Red Sunset, Blue Dawn

As I sit viewing the election returns, I reflect that, indeed and as predicted, the old order is passing away and the New Order (not to be confused with Hitler's “New Order” -- well, maybe it's similar in a way) is upon us. George Bush, who has been functioning as a lame duck ever since the 2004 elections, is now in traction and on life support, and his departure will be greeted with a faint fanfare played on a very old and banged-up bugle, like the ones we see in display cases in Civil War museums. And really, I feel sorry for the guy. In the most dramatic demonstration ever, perhaps, of the “Peter Principle”, he was promoted vastly above his level of competence (which has yet to be determined, by the way) and thrust into the driver's seat (OK, the “driver's ed” seat, where the guy who's really in charge can take over any time he feels it's necessary) of the American Juggernaut, which was already well on the way to jumping the tracks and which is now lying, with smoke and hissing steam, at the bottom of a very deep canyon like those trains in the Andes that are forever cascading off of high cliffs, much to the consternation of the “coach class” passengers (read “the American taxpayer”). He will, of course, be blamed for everything that ever went wrong during his administration – and that will be partly correct, but there is still plenty of more generic blame to go around. But who will have the time to polish Bush's political obituary, now that we have Obama to deal with? Dick Cheney will retire to some “conservative” (ha!) think tank or other, and continue to gnash his teeth and hiss imprecations at all and sundry, while lesser lights like “Condi” Rice will enjoy uneasy and ambivalent honors and busy themselves with “memoirs” of doubtful factuality and minimal insight.

John McCain and his gun moll Sarah, the Bonnie and Clyde of our time, will climb out of their bullet-riddled Model T with heads bloodied but unbowed, he to return to the Senate and she to return to Seward's Folly (the land of unapologetic flannel shirts), leaving a trail of media tut-tutting in their wake -- “Well, he should have known better”, etc. (And thus the United States blows its second chance to elect a female vice president. When are we gonna get it right, fer gosh sakes?) The other Republicans – those booted out of office on McCain's coattails, which were really a borrowed (and very old and blue) garment from Bush, will take up positions in the provinces and make ready to wage guerrilla warfare on Obama the way they did – with some success, I might add! -- on Clinton. “The American Spectator” will gain a new lease on life, as will Rush Limbaugh, because, hey, it's always more fun being an outsider. And those of us who think we know how things really work will take another sip of fine single-malt Scotch and wait for the next folly. And of course – last but not least – Hillary Clinton will lie in wait like a malevolent toad waiting for her next chance to become the Queen Empress Suzerain of All the Americas.

There will be some shifts in the power centers – the Neocons will continue to work behind the scenes like termites, but the Evangelicals will have to retire to “church camp” for a while, and will no longer have 24-7 access to the vice presidential mansion. The mainstream media will emerge triumphant, and the “alternative media” may be put in their place by Draconian “fairness” laws. And, of course, third parties, with their perpendicular-to-the-mainstream dissenting voices, will be, once again, relegated to the back wards of political nut cases. The people who never lose, no matter what – think war industries, lawyers, “public education”, Big Pharma, the medical establishment, “agribusiness”, etc., will come through the storm unscathed.

But as I've also reflected, and as the song goes, “Meet the new boss, just like the old boss” -- because nothing of substance is really going to change. The Republicans capitulated to statism and Wilsonism and “empire” long ago, and the rest, i.e. how that capitulation is manifested in specific policies, is mere detail. If Nixon said, “We're all Keynesians now”, it can now be said that “We're all Wilsonians now”, and the Neocon mindset that in a previous incarnation produced “The Ugly American” has become the ruling proposition of the land and enjoys support from all across the so-called political spectrum. We will continue to meddle, and interfere, and throw our weight around until we have no more weight to throw around, at which point we'll retire to our rural retreats like the rulers of Rome and let the barbarians have their way with our monuments, icons, and various other national fetishes. This process is already well underway, as we see the triple invasion from the south (Latin America), the west (China – well, it may be in the “east”, but it's west of here), and the east (Islam), and an anti-nationalist, non-patriotic, morally relativistic administration will simply serve to accelerate the process. That is, they will continue the work so well started under Clinton. Who knows, we may even get another “vacation from history” -- but no, the war in Iraq is sufficient insurance against that. The slouch toward Armageddon will turn into a lurching run, like that of the zombies in “Night of the Living Dead”. The fact that it takes a long time – many generations – for an empire to completely crumble will not alter the fact. (We've gotten so used to these sudden catastrophes – e.g. Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia – that we forget what a long, drawn-process it usually is. Think “Britain” for a better preview.) And sure enough, all of those unpleasant people with funny-colored skin (yellow, brown, etc.) who speak in some sort of heathen babble will eventually have their day, and at our expense. Or, maybe it could be a “growth experience”, as people say who have been crushed to dust by fate.

History – written by the victors, as always – will represent the Obama victory as not unlike that of Franklin Roosevelt in 1932: Finally we're throwing the rascals out – the “capitalists”, the anal-retentive private property addicts, the “family values” people with their beehive hairdos and steaks on the grill – and restoring the nation to “the people”. The “audacity of hope” will be succeeded by “the audacity of dope”, in the unlikely event the “War on Drugs” gets called off. And our foreign policy, while unchanged overall, will shift into some sort of high gear of universal apology, barely hinted at by Bill Clinton when he was Apologizer-in-Chief. What will be apologized for is, of course, American hubris and aggressiveness first, followed closely by free enterprise and capitalism, with the final sacrifice being that of whatever is left of the Constitution. It will be offered as a burnt sacrifice on the pagan altars of the United Nations, much to the applause of all. It will not be a good season for “nationalism” or “patriotism” or flag waving, although we can expect a continuation of nostalgic rituals like parades featuring shrunken World War II veterans riding in white Cadillacs.

And what of Obama, after all? What does he do after doing the boogaloo at the Inaugural Ball? I've already predicted that he is fated to become the next Jimmy Carter, although I'm sure he would prefer to be the next Bill Clinton, who was in turn trying to become the next John Kennedy while his wife channeled Eleanor Roosevelt. In any case, the collectivist delusion will rage on, like a tropical fever, contaminating and polluting everything in its wake. And as for the citizenry, the people who considered themselves ill-treated will continue to think so, and those who fell prey to middle-class smugness and apathy will have a few “refugee moments”, after which they will retire to their somewhat downsized but no less boring lives. And the people who speed through the poorer parts of town in gilded coaches, mowing down animals and small children in their path, will continue to do so.

The true believers of today will remain the true believers of tomorrow, even as subtle power shifts take place. And it will all, of course, be “noise level” to the internationalists and corporate entities who have long since been running the show. The fate of this country is in their hairy paws, but the truth is that they don't care one way or the other. They will let us have our illusions – our games and circuses and patriotic rituals -- as long as their bottom line remains sacrosanct. The individual citizen can continue to fancy that he (or she) is “free”, as long as they stay below radar and don't worry too much about what they were taught in “social studies” class. And so it goes – the operators will operate, and the rest of us will dart around like those bugs on the surface of a pond in midsummer. It's not that bad a life – in fact, a life free of illusions might be downright edifying. Time to give it a try, I say.