Monday, November 5, 2012

Fantasy Island



Fantasy Island
Charlie Earl

This is the first installment of a three-part series that runs during “decision week” 2012. Wednesday’s column will be “Great Expectations” and Friday’s post will be “New Beginnings.”

“Ze plane, ze plane” was shouted by Tatoo as he alerted Roarke and the staff about another group of incoming tourists who were about to have their lives challenged and changed. Welcome to Fantasy Island…. The place where your most private dreams may come true or your greatest fears are encountered. As we sit on the cusp of Election Day 2012, each of us may be imagining what our Fantasy Island may look like after the people have spoken (admittedly some will speak [vote] more often than others).

The progressive liberals in our nation are hoping but never praying for the continued dismantling of what was formerly The United States of America. They have invested their emotions and feeble brains in the redistributive union-led model for America. They foresee a glorious future as their all-wise Glorious Leader marches arm-in-arm with other global despots to usher in a new world order. They can taste the new future of a benevolent government guiding and directing the mentally-deficient populace…preventing them from behaviors that could be harmful. The lefties imagine…with gleeful anticipation…a new nation where only the authorities are armed and there is no crime. They dream of a land where disruptive speech is prohibited and “kumbaya” is the word and the mood of the country. They dream such dreams because they inhale the drug of tyranny.

The right-wingers are dreaming, too. They imagine a newly transformed president… a former RINO who will release his inner principles for the “right” reasons. Yes…they know his positions have generally favored big government, but in their heart-of-hearts they believe that he had to mask his true nature because he governed a blue state. They admit that sometimes, maybe even many times, deep-felt principles must be sacrificed on the altar of political expediency. They know in their cores that this new president and his wonkish sidekick will redirect the fiscal insanity of our nation onto a glidepath toward budgetary balance in a mere three decades….if, that is, Congress doesn’t renege or change party control. Also…the little 30-year balancing act could be somewhat problematic if interest rates were to rise and consume a larger portion of the unbalanced budget. But….it’s only a small matter, and OUR GUYS are the good guys. Thirty years with no guarantees are better than nothing, the right wingers proclaim. (a personal note from the author: 30 year promises from any politician are NOT better than nothing: they ARE nothing). But … that’s the hope and the fantasy of those who invest in pipe dreams.

The Tea Party has just landed on the island, and they’re exhausted because they’ve spent so much energy to get there. They are a tad bit more wary than their mainline right-wing conservative cohorts, but they were excited and relived when the Corporate RINO added the Wonder Boy to his ticket. Yes…the same whiz kid with the 30-year plan to bankruptcy. The Tea Party folks are slowly learning (but not fast enough) that career politicians look good, smell good and talk good, but once they get to the Hell named Washington, they begin to smell like sulfur. Despite this new awareness, they still invest their hopes and dreams in long-term officeholders and opportunistic political job-hoppers while crossing their fingers. Their fantasies revolve around the slick-talking politicos’ promise to “honor” the Constitution and to “work” for “smaller” government. While the lingo may be music to their ears, the Tea Party faithful fail to notice the odor of bovine excrement that accompanies the lofty and fiery rhetoric. They hope and pray that if they close their eyes, man the phones, carry the signs, attend the rallies and cheer mightily….it may all work out. Indeed, it’s a fantasy.   

The RINO/Establishment GOP has a fantasy also. They still hold power. They have stopped the zealots. They can work with our friends across the aisle. The people will no longer pay attention now that the election is over, and they can go back to “business as usual.”

Which dreams and whose fantasies will come true in the days, weeks and months ahead? We eagerly await the answer.

Charlie Earl

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