(This image doesn’t really have much to do with the following hard-hitting analysis, but it may be one of the few times I am completely sympatico with our former Chief Execuive. He has apparently been told that the Borg are in the cloak-room, and they want him to drop his shields Image courtesy of AP).
“WE ARE THE BORG. LOWER YOUR SHIELDS AND SURRENDER YOUR SHIPS. WE WILL ADD YOUR BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DISTINCTIVENESS TO OUR OWN. YOUR CULTURE WILL ADAPT TO SERVICE US. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.
– Public Service Announcement on the interstellar hailing frequency.
Yeah, OK. I got sucked into it again. I made a valiant effort, but this is the most astonishing circus in our national history, a contest to see who can be more unpopular and less trusted and still get elected to what is- for the moment- the most powerful job in the world. It is amazing.
I remember the day when I realized, intellectually, that we were going to elect Mr. Obama to be President of the United States. It was not that I liked him as a candidate, though his appeal was clearly demonstrated against the faltering Clinton Juggernaut of 2008. Even after most of the Chicago-style political machine was revealed in a devastating biography that appeared, in all places, in the pages of the venerable New Yorker.
You might be vaguely familiar with at least the cover of the 21 July 2008 magazine- I have a framed copy over the throne down at the farm. It shows a turbaned Mr. Obama fist-bumping his wife, who is carrying an AK-47.
The art by Barry Blitt caused a bit of a firestorm, as you might expect. A somewhat embarrassed New Yorker editorial board pointed out that it was supposed to be a parody of what Team Obama’s opponents- which at that moment in time included the current Democratic front-runner- seemed to be saying about the fresh new face from Chicago.
The article that went along with cover art was an eye-opener as well, and touched on some of the mysteries in the Presidential past that are unanswered today. Not that it means anything now. At this point, what difference could it make? Hahaha.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/07/21/making-it is the article that popped into my head, by a fellow named Ryan Lizza. It is still a good read.
But that doesn’t matter, either. It was shortly after that time that a growing realization swept over me. Despite the enormous advantage of the Clinton team, she was going to lose the nomination to Hope and Change. And, following the rigor of my once-keen but somewhat blunted analytic skills, that meant that he was going to cream the GOP nominee, whoever it was.
It simply did not matter. There was no way that a battered nation was going to endorse the policies that had led us to war and financial ruin. Both were mistakes of our own making, or rather more precisely, those of the elected fools who conned us so well.
Anyway, that is just the way it was going to play out, and there was not a damned thing to do about it except to vote, and accept what the majority was going to give us. I felt strongly enough on that inauguration day to climb in the Hubrismobile and motor on down to the snout of the highland where the Arlington Annex still stood. I put the top down and turned on the radio, and watched the panorama of the Capital in transition.
The Arlington Annex, home to the Navy BuPers and Headquarters of the Marine Corps was still there, and it seemed appropriate to view the scene from my place of work long ago, where the Air Force Memorial now stands. I was hoping to see Marine One lift off from downtown, and carry the Bush family off somewhere safe.
I mention that because I have tidied up my civic responsibilities and voted. I am now free to go back to my musings, and let the hyperventilation return to normal respiration. I confided to a pal that what with the recent (and massive) slime exchanges between the campaigns, I could not imagine that this was the best set of alternatives for the nation.
“Yeah, but you think she is going to win, don’t you?” asked my pal.
“Yes. I believe we have passed a tipping point. The Donald was able to get away with a lot of crap for a long time, and he really stirred up the pot. Which is a good thing. It would be nice if someone stuck a stick in the spokes of the ongoing criminal conspiracy that masquerades as the United States Government. But I think he is going to go down.”
“I agree. Even with Trump’s great and accurate quip that “I am playing one-on-three here,” it is just too much. No one likes mean people. That is why so many don’t like the alternative. They are both mean. But The Donald? Women don’t like or trust him, that is for sure, and for my part, I don’t trust any of the candidates. And I am confident that there are another couple ugly bits that they are going to spring as we get closer. Mark my words: the powers that disseminate information basically spiked a lousy jobs report on the Friday of Hurricane Matthew, and the next report is going to be just peachy, issued four days before most people vote. They want us to assimilate to the Borg.”
“Yeah. But what is an electorate to do?”
“I think we are going to elect Hillary.”
“Resistance is futile?” said my friend and shrugged. “Just wait until the co-Presidents take on Vladimir Putin for screwing around with our election. That is going to be interesting- and scary as hell.”
I shrugged, too. No big commentary here on that. We are so far beyond what is good or bad for the country- we have actually got to the point of preferring “less bad” to actual pro-active but patriotic governance. I have no real idea how we managed to do this to ourselves so effectively. I need to get a more Mediterranean attitude. Que sera, you know? “What will be, will be.” Anyone who has been watching all this has made their minds up long ago, and it is time to start planning on how to deal with the new world to come.
So there it is. I just wanted to note the day I had to deal with my electoral epiphany. There are still weeks to go, and there are still thousands of emails to be dumped on the street by the Russians or whoever is so intent on twisting our electoral process. But those are the equivalent of kinetic weapons- potent, sure, if you actually read them, but very complex and nearly incomprehensible to anyone not used to the Inside Baseball of life in the Imperial City.
There are another couple fifty-megaton weapons that are going to fall on Mr. Trump, of that I am completely certain. All the e-mails in the hacked world are not going to do a thing to stop them.
Oh well. They say we are going to be able to incorporate our biological and technical diversity with theirs. That has to be a good thing, right? In diversity is strength.
Or that is what they have been telling us. I am sure they know what they are doing.
Copyright 2016 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com