$tate of the Union 2006: It's Christmas in January!

As usual, I will not be watching this year's State of the Union address tonight. I will either be watching a new movie that came in via Netflix, or one of the last episodes from the Lost DVD set that we haven't seen yet. If I'm even interested, I'll read it later.

Or if I do choose to hear it live, I'll do so with my back turned to the television, refusing to set eyes on the screen while Bush talks. Stripped of whatever visual appeal, you instead actually listen to what he's REALLY saying. And just going by my doing that during the past few State of the Unions, I'm not expecting any substance in tonight's either.

We know what's going to happen: he's going to make some empty rhetoric. And then he's going to start telling us how many billions of our dollars he wants to spend on social programs, No Child Left Behind(tm), foreign aid, etc. This is why ever since Clinton my nickname for the State of the Union speech has been "Christmas in January". The State of the Union speech has nothing to do with the actual state of the union, and it's not even a real "union" anymore either, is it? There is now one government that's grown too large, merely divided into 50 localized departments. It's not even legislated that the President has to do this every January either: the Constitution just calls for the President to make reports to Congress about the condition of the country "from time to time". That could be tonight or two years from now, or six months even. It doesn't even have to be a televised speech... but tell any politician that he shouldn't grab the opportunity for free airtime.

That's all tonight's speech really is going to be, sadly: an hour or so of television time that Bush gets to pitch whatever scheme he's got that's going to further put us in debt or deteriorate our Constitution, only because it's expected of him to do so. Dear God, has this country really sunk so low that we so readily allow an installed politician to tickle our ears?

(Yeah, he was installed. So is just about every politician in Washington. What, you think any normal Americans are going to be allowed to walk the halls of Congress?)

Anyone want my advice? Find something better to watch tonight, if you have to watch something. In all probability whatever you find will be a lot more sincere and edifying.