I understand America. What was once the bastion for innovation and invention is now the laughing stock of the world. Dumb Americans. Watch European movies and you'll see countless references to les americains betes or los americanos estupidos.

I was right about the middle of the country. I had been on either coast or in Europe for the decade prior to January. I've now been in Southwest Ohio for six months, and I realize my ideas about the center were not just figments of a faulty memory. People here actually think the whole world is exactly like they are - and those who are different are wrong. Sinners. Perverts. Foreign. Weird. Liberals. Change is not only wrong, it's the product of some evil plot to destroy America.

Look. I understand the fast pace of the world today. Believe me, America. I've actually seen it. I've actually been a part of the vibrant cities of the land which you think has been blessed by a genie in the sky. I have traveled to five continents. I am proficient in three languages besides English. But hiding from the world behind the walls that protect your televisions doesn't make the world simpler. It only makes it more complicated, because it is going to change anyway and you're resistance just causes headaches.

You want a simpler life? Fight for better job benefits. Fight for more vacation time. Fight for two hour lunches. Throw off the archaic puritanical nonsense that prevents you from enjoying life like others do across the globe. Stop being victims of excessive marketing - stop buying junk you don't need. Grow your own garden rather than suffering the dizzying experience of a supermarket, where people grow stupid from too many products. Stop wasting so much gasoline driving distances you could walk to. Ride a bike. Get some exercise and eat right - you'll find life is easier when you're healthy. Stop and smell the flowers.

I'm sick of the god bless america crowd that is hurting the country they so profess their love for. I'm sick of their yellow ribbons while they haven't lifted a finger for their country. I'm sick of watching this country decline before my own eyes. Everything won't be ok until Americans start putting forth some effort in being Americans. Ask not what you country can do for you.

I don't want another president that is out of touch with reality.