Okay, the dust has settled, Super Tuesday is over and we have, barring some
cosmic or congressional intervention, our two candidates for President of the United
States. Though truth be told, I am at a loss to understand what we as a country did to
deserve our choices.
I have always been a believer that our nation runs and thrives in spite of the federal
government, not because of it. I would say that at least in the past there was a patina of
civility in our political discourse. But having seen political cartoons and read op/eds
throughout the decades, I know better.
Which leaves us here. I am aware some of you wonderful people dislike it when I
discuss politics, but since the two parties have basically become one in the mud of
ideology and venom, I feel comfortable wishing a pox on both houses.
One of my favorite movies is the 1975 classic “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”
There is a dialogue near the beginning of the film which is reflective of the absurdity in
which we currently find ourselves mired. Here are some snippets:
“King Arthur: How do you do, good lady? I am Arthur, king of the Britons. Whose castle
is that?
Peasant Woman: King of the who?
King Arthur: The Britons.
Peasant Woman: Who’re the “Britons”?
King Arthur: Well, we all are. We’re all Britons, and I am your king.
Peasant Woman: Didn’t know we had a king. I thought we were an autonomous
collective.
Dennis: You’re fooling yourself. We’re living in a dictatorship! A self-perpetuating
autocracy, in which the working classes…
Peasant Woman: Oh, there you go, bringing class into it again.
King Arthur: Please, please, good people, I am in haste. Who lives in that castle?
Peasant Woman: No one lives there.
King Arthur: Then who is your lord?
Peasant Woman: We don’t have a lord.
King Arthur: What?
Dennis: I told you, we’re an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as
sort of executive officer for the week…
King Arthur: Yes…
Dennis: …but all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special bi-weekly
meeting…
King Arthur: Yes I see…
Dennis: …by a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs…
King Arthur: Be quiet!
Dennis: …but by a two thirds majority in the case of more…
King Arthur: Be quiet! I order you to be quiet!
Peasant Woman: “Order”, eh? Who does he think he is?
King Arthur: I am your king.
Peasant Woman: Well, I didn’t vote for you.
King Arthur: You don’t vote for kings.
Peasant Woman: Well, how’d you become king, then?”
The phrase “Imperial Presidency” seems to come to mind. Did someone in California
not eat their vegetables? Perhaps a person in Texas stepped on a crack. Whatever it
was, for some reason we as a nation are feeling the repercussions. Not claiming to be
above the down and dirty, I have myself thrown mud at our politicians from time to time.
But with age, as the saying goes, comes wisdom. And while I will make no claims to
being wise, I will say that as I grow older, my perspective has changed.
From a Conservative member of Congress yelling “liar” during President Barack
Obama’s State of the Union Address to a Liberal member (or members) booing
President Donald Trump during his SOTU, to the heckling of President Joe Biden while
he addressed Congress and the Nation, the public discourse has been anything from
civil.
All I am looking for are some adults in the room, instead of the current crop of
schoolyard “Are too-am not!” taunts from the toddlers. Mark Mothersbaugh and the
band Devo got it right when they bemoaned mankind’s devolution.
The animated show “Futurama” was set in the year 3000. And it seems character
Professor Farnsworth also had it correct when he said, “As a professor of science, I
assure you we did, in fact, evolve from filthy monkey-men.”
Looking at what currently passes for political discourse, I am starting to believe it is
true.
