Dereliction of duty

I admit to it, this dereliction, and I do apologize to you, my fellow Americans and fellow unAmericans.  I haven't had the heart or mind to write much about wine this past week. 

These political conventions have been a sign that I'm old.  Because I've watched them avidly and spent many hours glued to my bed or a chair reading the news analyses and the blogs.  I've scarcely budged and can not tolerate being away from the political web sites for five minutes. Since this is the most critical election of my lifetime, I hope you'll excuse me even if I can't excuse myself. 

I was pleasantly surprised by most aspects of the Democratic convention and unpleasantly so by the Republican.  I mean, you know where I stand.  Even so, the relentless negativity of the Republican convention -- raised to a shrillness and vacuity beyond belief -- has left me depressed about the future of this country.  If they prevail again with the Big Lie (Rove obviously studied his brand-name 20th century dictators), their simplistic and irrelevant sloganeering and thorough dishonesty, then it's time to move somewhere you'll never understand what's going on and won't care.  If you move to Greece, for example, you'll be less upset when they start spouting HATE IS LOVE, WAR IS PEACE and TRUTH IS LIES.  "What are they saying?  Ah don't understand their funny lingo."  And you can go about your petty business at a remove from the serious concerns of the local people.

I can tell you that even though the Democratic rah-rah-rah felt and looked good, I realize it lacked some of the specifics that I had hoped to hear.  It lacked all too many, in fact.  Still, the sense of a dawning purpose, a new direction, an almost palpable belief that we can effect major changes to improve the lives of ordinary people and rebuild the country from the inside out -- that impressed and excited me. I was disappointed that there was the usual election-year pandering (tax cuts for "95% of American families"), but my criticisms were subordinate to my hope.

The second convention couldn't have been more different. Strident, fact-free, laced with ad hominem attacks of the stupidest kind (Romney inveighing against the "Eastern elites" -- you know, silver-spoon boys like himself, George Bush, McCain, etc.), pandering to the "conservative base" (American Talibanis) -- depressing, defensive and desperate.  McCain brought in Palin to sex things up, but this Lady Macbeth in mukluks will energize "the base" (nice nexus of meanings there) and accentuate the extremism that most Americans aren't really too comfortable with.  (No, New York smarties, they really aren't.) 

The question won't be whether people will vote for McCain, whom I suspect they admire though not so much as David Brooks does, but whether they'll vote against Palin and the type of repressive Republicanism that's given us our basest hour. 

For once the cliche about being at a crossroads of history is right.  We can either ascend that road to the lofty mountain or continue our downhill track to the swamp.  It's a Pilgrim's Progress moment.  Or a Dantesque one.  We do have some power to alter the course of history, though it takes a kind of grit and sacrifice that most of our elites, Eastern or otherwise, won't make even if they expect others to.  This is where Obama seemed to stand out; the promise and the challenge were there for all to embrace.

So. There you have it.  Again, my apologies for the dereliction of duty.  And proleptic apologies for the satirical vitriol that is yet to come. 

It's better than shaking puppies and kicking babies.

Comments

[Strappo]

Oh yes, I forgot about the Five-Minute Hates that occurred about every 15 minutes.

Question: Why is it that the most privileged among us are perpetually angry?

[alex]

Answer: They are worried to lose their privileges...

ciao Terry,
if you consider that I have to live in a country run by Berlusconi and his post-fascist and racist (Lega) allies :-((

[Strappo]

Yes, Alex, no doubt they are.

Why don't we move to Sweden?