The
Churchill Syndrome
January
12, 2002
by Walker
"Wealth has never yet sacrificed itself on the alter of
patriotism." - Bob LaFollette
Strange things are afoot. Tom Daschle and Dick Gephardt are
obviously smelling blood. This is worth noting. On the one
hand the self-righteous right has been moving heaven and media
to blame the entire terrorist crisis on Clinton. Of course,
this is no surprise. Through both of Clinton's terms and beyond,
the family values bunch has been trying to blame him for everything
but the Crucifixion. The anti-Christ theorists in the movement
are probably trying to do that too. What is surprising is
the way the Dems are behaving. They have been patriotic, supportive
and, well, bipartisan. One would think that, with a Republican
President whom the American people are all but worshipping,
the Democrats would be faunching and quivering, and looking
for places to hide. Instead, the leaders seem to be sitting
back buffing their nails and grinning like Cheshire cats.
What is going on?
Actually, I think Daschle and Gephardt are adopting a pragmatically
schizophrenic strategy with regard to the ever-popular Bush
Two. They have drawn a line in the sand. On one side of the
line they place the war president to whom they have pledged
love, honor and obedience. This is smart. Realistically speaking,
what else can they do? Despite a few egregious lapses ("It's
a Crusade") and an Attorney General who is inclined to wipe
himself with the Bill of Rights, most people think George
has been doing a terrific job. I never thought I'd say this
but he's been a class act with the war.
But, here at home it's been bidness as usual. So, on the
other side of the line Tom and Dick place the domestic President.
Their domestic President will be the best President money
can buy who they will illuminate as the evil Mr. Hyde president
bent upon no good for nice people or anyone else who earns
less than 200K a year. This just might work, possibly because
it's true. Arguably the domestic President really doesn't
give a rat's ass about anybody who is in a substandard tax
bracket or is unable to make significant contributions to
the causes of those who are.
Personally, I'm banking on The Churchill Syndrome to kick
in with regard to domestic George. The Churchill Syndrome
teaches that: C'est la guerre is not the same as C'est la
Vie. After World War II the British concluded that while winning
the war was one thing, the pleasures of jobs and food on the
table were quite another. They turned conservative, war-winning
old Winnie out to write his memoirs.
After the attacks, every clich� monger in the media (which
is most of them) rediscovered the phrase: "America is slow
to anger, but when roused� blah blah blah, etc." What America
is actually slow to is rational, intelligent behavior after
real or imagined crisis hysteria. Usually this is a glacial,
painful return to sanity such as the end of the Viet Nam war.
Only occasionally is it a cathartic, cleansing revelation
such as the Army McCarthy hearings. The real point is that,
throughout its history America has always seemed to eventually
get back to its senses. Blessedly, America has always shown
a remarkable homeostatic ability to return to a sane equilibrium
after periods of gibbering fear and anger.
I think sooner than later Americans will wake up to the fact
that we are being had. We will come to realize, for example,
that the idiotic tax cut and the house "economic stimulation"
package are nothing but cheap scams that are sleazy enough
to gag a ponzi grifter. In the meantime, Bush II's patrons
are doing their thing to advance this coming enlightenment
by providing us with embarrassingly clumsy negative examples
which painfully demonstrate that all the hands in our pockets
do not necessarily belong to us or the ones we love. Thanks
to the stupidity of these arrogant butt prodders it is becoming
increasingly obvious that some of those hands belong to individuals
and organizations one would probably not choose to have in
such close grabbing proximity to one's genitalia.
There is a growing list of such scary grabbers. Need I even
mention Enron? And really, how many more giant, fumbling cutpurses
are going to get away with what Boeing pulled: They lay off
15,000 American workers. They get a multi-million dollar sweetheart
defense contract from Congress which is supposed to provide
some economic stimulation for the country. They happily pick
up the check and open outsourcing talks with Mitsubishi and
Kawasaki.
Right now it's a case of Blinded by Love. Patriotism is more
glorious and self righteously feel-good and fun than economic
self-interest; but, on the long haul, how do you think our
priorities will shake out when it dawns on the 90% majority
of American yay-sayers that their beloved and heroic leaders
here back home have deflowered and sheared them bleeding close
like a bunch of drug addled, retarded sheep?
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