Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Crawling Back

I’ve never been trapped in an abusive relationship, but I’m told that when you finally get up the strength to break away, sometimes the abuser overflows with phony remorse. He buys you flowers: “I’m sorry honey pie! I’ll never do it again. I love you! Please come back. Things will be different this time.”


But more often than not, the abuser just folds his arms and scoffs: “You can’t make it without me. You’re weak. You’ll come crawling back.”

Two years ago, American voters took a big step toward breaking away from our abusers. Granted, the guy we elected president has turned out to be pretty much a wimp. But a wimp is a damn sight better than a bully.

But yesterday we went crawling back.

Here is the republican/tea bagger/ libertarian philosophy of life:

You need something? Buy it. The rules of the game are simple. Everything has a price tag—food, shelter, clothing, health care, you name it. Everything has a price tag. You need it? Buy it. You say you can’t afford it? Get a job. You say you have a job and you still can’t afford it? Get another job. You say you already have 10 jobs? Oh well. You lose. Oh and by the way, we love Jesus.

The republicans didn’t even buy us flowers. They didn’t promise to do a damn thing different. They just scoffed. But we went crawling back.

What’s next? President Palin? What freaks me out most about her is that I could never have made up someone like her. Just when I begin to believe I’m a witty satirist, along comes an actual character like Palin. And I realize that in a thousand years I could never have created such a dark, absurd scenario: A once-proud nation, starving for leadership, desperate to regain its sense of superiority, turns in its hour of need to a dizzy cheerleader.


This is what scares me most today. When human relations become so twisted and tangled that they are beyond parody, it feels like end times lurk near.

6 comments:

  1. Jez, SMC! Like I wasn't bummed-out enough already!?!

    Don't worry. Give the Rs & TBs two years to really screw things up and we'll be all set for Obama's second term.

    Here, maybe this will cheer you up:

    Next for GOP leaders: Stopping Sarah Palin, http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/44449.html

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  2. I know she's bad for my democarcy, but... Palin's just so HOT in the electorial sack!

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  3. If Palin wins, it will be the first time in history any of us will have been tea-bagged by a woman.

    Seriously, if she wins, America, the land that I love, will have Jumped the proverbial Shark.

    I cannot bring myself to contemplate such a thing. It would be as improbable as, say, Bristol Palin winning Dancing with the Stars.

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  4. "A once-proud nation, starving for leadership, desperate to regain its sense of superiority, turns in its hour of need to a dizzy cheerleader."

    Wait, wasn't Bush also a cheerleader?

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  5. I'm rereading some of your blog out of order..I have to say, this was a really great post, very insightful.
    What you are getting at is also like that saying (which I will garble).."the Devil you know is sometimes less scary than the one you don't"
    Same reason why Bush won in 2004. He scared us enough that we were afraid to take a risk with anyone that was new. Human nature in scary times to go with the known.
    You are very wise.

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  6. Discovered this site tonight at TED.com from Roger Ebert's talk. R.I.P. Roger. It gave me a boost of strength I needed at the moment after the last 20 months of hell. Having always been a wiseass, I find your posts funny, refreshing, and the kick in the pants to go on when I am down. I have decided to start at the beginning, after reading some of the latest few. Thank you...It has been weird, but when I have really needed it lately, a hand from the dead will sneak up and nudge me to something I need to help go on. Thank you, Roger, as well.
    Dragon

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