McCain: The Emperor With No Clothes

THE EMPEROR IN OUR CAPITOL AND ANOTHER ON THE WAY:

The Emperor’s Court is afraid to tell him he’s not wearing any clothes. We all know the story. A child is the one character who inadvertently speaks the truth. I’m not the only American who is aghast at the political scene, one more time. It’s worse now, because the possibility that we could have adults running our collective show instead of playground bullies is so tantalizingly close.

I find it challenging to dignify what I see, hear and read. I’ve gone years without watching television and then taken to it again. I’ve done this twice. Each time I turn the television on after a near decade of ignoring it, I am shocked at what I see. The viewers of contemporary American television are akin to the populace end of the Roman period when public entertainment was watching slaves fight to the death or be eaten by wild animals. Collectively, a large portion of American, that the Corporate news media tests to ensure their viewership, have agreed that watching irrational savagery is the best way to determine a Presidential candidate. It’s not just the Presidency that suffers from this emotional regression of our population. It’s everything.

Watch the television commercials for listings. Look at the dominant underlying themes of most of our ‘entertainment!’ Politics, News, Entertainment: The three competing venues for engaging with the masses. Gross, archaic, sweaty, tattooed men performing fighting, racing, wrestling, throwing, hitting, and catching balls? One of our candidates joked about putting his wife in a tee-shirt contest without the shirt? No one says much. And it rained somewhere today. Some hurricanes hit somewhere today. A candidate yelled something today, said something, wore something. The other candidate responded by yelling something, saying something, wearing something. And the Team won and another team lost. That champion won and the other lost. Was beaten badly. Came from behind (like a thief?). Blood! Red Meat!

I’m not the only person asking what are they all talking about? The sky is kind of falling, but the mass media has failed to point it out other than to be polite in the face of the bullies. I saw a video clip yesterday where Chuck Norris on Larry King bullied Arianna Huffington and Larry King did nothing! Norris shouted Huffington into silence. She could barely get a word in. And this is acceptable? Is this what we teach our children? If someone disagrees with you, yell, scream, ‘hit back hard,’ until no one can hear him or her? Truth is irrelevant. Accuracy is irrelevant. Good manners are only applicable to members of our team when they speak with one another. It’s O.K. to be rude and a bully to anyone not wearing the same color uniform as we are?

The Emperor (George Bush today, McCain, tomorrow?) has no clothes on in each and every appearance, but CNN, FOX, ABC, and Congress in general, are disinclined to report it, to recognize it, to act upon their knowledge responsibly. None want to be the one to go up against ‘Big Brother.’ Our collective, social lives are turning into a cartoon. And many of our citizens have gone along with it. Wasn’t allowing torture in the name of the United States a terrorist-like activity? Wasn’t it against our laws? Wasn’t it against International Law? Wasn’t it in fact using the methods of terrorists? Wouldn’t we ourselves condemn any other country for doing the same? Like I said, in our America of today the double standard applies. We are reduced to two year olds in the sandbox. None of whom has a parent or responsible adult who will teach them appropriate behavior.

McCain has a life-long reputation for outbursts of temper and making public displays against all common sense, but so little is said. No one speaks of his probable PTSD symptoms. No one mentions that he may have an inferiority complex-on-steroids after being a POW. Now he really has to outdo all the other Admirals in his family tree. Hasn’t he sold his soul to any devil, advocate, lobby, and the dominant power interest groups to win the election?

I want to digress here for a moment. The Two-Party system we have (discounting the other parties that show on the ballot—the mechanisms which define our electoral process hobble the success of would be 3rd and 4th parties). One clear argument against maintaining the two party system is that it has promoted, supported and defined the stranglehold of our national politics. In essence, albeit with more serious consequences to the dynamic, our political system devolves into something very akin to a small town, two-team sports contest. The lexicon used in political discourse has two prominent metaphors: sports and conflict/war. Black or White, Blue or Red, Republican or Democrat. Is it really as simple as that? I’ve never experienced any social or personal situation that wasn’t far more complicated and nuanced than ‘this’ or ‘that.’ Our two-party system essentially disenfranchises everyone with its misleading simplicity.

The two-party system has been an influential force behind the oft-referenced ‘Culture Wars.’ After all, if you’re not on one team or the other, you’re out of the game. So if you have to throw your passion somewhere you throw it all that way. No exceptions? No shades? No gradation? No multi-anything? Chocolate or Vanilla? Is there any question as to why adults at children’s sports events fall into screaming matches? It’s our national role model.


As an American, a patriotic American, I am outraged, discouraged, disappointed, alarmed, mortified and terrified that our country is reeling out of control. Essentially, the two party system has put anyone not alignment with the ‘winner’ into a loser position. I lose everything? What is the logical conclusion to the thrust of the last few decades where the theologically inclined have used bully tactics to take control over our political system?

