Author: Al
Posted: 2007-10-11 13:23:02
|
Lyrics – We're Taking Over
We're taking over. Back in command of the out of control. - They Might Be Giants
It was hard to pick a line from With The Dark to do this column on. I could have gone after our self-pitying culture with the line “She's in love with her broken heart.” I could have talked about my disillusionment with Jimmy Buffett from the line “I'm getting tired of all my nautical themes.” There are probably half of a dozen more columns in that one song. Like most of the best TMBG tunes, it gives great license to interpret it in many ways. It can mean most anything because it comes very near to meaning nothing. I am sure that the Johns had something specific in mind when they wrote the song, but I doubt that they will mind so much that I have my own interpretation.
“Back in command of the out of control” reminds me so much of American politics though, and in two years of existence we've never really done a political article. It's high time to get that out of the way.
I keep waiting for a dark horse to show up for the Republicans in '08. I can only imagine voting for a couple of the current candidates under the most dire of conditions. Without a good candidate magically appearing for my party of choice, here are the only scenarios that I can imagine next year.
Scenario 1) Guliani or Thompson Vs. Obama: Stay home and not care about politics for two or three years.
Scenario 2) Romney Vs. Obama: Vote Democrat. If Romney wins, goto scenario four.
Scenario 3) Guliani or Thompson Vs. Hillary: Vote Republican. If Hillary wins, goto scenario four.
Scenario 4) Romney Vs. Hillary: Find a nice piece of land in the mountains and wait to go down Ruby Ridge style.
I have always wanted to be a sort of desert ascetic, and a Romney or Clinton presidency might just be what pushes me into the breech. A big push is not required here, so don't mistake me for being alarmist. Mostly I just do not want to deal with the disparate but equally grating annoyances that either of these people will bring to my life if elected.
All of that though, is actually quite tangent to the real topic of this article. No matter which scenario plays out, I cannot fathom a Republican victory in the next election. Granted, the elections are a long way off, and our collective memory is embarrassingly short, but I just don't see any evidence of a turnaround for our party.
If I am right then, we are about to witness a complete takeover of government by a single party. This doesn't happen often. Our government is somewhat shielded from the day-to-day whims of the electorate. Things have to be consistently bad for a number of years for one party to completely gain control of the House, Senate, and Presidency. Whenever that happens, there is always a sense that the ruling party is back in command of the out of control. It will be fun to see what, if any, steps they take to correct our current problems.
Sometime before I was politically cognizant, our two parties became one. When I decided that I was a Republican, I was using outdated, or highly polemic materials and did not realize that neo-conservatism had already become the predominant ideology in the party. I am not sure when this happened. It could have been when Nixon said that we were all Keynesians, or it could have been even earlier. The phenomena of two parties acting as one was brilliantly exposed by Belloc in The Servile State. I think that is something every American should read. Much of what is in it resonates with me as more true for America now than it was for England then.
So, whoever gets put in the drivers seat with the solemn charge to “change things” will more or less keep the status quo. The Democrats have complained bitterly about the war for years now. It will be interesting to see if they actually do anything about it. I doubt that they will, and that gives me great comfort.
All wars are mismanaged, and if you just want to complain about something, a war is about the easiest target you can find. The thing is, that mismanagement does not in any way equate to defeat. That is a bit counterintuitive, but the trick to remember is that both sides in a conflict tend to be equally foolish. Our enemy does not show any great abilities that we won't overcome in time.
So here we have this huge thing called America, moving about under its own momentum in the direction it was already going, with a new driver atop it. If the driver is smart, at least politically, they will grab the reins and pretend that the country is under his or her command.
That has to be an interesting situation to be in. I am sure that it warps a person to live the life of a politician. I know that even on the state level Idaho is the poster child for why there should be term limits. Perhaps term limits do not go far enough. I would like to see a cap on the total years that one can serve in any public office at any level.
So whoever makes it to the White House, rest easy in the knowledge that they, for the most part, merely sit atop the beast and hold on. All they are concerned with is not falling off. That is what I suspect it is like to be back in command of the out of control. |
|
