Tragic Waste

So the actual polling booths have opened. The lambs crowd down the chute toward their rendezvous with a plate and some mint jelly.

Here’s a safe prediction:  by tomorrow a devout fascist will have been elected president.

Because that’s all that’s running. Of the two who have a chance, anyway.

Much may be made of election shenanigans: “rigged” votes, “stolen” votes. No doubt they’ll happen; and no doubt fraudulent accusations will be made. It’s crooks squabbling over the proceeds of crime. What different should we expect?

The national elections are a lot like the World Series:  there’s vast money and perqs riding on the outcome, serious enough that people will kill and die over it; and you have no influence over the outcome, and the outcome means nothing practical for you.

Of course the elections are rigged. Long before the herd gets allowed to make its hoofmarks on ballots. Because by the time a candidate is anointed by one of the allegedly distinct parties, they’ve already been thoroughly vetted by the people who really rule us, whoever they may be. It literally doesn’t matter to them who gets elected.

Either way, they win.

Guess who loses.

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Why, indeed?

Really, could he be any worse than McInsane or O’Bomber? How?

They both stand four-square for war, torture, domestic spying, and massive welfare for the rich. Or hadn’t you noticed?

Anyway, click on the link to buy the swell shirt. I’m happy, at least, to be able to plug my pals Ray and Barb van Tilburg and their wonderful Offworld Designs. Ray’s an excellent artist who does tee-shirt designs for a lot of Midwest cons, including Archon. Plus they have tons of non-con specific designs, such as the above, which are nifty and wicked clever.

Even if they’re distressed by my usage of their design, if, like most people, they cherish the belief there’s an actual difference between the sock puppet on Leviathan’s left claw, and the one on His right.

But relax. It’s nothing to the pain that your guy will cause if elected. No matter which he is.

(And then again … not even a Great Old One can prevent the implosion of the Unitedstatesian Empire.)

You can’t parody such times as these.

A few days ago I was out walking with my dog (whose innocent name I won’t sully by mentioning in such a foul and murderous context as politics) when it struck me that, for a lark, and since the two entities in question can’t seem to muster any actual disagreement with one another, I ought to publicly propose that Obama select as his running mate John McCain.

Then he went and did.

How can anybody with any sense can take seriously the ravings of the Republican candidate for the lucrative and flashy position of front-man for the oligarchy? He’s a lifelong sleaze and champion of the almighty State. One expects his raddled raving head to poke out of the Alien’s chest.

Election '08: Any way you look at it, we lose.

The “election,” such as it is, hearkens back to 1996, when the rulers couldn’t be bothered to run a credible opponent to a highly vulnerable, overt charlatan of an incumbent, with the manner and sexual tastes of a televangelist, running instead another superannuated “war hero,” as unsightly in person as was his political record of serving Leviathan in the most persistent, and persistently self-serving, manner possible. (And if you’re excited by war-heroes, even authentic ones, as rulers, why not study some history – such as that of this man who won the Iron Cross First Class the hard way in World War I? How’d that work out?)

His rival will win the popularity contest, and frankly should – his appearance is at least not something to frighten naughty children with (and the true terror of the Republican’s face isn’t its age, it’s the overt evil and madness shining through.) Unless Israel attacks Iran, and the US’s rulers treasonously join in. Which will be the end of the election, the US, and quite possibly what we laughingly call civilization. As well as, likely, most of us.

But what’s exasperating is that his opponent is being marketed - seriously - as representing “change.” Yes: a brand shiny new wrapper for the same old maggot-writhing shit we’ve been fed throughout our lifetimes.

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If you can’t tell democracy from freedom, what you get is democracy instead of freedom.

We may term this the American Lesson.

“Those of us interested in building a free society have to face certain inconvenient facts about human psychology. One of the most inconvenient is that the majority of people are conspiracy theorists. Most people believe that there is a massive conspiracy by the rich and powerful to help and protect the average citizen.”

- Bill Walker, “Days of Deceit: 12-7-41 and 9-11-01,” in Strike the Root; emphasis added.

Let me repeat the heartmeat of that quote: a massive conspiracy by the rich and powerful to help and protect the average citizen.

The Google Gods must be smilin’ on me today: I’ve been searching for the source of that phrase for years. It seems to strike directly to, well, the root of our little tyranny problem. (If you know an earlier source for the notion of a conspiracy by the rich and powerful to benefit us, please let me know.)

I don’t reject “conspiracy theory” out of hand - indeed, is there a sillier, or more pernicious, concept abroad than the contention that no conspiracies exist and those who claim to perceive them can be ab initio dismissed as crackpots who cannot possibly have anything worthwhile to say? If you’ve fallen prey to that habit, one of these days I’ll write an essay to kindly and gently pound that nonsense out your head.

Clearly, all conspiracy “theories” - okay, it’s an imprecise usage: suffer it - aren’t right. Any more than any other models, hypotheses, or explanations are all correct. Isn’t it obvious that the conspiracy theory outlined above isn’t right? Do you really believe such a conspiracy exists, or ever has, or will?

Yet isn’t that what any of us really is saying, when we claim the State exists to do good things for us? That there exists a massive conspiracy by the rich and powerful to help and protect you?

Why should the State ever do anything with the primary goal of benefiting you?

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Two entries earlier today on Drudge foretell the future of America:

D.C. police set up ‘military-style checkpoint’ to stop criminals from entering neighborhood…

and right below that:

Marine acquitted of all charges in Haditha killings…

The first, which has been out on the line a couple days already, is bad enough. The second is the cherry on top.

The first - which describes the plan to bring the War in Iraq home by establishing Fallujah-style entry controls on neighborhoods in Washington, DC - tells us what it’s all about. The crushing of Iraq was prelude to the crushing of liberty in America. It really is that simple.

The second emphasizes a second horrific truth, which also should already have become obvious over the last few years: no one in government is accountable for anything.

Now, for all I know the officer acquitted in the Haditha murders really was a blameless scapegoat; it still points the way to the future. The only way anyone in government is brought to account these days is when a scapegoat is needed, or for purely political reasons - in which case that person’s guilt or innocence is as irrelevant to the government’s actions as yours is if an ambitious prosecutor (the most dangerous species of predator in America) decides to go for your blood.

So this is what’s coming to your neighborhood. Enjoy!