Let’s say the “Republicans” manage to ‘take the White House” again. (It’s military speak. Take the bridge, beat back the opposing forces…) what happens to the rest of us as we are legislated out of existence, as the theocrats assume control of the government even more? What happened to separation of Church & State? Well, only lip service is what happened.

A large percentage of this nation is in disbelief that the 'mechanisms of the ‘radical GOP' are not only out again in full force, but that the situation is worse than before. It’s worse because given their chance at dominating the political scene since Reagan, I for one, cannot say our country is better off. It’s so cute when McCain answers the ladies on “The View” by stating that the Democrats have had control for 2 years and what did they do with it? Well, that’s significant. 2 years out of 20? What were they supposed to do with it? What is the stranglehold on Congress that the current Administration has held over them for 7 years that forces most of the members of Congress to allow a President to commit criminal acts and do little or nothing. Clinton was nearly impeached for consensual sex with another adult. McCain hasn’t been lambasted for cheating on his first wife. Clinton lied about adultery. Bush has lied taking our country to war. Obviously, oral sex is a far greater crime. In whose eyes?

I want Obama to give a speech as thoughtful and intelligent as the Speech on Race. I want the message to be that we are fed up. Challenge McCain to debate the issues. In the Press. Now. This is a mournful post-modern cultural phenomenon equivalent to 'The Emperor With No Clothes On.'

There have been many books only recently published regarding criminal, unethical actions coming from the highest level of our Government. Scandalous. But the scandal never rises to the surface full blown. There could be a few ‘Watergates’ lurking out there and probably are, but what has happened to Journalism? Where are the Bob Woodward’s of our day? And yet, our Political Discourse is the Teflon-Press-Side-Show. Nothing of merit sticks. News items and features treat all matters as if they are of equal import and veracity. No investigative journalism is very apparent on the major networks. Why aren’t we outraged that the news allows Presidential candidates to disseminate lies about issues of National importance? Can I take you back to the Roman Coliseum?

Our Electorate has been turned into a consumer base to be tested on advertised messages as if we were being sold soup, tires or hair products. The techniques of advertising are used to sell us a President. Whereas there are laws about protecting consumers against false advertising, there seem to be no laws protecting our citizenry against false campaigning. Why? Isn’t this the net result of a flawed two party system? Who will police the parties when they own all interested participants?


There is a Healthcare crises, an energy crises, social and cultural crises and more importantly, at the foundation of all these crises is the crises of our economic stability. With no economic security established there is little we can do to meet the other crises. There is no sound future built on credit and deficits of the magnitude we currently have found ourselves to be.

We, I’m sure a big majority of us of every persuasion possible, all run our own households. Extend the metaphor. Go from micro to macro. Most of us well know we can’t extend our indebtedness beyond our ability to fund it. We know we could lose everything and can lose everything by managing our finances like this. Look at it happening in plentitude all over our country right now. Everyone knows this. So isn’t it a nationally embraced neurotic paradox that our government has taken us far beyond this on a national and global scale. Beyond the lies and the smears and the diabolic intention demonstrated in this ‘McCain Campaign’ and its relative immediacy in History, look at what is happening to our country.

Bill Clinton lied about consensual sex with a young woman. Bush lied about taking our country to war the consequences of which are many thousands of deaths and our monumental National Debt. There are no interviews on the networks with Mr. and Mrs. Bush lying that this happened as there was with Hilary and Bill. There are no interviews with Bush and Cheney, seated, cross-kneed and lying to us about something less than a sexual dalliance that many knew before he was elected. Clinton was vilified for the sexual dalliance, yet few do more than mutter that McCain committed adultery after his wife was permanently injured during an auto accident. Why isn't the country outraged that our President lied to us so many times? Isn't this proof we are in a national regressive state of adolescence when the fact of oral sex gets more attention than war, murder and bankrupting a nation? Sounds like middle school politics to me.

People are cheering a woman who could feasibly be President one day even though she’s being ‘protected’ from the harsh words of competitors? Don't let Obama and the media near her. She's too precious to answer questions that aren't scripted. She's the most experienced woman in our country and needs to be sheltered from the vicissitudes of the political arena. She’s asking guidance from a pastor as to how to handle the media scrutiny and the entire Republican base wants to protect her? What happens if she’s President and the bad guys come at us? Is the Republican Radical Right going to stand up and accuse the Russian, or Taliban or Terrorist of being sexist? Are they going to say that President Palin won’t speak to them until they show her some respect? Don't ask her anything that would embarrass her?

Oh, what am I saying? I heard the answer to other day in her interview on ABC. She’ll just bomb them all. Start a nuclear war because the opposition (doesn’t really matter who they are) isn’t playing nice. It’s OK. Don’t worry. If you’re on the right side you’ll go to Heaven. The rest of us are on our way to Hell. It's about that simple.