I see two cranky old men who don’t realize how old and cranky they sound, and they both want to run the place.
The thing that makes me nervous is the men behind the curtain (and I mean “men” in the generic sense; we’re all perfectly aware that women can be behind the curtain, too, right, Hillary? right, Michelle?) — you know, the men turning the wheel and shouting into the microphone, screaming actually, “How dare you! Let’s you and him fight!”
The doddering old men gather believers around them and make all the believers cranky, too, whipping up imaginary hobgoblins until we can see them all in our sleep. I try to say, “But wasn’t the idea to love our neighbor?” but I’m drowned out by the fist fights and the insults and the shouting, oh the shouting, just stop shouting for chrissakes.
Yes, I know shouting works, look how much applause the old man got by shouting through his State of the Union Address, but couldn’t we all just sit down and talk to each other for awhile? By the way, which one is the dog and which one is the pony at all these dog-and-pony shows? They both were adorable when they weren’t snarling at each other.
I don’t know what it’s all about, but I know it’s not about being led by the nose by two old men who are past their prime. I know how ironic it is for me to say that — I am an old man past my prime telling you not to follow either of these angry old men who are past their prime, but listen to me, who better to judge the ability of old men than an old man? Come on, no matter how much you like Grandpa, you don’t give him nuclear codes. Where are the able kids to come take the wheel? Whatever happened to, “It’s time for a new generation”? This is embarrassing.
Which lie will win the race? Which angry old man will dodder across the finish line first? Will it really matter in the end? Are we so far down the yellow brick road that it doesn’t matter who’s behind the curtain turning the wheel and barking into the microphone? If we only had a brain, a heart, and the nerve, we might find our way home from this nightmare. Ain’t it the truth? Ain’t it the truth?
Does anybody anymore think about the “huddled masses yearning to be free”? I don’t hear about yearning to be free beyond occasional lip service these days — ironic, that, since freedom was the whole idea in the first place. These cranky old men who want to run the place, and the people behind the curtain who are actually running it, they’re more about “here’s what I’ll do when I’m elected” and not so much about “I know you yearn to be free, so I’ll leave you alone.” Trust freedom? What a concept.
My old friend Henry David T. Said it best — the government that governs best is the one that governs not at all.
I think I will spend election season huddled in my corner, yearning to be free, and see if anyone gives a flying flamingo about my yearnings.
