Fugue for a Foggy Friday the 13th
America has lost its will to live.
I don’t mean that Americans are no longer willing to defend their country (or have it defended by other Americans) from physical attack. No, we’re more than happy to send “our troops” off to fight whatever war the military-industrial-political complex deems necessary. And I don’t mean that “patriotism” is on the ebb; the ubiquitous magnetic ribbons and flag lapel pins show that patriotism is all the rage these days.
So what am I saying?
In short, I maintain that we no longer have the stomach for the admittedly hard work of sustaining the America envisioned by the Founders (some of them, anyway), the one we learned about in school. You know, the America “of the people, by the people, for the people,” the one with “liberty and justice for all”? That America.
We’ve quietly accepted an ersatz America that hides its facist fist in a batting glove; we’ve traded eternal vigilance for a skybox where we can root in comfort, beer and brats in hand, for “our team.” The democratic process has been replaced by cheerleaders and halftime shows with pundits serving as color commentators and announcers, all rooting for the home team. If we don’t win it’s a shame.
But it’s “one, two, three strikes yer out!” for the American republican experiment. Our media watchdogs rate Supreme Court nominees on their skill in dodging questions the way sportscasters talk about a pitcher’s ERA, and we the people nod up and down like souvenir stand bobbleheads. We get play-by-play instead of informed commentary: “Alito’s wife breaks down at husband’s hearing! Let’s go to the videotape!”
In the meantime, real people are suffering, and they can’t afford to treat politics as a game. When they lose, they don’t just go home disappointed that their guys didn’t win; they die. They don’t have skyboxes where they can enjoy the action in air conditioned comfort; they have houses that have been washed away by government incompetence. Or children that have been blasted to pieces by “precision ordnance” that was just a tad too imprecise. Or jobs that have been “downsized” in order to pay for the CEO’s retirement package.
But who cares? That’s so yesterday. It’s the New America and we’ve got season tickets.
Technorati Tags: Alito, apathy, democracy, patriotism, punditry, citizenship
