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
