Bush Uber Alles 2: Four More Years

Months ago I read Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, Hunter S. Thompson's account of the failed challenge to Richard Nixon. Given that I finished it in January (as the primaries were kicking into high and rocous gear) I couldn't help but notice certain uncomfortable parallels between '72 and '04: A widely-despised incumbant who not only bungled one war (Vietnam: Afghanistan) but *expanded* its reach into other areas (Cambodia, Laos: Iraq) with only tenuious and every-shifting connections to the wider conflict. A slew of Democratic candidates who became living embodiments of the Left's self-destructive internal conflicts (Kennedy, Muskie, McGovern, Humphrey: Kusenich, Dean, Kerry, Lieberman). A stodgy, somewhat stiff, dark horse candidate who emerged from the fray thanks (in part) to garnering support from the unwashed masses of freaks, weirdoes and young hooligans (including Your Humble Author) who've been near-criminalized by the Incumbent Administration.

And, finally, defeat. Unbelievable, irreconcilable defeat. Though reasons for the Incumbent’s defeat are so blatantly Legion, the American Public (a *majority*, no less) seems content to glue its blinders firmly into place and march toward the New American Century.

I made a point of not publishing these thoughts at the time. Fear of the Jinx, don’t ya know. But that fear was unfounded, as it always is. I have precisely as much sway over this election as everyone else in the country…apart from the corrupt thugs who’ve done such a wonderful job cajoling the ig’nant masses.

“The people have spoken, the dumb fucking bastards.”

This from my father, who, great Rev. Dr. that he is, has perfectly captured the mood of the nation…or half of it, at any rate. There is (thankfully) none of the exhausted commiseration that followed Gore’s defeat at the hands of the Supreme Court. The Left, though dejected, does not seem to be slumping away into the good night. The oft-repeated consternation on Air America Radio goes a little something like this:

“Hey, look: The Republican Party’s taken forty years to build their great multi-media/politico disinformation machine. We’ve had two years. What the heck did you expect?”

The answer? I expected better of the American people…though in hindsight I’ve no idea why I got my hopes up. After all we gave Nixon two terms. And just look at the wonderful things he did with that mandate.

Look and see the future because it’s all there in the past. Seeds once planted will inevitably bear fruit, just as pigs, once fed, will always return to the trough.

These pigs in the White House are no exception. Nor is their smirking, Chimpanzee-man mascot. Thankfully the feeding frenzy isn’t on yet. With any luck they’ll hold off until January 20th, when the Chimpanzee-man will once again put his hand on That Damned Book and swear to defend that two hundred year old fish wrapper we call the Constitution. But when it begins we must be there to record every gruesome mastication. The next four years will be a horrific trip of Tim Leary-ish proportions. We must stand together and be counted lest we all fall into the waste lands.