As God Is To Ants

Say there was this guy with whom you had to deal every day, and he constantly bragged about his superior morality, how everyone envied him, spoke casually about assaulting if not killing those who got in his way, and demanded that you praise him or else be deemed his enemy. Would you really want to know this guy? Be his friend? His lover? Would you seek to "reform" him, get him back in touch with his basic decent nature that you're positive exists beneath all the bluster and bullshit?

I doubt that most of you would attempt any of this, save for those masochistic or deluded souls forever among us. But if a nation-state, say ours, for example, behaved this way, there would be no shortage of volunteers for any or all of the above tasks. Hell, some would pay for the privilege, and readily do, as we currently see in this wretched campaign. Every four years reveals a deeper level of demented fantasies, but the '08 election is so far the most perverse.

I never thought we'd witness anything as bad as the past two Bush campaigns, but Hail Neptune, McCain/Palin is even worse. In fact, it's so fucking bad that Jed and Elly May could very well win in November. Recall that snobbish critics trashed and dismissed "The Beverly Hillbillies" when it first appeared in 1962, yet the mass of TV viewers loved it and made it an instant hit, as well as a timeless classic. And that was when people were supposedly smarter than now. Being a simple man, I'm not quite sure what all of it means, but I suspect it doesn't auger well for the Democrats.

Yes -- those poor, deserving Democrats. Why must they continually compete with such low elements? Can't people recognize their superior values, that they seek to improve and beautify our lives, if only we had the wisdom to allow them? Apparently not. Only the stupid and evil are blind and deaf to their charms, and will stop at nothing to deny them their rightful place on the throne. Oh, how the white trash envy and fear them. The morons.

Yikes. Sounds like that guy again. He's seemingly everywhere these days.

The United States, what remains of it, anyway, is clearly the repository of the world's madness. Sure, there are places where life is much worse -- there always are, especially those areas we help to "administer" -- but no country on the planet can come close to American insanity. We've taken what the world has to offer and refined it into something glittering and unique. Others imitate us, attempt the same routines, but they are at best second-rate knock-offs. Our propaganda system is the best the world has ever seen; and as reality worsens, the agitprop improves. Even those who claim to see through it are affected. About the only internal escape left is the Amish route. I'm certain that the vast majority of Amish have never read a political blog in their humble lives, and they're the better for it. As things currently stand, they may be the only sane segment of the population left.

I feel I have a minor right to say this, given that I spent nearly four days sans computer and so sans blogs. I know that four days isn't much to a rational person, but in the online world, it's three lifetimes. A brief scroll through the regular sites shows thousands of words spat out since I unplugged, every tiny feature, hint of rumor, alleged bias pounced upon and ripped apart by ravenous bloggers. How I so didn't miss it. Were I to unplug completely, never to return, I'd be forgotten in no time, my online remains buried under ceaseless chatter and bile.

But as promised last week, I'm sticking around for the time being. It would be a shame to miss out on this rapidly deteriorating campaign. When listening or watching any of the Big Four, you clearly see how we're being reamed, the rhetoric so insipid, the pledges so unreal, the contempt for the populace so ingrained and open. And yet, roughly half of all eligible adults will actually reward these assholes with their ratification. Not that it matters what the rabble think. Either make it a landslide for one of the tickets, or make it close enough that private power can shift it in the desired direction. That's the public's role, and little more. It's why the propaganda system practically screams at you to VOTE. Once that moment passes, it's back to soothing narratives and brightly-lit spectacles. Until the next herding season.

Barn raising, anyone?