Category: Politics

Get Your Gordian Knot Cutters Out. The Insurrection Continues. 

Tomorrow is the two year anniversary of the January 6th Insurrection and we all know what that was. Well, scratch that. We still seem to disagree on what that was. My point of view is clear. It was a violent attempt to dismantle the US government by force after all the previous shenanigans failed. As would the ones that would follow it. Until now.

In my view, the current chaos in the US House of Representatives over choosing its Speaker is just an Insurrection continuation. Regardless of which shill is elected to the office it appears to me that until at least the next election one half of a branch of government will effectively rule itself ineffective and to a large degree moot. And that’s the point.

If what we’re reading about the concessions already granted and under consideration to advance the election of a Speaker are close to real then the Insurrectionists will have succeeded using parliamentary procedure in ways they couldn’t by breaking windows and brutalizing cops. That’s certainly easier and less messy and looks more legitimate. But hey, whadda ya know, the folks holding Kevin McCarthy and everyone else hostage are the same bunch that wanted to torch the place. Once an Insurrectionist, always an Insurrectionist.

Don’t get me wrong. Congress, and in this case more specifically the House, is certainly in need of some change. Yeah, that’s an understatement. But this bunch of hostage takers has tied things into such a Gordian Knot that not even Alexander the Great could cut it. Bluntly, I say again, that’s the point. Create enough chaos, gum up the works enough and you don’t have to do anything but raise your voice in outrage to raise dollars. 

Frightening AND fitting that we’re here on the eve of Jan 6. 

Things We Know But Don’t Admit

There are things we know. There are things we don’t know. And there are those damn known unknowns. 

There are also things we know but don’t want to admit we know. Some of those things keep us in quiet denial. Some of those things allow us to loudly vent outrage at forces beyond our control. (We love forces beyond our control.) Regardless, those things are things. Admit it or not.

One thing we can be grateful to the rotting orange turd blossom for is that he cracked open some of the myths we’ve all been hiding behind like an egg-sucking dog in a hen house. Although lately the current that wants to drag us swiftly back into the safe harbor of myth seems to be rapidly increasing. But I think it’s probably taking us under. Again. 

Broken beyond broken is the “no one is above the law” saw. You can also call it the “we’re a nation of laws” myth. Yeah, we have them. Yeah, for most of us they mean something. But hey, get real. There’s a Department of Justice memo that basically says that whomever we elect as president is above the law. If you aren’t paying attention, that pretty much de-myths the myths. At least until someone decides the principle of the unitary executuive that spawned that memo gets tossed into the shredder. (Hint: That’s not going to happen. Hint 2: We apparently love to be governed by memos.)

So indictments may come for the rotting orange turd blossom and his blossomettes. Headlines will scream. Lower thirds will find new shades of red to burn our retinas. But folks I’m sorry. We’ve been playing a game with rules we thought we knew until recently. And the house always wins.

Admitting we know that would open up a can of worms nobody wants to fish with.