Joe Can't Say It Ain't So

Political campaigns, by their very nature, have an exaggerative bent. 45's wasn't the only one: He just took it to a level we hadn't experienced.

We start again. Joe Biden's early-on video announcing his candidacy has a reassuring theme. To wit: What we're seeing here from 45 is "an aberration." It is, in other words, a one-off, a blip on the screen, a hiccup. In the 243 years since the founding of the republic, there's likely to be one of these that we simply can't fathom.

Don't worry, Biden's saying. Help is on the way. After all, I was Obama's Veep. I know what a good administration is. We'll get the ship righted. We'll send these people packing.

Not that that wouldn't be one excellent idea, but the premise is shaky and unrealistic in its estimation of these purveyors of unrealism. One of the assumptions that we simply can't settle for is that this was an ambush of sorts, that nobody could see this coming. It ignores some pretty deep dividing issues and the degree to which some folks are devoted to advancing them, regardless of who carries their banner.

Self-bluffing dominated the 2016 campaign, and it all wasn't just Hillary Clinton's or those of 45's internal Republican detractors. Many people saw the lusting, shouting, mocking crowds at 45's rallies and assumed, as some journalists did early on, that a significant number of those in attendance came for entertainment purposes. They could say they were at the carnival that ultimately couldn't have been going anywhere anyhow.

But as I tried to point out to friends on Facebook, the crowds got larger and even more boisterous. 45's insults and ridiculous anti-logic got worse. And they just kept coming and gaining momentum. The election appeared to be getting close.

Something was happening out there. Or, just maybe, something had already happened.

It's the latter. Think back: How did the Republicans in Congress deal with Obama's election? When did the Tea Party begin its rallies? When did Glenn Beck get it all riled up against the Affordable Care Act? When did the Republicans take back control of Congress? When was Mr. F. Gow* (see note below) first elected? And what did the columnists say of all that at the time?

Answers: From the beginning, to stonewall anything he wanted to pass; 2010, 2010, 2010, 2010; and that it was a "temper tantrum." Which means first, that the resistance--the real resistance, the one in plain sight that we flicked off as trivial--began far before people took it seriously as a measurement of underlying despair, anger and resentment, regardless of its basis. The denial of that phenomenon had established itself well before its ultimate Aliens birth, where the being agonizingly and fatally rips through the male space agent who'd unknowingly inhaled it and had been gestating it beforehand, tearing his body in two, complete with screaming from both beings--one that had come to life, one dying in the worst way.

This was swallowed in 2010. It took six years to grow while we all went about our business, pretending that it could be absorbed by the body politic without permanent damage. And out it came with all the screaming and horror it could possibly create.

Aliens is a space-age horror film. We are now living it, having been torn in two by this terrible combination of the wrong attributes. It's been here for some time now, in a way since the Clinton impeachment. Let me run some names past you, names that gained notoriety before 2010: Newt Gingrich. Tom DeLay. Jack Abramoff. Roy Moore. Dick Cheney. Donald Rumsfeld. Bullying of opponents, devastating gerrymandering, casual corruption, twisted religiosity, utilization of executive power to further one's ends, misuse of the military. It's all there.

Sorry, Joe, but this is not a mere "aberration". You can't say it ain't so. This is a real politico-cultural entity, something like the enormous plastic "island" in the Pacific Ocean that's nearly the size of Texas; not very useful, but it won't dissolve by itself. It has drifted ashore, it is still growing, and it must be faced and dealt with.

Maybe this sounds like more political exaggeration. I don't think so. Failure to deal with this will spell failure again in 2020. Even if the Democratic candidate should prevail, she/he will have to reach out to the Anger Lobby and present some semblance of hope for it. Otherwise, the effects of victory will quickly dissolve. I don't think this republic can handle the incessant discontent, however pretentious and misplaced it may be, and continue to be what Lincoln called "the last, best hope of mankind."

The hope is still there. But it dangles on the edge now.

Be well. I'll see you down the road.


Mister Mark
*See my blog of 6/3/19