The Spirit of '76 - Part II?

EVERY FLIPPING TIME I THINK THE LIMITS OF WEIRDNESS HAVE BEEN REACHED….

Hi again, folks. You know, just about the time I think the parameters of weirdness have been reached, I get something in the email which gives me some pause to reevaluate that assumption. I don’t normally quote emails but since this one was forwarded to me by one of the NSJ readership, I’m making a hopefully rare exception.. And also for the record? I’m glad she thought enough of me to pass it along.

Anyhow and stuff, the Weirdness Bar got raised another couple of inches. Or so. And stuff. Soooo, here’s the letter and my response . Happy Friday, gang.

Fellow Business Executives:

As the CFO of this business that employees 140 people, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barrack Obama will be our next President, and that our taxes and government fees will increase in a BIG way.To compensate for these increases, I figure that the Clients will have to see an increase in our fees to them of about 8% but since we cannot increase our fees right now due to the dismal state of our economy, we will have to lay off six of our employees instead.

This has really been eating at me for a while, as we believe we are family here and I didn't know how to choose who will have to go.So, this is what I did. I strolled thru our parking lot and found 8 Obama bumper stickers on our employees' cars and have decided these folks will be the first to be laid off. I can't think of a more fair way to approach this problem.

These folks wanted change; I gave it to them.

If you have a better idea, let me know.

Sincerely,

Yep, I've got a better idea and this comes from someone who saw merits in both parties and candidates, did a Force Field Analysis and voted according to the results.

If you've read my latest blog http://nstar312.blogspot.com/, you'll know where my greatest concern lies now. I wrote that blog on Election Day, without benefit of the media keeping me abreast of the returns.

I hope this letter was truly a joke and I suspect it is. I'm also certain, however, that many people feel this way and will likely penalize those who disagreed with them and voted their own individual consciences.

If I was one of those employees, I'd be on the phone to the Washington State Department of Labour & Industries because at least in my state, discrimination of this sort is illegal. I know it is on a federal level and if one of those Obama supporters reports it to his Congressional representative(s), there will most certainly be an investigation and, likely, an example made.

I've been a journalist covering politics for over 30 years now and in California, Oregon and Washington. In Oregon, while on hiatus, I ran two county-wide campaigns. On the one hand I know, then, how dirty politics can be and on the other, how vengeful the constituency can be as well. The campaigns I ran in Oregon were clean and free of virtualy all of the unconscienceable behavour I've witnessed in this election.

Why? Because even these "dumb" farmers, loggers and small town merchants knew what constituted appropriate behaviour and which did not. This ‘mud-slinging" crap is beneath the dignity of the constituency, at least in the Pacific Northwest.

My suggestion is to remember that regardless of the demographics, we are ONE nation, ONE people. The election is over and like BOTH candidates said, it's time for us to begin acting like Americans. And I'll add to that, instead of a bunch of Gulliver's yahoos without the common sense God gave a mayfly. Not to libel either the yahoos or the mayfly.

And yes, feel free to circulate this response.