Tea Party people, who adore Colonial times, are acting out another of its iconic stories, a 21st century version of a spectral beheaded figure terrorizing politicians with fear of losing theirs.
After the toppling of such a Senate stalwart as Utah's Robert Bennett, the Republican Party itself is virtually headless, with Bill Kristol and Liz Cheney swiping at Chairman Michael Steele's scalp while an unlikely coalition from Ron Paul and Ann Coulter to E. J. Dionne defends his misgivings if not his historically inaccurate maundering about Afghanistan.
Washington Irving's tale lampooned early American fear and superstition with a ghostly foreign mercenary carrying his severed head driving off the local schoolteacher Ichabod Crane, while slyly suggesting with a shattered pumpkin at the site that it was all the dirty work of a rival for the hand of the local beauty
The current GOP split, emanating from the same dread of the unknown, is turning out to be a much more complicated story about social upheaval and primal lust.
Democrats, with their tenuous grip on Congress, have the most to lose this fall but what Republicans win could resemble that shattered pumpkin, a useless new crop of lawmakers elected not to solve problems but to resist spending money on any of them.
The now departing Sen, Robert Bennett sums it up: "My biggest concern is that we are not addressing the real issues...politics is divided between the great issues and the great diversions. And we're spending all of the time arguing about the great diversions.
"We're in a global world. We have a different kind of economy...The percentage of people in the working force is shrinking. And then, when you add to all of that the entitlement programs, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, you end up...with a financial circumstance that is unsustainable.
"And that's what we should be focusing on, and not arguing about all of the specific mistakes that President Obama is making. Every administration makes specific mistakes that are fun to argue about, but here are the big issues going ignored."
Bennett won't be there to help Congress keeps its head next year after the Tea Party finishes its work of replacing whatever brains remain in Washington with politicians created like carved pumpkins to mesmerize voters but with nothing inside.
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3 comments:
Hi. I am a political pragmatist (not exactly a moderate, but close) and interested in finding moderates, if any exist, who might want to form a new moderate political party. Could you connect me with people who who are interested if trying to form a new moderate or pragmatic political party? For me, the goal is to try to set up a viable challenge to the Democratic and Republican parties. Any contact info you can provide is appreciated. Or, if you could forward this to people who might be interested, that would be great too. Thanks.
Daryl
PS: Sorry for the off point response to your post. Feel free to not post this or otherwise delete it. I did not know how to contact you otherwise.
Whever I've told someone there's no such word as "empathetic," they've looked at me like I was from planet Fruenobulax.
Good to read someone using the correct term "empathic," which is obvious enough if you think about it.
Careful, correct usage might get you labeled an "elitist," or worse.
This is a seriously gorgeous piece of writing. (I don't agree with most of it, but) Your talent is breath-taking. I even had to stop and read several sentences aloud, just to savor them.
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