So Long, Aggies

I love college football. I especially love rivalry games. In the 118^th game of the greatest rivalry in college football, on Thanksgiving Day 2011, Texas just beat Texas A&M 27-25 thanks to a last-second field goal by Justin Tucker.

“Final score” means so much more tonight than it does on any other night. With the Aggies’ departure to the Southeastern Conference, this is truly a final score. And that saddens me. These Aggies will not have an opportunity to avenge this defeat and these Longhorns will not have the chance to defend it.

The Texas tradition of Longhorns vs Aggies on Thanksgiving comes to an end because of money. Greed. Ego. Neither the men on the field nor the fans in the stands have any say in what is happening to our beloved rivalry.  Football in the great state of Texas will never be the same, thanks to the bigwigs with money on their minds.

Tradition. A&M is steeped in tradition. Texas is steeped in tradition. The fight songs of both schools are intertwined:

“Texas Fight! Texas Fight! And it’s goodbye to A&M”

“Goodbye to Texas University; so long to the orange and the white…”

I bet neither writer had any idea just how prophetic his lyrics would become.

We Can Do Better

I read on CNN this morning that the so-called Super Committee is preparing We the People for an announcement of failure. I'm not surprised. Like most of the happy ideas that emanate from Washington DC, the concept of putting 6 rhinos and 6 dinos into a sequestered room and asking them to find what amounts to a raindrop’s worth of savings is disgusting on one hand and motivating on the other.

It is disgusting because our government should not operate that way. Closed-door sessions mean that We the People hear only what the committee members want us to hear. We will never know the true content or context of their discussions. We will be overcome with disgust when they announce their inevitable failure, for nobody will take ownership of the outcome. It will be the fault of those taxaholic dinos or those taxaphobic rhinos. It won’t be “my” fault. “I” came fully prepared to reach a solution. Yeah, right. By the way, you can pick up your generous government paycheck as you exit the building. Thanks for nothing.

That said, I find this whole silly affair very motivating. How much more evidence do we need before We the People overhaul our government? For how much longer are we willing to pay these career politicians to laugh at us as they bank their generous government paychecks? This whole disgusting affair that we call government should motivate every one of us to action. Don't rely on the kool-aid force fed by your favorite pundits on so-called network and cable "news" channels. Their kool-aid supports their respective agendas and drives ratings; it offers no substance. Read and fact check everything the talking heads try to feed you. Read the position statements of every candidate for every office you will vote for. Get involved locally and participate in public forums at which the opportunity to meet local candidates is available. Thanks to the rhinos and dinos in government today, I am a much more informed citizen then ever before and most of them will not like my vote come election day.

People, don’t let them take us down. Read. Learn. Act. Start local and work from there. Last time I checked, this country still belongs to We the People. It’s time we showed some interest.