A happy day, indeed, when I found that one of my favorite bloggers has not disappeared, but instead has simply relocated. Judith Lewis, writer for the LA Weekly and LA times, has moved her riveting blog to Little Green Animals. Bookmark it, yo. Reading her latest post this morning on Obama and Clinton, I got a bit fired up and left a long-winded comment:

There’s a significant part of me, the one that was raised by Democrat parents, the one that doesn’t want to really THINK about the election, that wants to knee-jerk hand my election to Anyone But Bush’s Party, that wants to clap my hands over my ears and eyes and propel me via a tra-la-la-ing skip-step to Political Fantasy Land. From where I sit (high above it all in a well-stocked and fortified tree house), I can see millions of my fellow liberals happily cavorting about inside Fantasy Land, all blindfolded, all perfectly fitted with information-cancelling iPods. It looks like a fun place, a place where I would no doubt bump into many of the pleasantly pacified. Yet, the contrarian in me, that evil bastard who insists that I pay attention, that I waste my time noting the disconnects between promises, intention and past actions, steers me clear. Outside the gates, I find a wasteland populated by fact-finders, do-gooders, humanitarians, environmentalists, Constitutionalists, and the like. The disenfranchised, basically. And the real bitch of it is, that the Presidential candidates, including Obama and Clinton, don’t dare step outside the theme park. Our numbers and our issues play no part in their crusades. Their captive audience makes no real demands, nor does it provide defined expectations. “CHANGE!” they shout in unison, as Fantasy Land employees hoist cue cards into the air. “ETHICAL STEWARDSHIP OF OUR RESOURCES! RESTORE THE TRICAMERAL BALANCE OF POWERS! CURB THY EXPANSIONISITIC DESIRES! END ELECTORAL FRAUD!” we scream, clambering upon each other’s shoulders in the vain hope that one loud tongue will find itself elevated above the wall. Alas, it’s a one-syllable system. Work. Shop. Fight. Change. In such a setting, one would think ‘Peace’ would have a chance. But peace is tantamount to rest and if we dare take a break from this grand effort of eating our own tail (lower the blindfold for a moment–that isn’t beef you’re eating, it’s your children), the collective gag reflex would shatter the iPods and disrobe our eyes. In the resultant wash of blinding sunlight the voices outside the wall would be heard and perhaps there would be a grand awakening and uniting of forces. At last The Revolution! as millions jump turnstiles and swap fantasy for reality. More likely, however, the freed Democrat masses, used to being taken for granted by their masters and frightened by the new need to muster probing thoughts, would hastily refasten the blinders and jab credit cards skywards toward Jobs the Beneficent Provider.

This isn’t to say that I look upon Democrats with utter disdain. No, I look upon the majority of them as kind-hearted and simple Not a bellwether in the bunch, they’re led about by wolves in sheeps clothing. The humanity in them is still there, but it’s very, very difficult to get them to see it. The moment they look upon their true reflection in the water trough, their knees buckle and they huddle ever closer together, squeezing out those bipeds who persist in wandering among them, attempting to teach them the trick of standing on their hind legs and acting like humans.

That sound I hear above the din of bleating animals? It’s the endless buzz of knife upon grindstone.

Tags: 2008 Election, Ruminations

This entry was posted on Friday, February 1st, 2008 at 11:42 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.