They're rioting in Africa
They're starving in Spain
There's hurricanes in Florida
And Texas needs rain
The Whole world is festering with unhappy souls
The French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles
Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch
And I don't like Anybody very much.
-- Sheldon Harnick @1958
I don't like any government very much, and, I'd wager, neither do you. Even if you're a part of it. Still there are times when I feel sorry for those who have chosen to take their gift of life and place it, like a used tea bag, into the lukewarm, thin gruel of government for decades. I'm told it has its rewards and that, these days, those rewards are substantial, but working in the government is a devil's bargain for anyone with even the slightest shred of a soul.
Turning to The Holy Hymnal of Bob Dylan today's preacher would take as his text, "Even the president of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked." And if he cut out the word "sometimes" he'd be up to date. For today said presidential potentate does stand naked daily and it is not a pretty sight. Of late it would seem that it is a sight grown so disturbing he needs to have clowns don masks and scamper through shit spattered sawdust to take our eyes off the sight of his foolishness, failure, and buck-naked narcissism.
There's has never been a cure for bad politics found in faces of clowns, only in the tracks of their tears. Even with all the immense resources that are his to squander, our current presiding clown still has to get up and pretend to steer the ship of state he has long since run into the rocks. He pretends to steer and his crew on the bridge proclaims through their media bullhorns, "All is well. All is well. ALL IS WELL!," all the while edging towards their leaky lifeboats.
Once the song was "Hail to the Chief," then it became "Hail to the Chimp," and with this administration it is becoming not "Hail to the Chump" but the more up-to-the-minute hymn,
I fell in to a burning ring of fire
I went down,down,down
and the flames went higher.
And it burns,burns,burns
the ring of fire
the ring of fire.
Such is the state and fate of those stained and "I'm so smart" souls who have to show up every day at their "government jobs." Yes, they have security, high pay, opportunities for graft, unremitting oral sex from the media, and fabulous benefits. But they also know that somewhere down the road there's the slow train of a bad day, a very bad day, heading their way. And on that "very bad day" their soft and powerful job is going to get very, very demanding.
Yes, I feel sorry for government workers from the most princely potentate to the most puffed up little Hitler down at the DMV. It seems to me that all their "power" -- from that of global annihilation down to that of driver's license denial -- only distracts them from the real fate of their jobs; being run over -- sooner or later -- by that slow train everybody knows is coming. Coming soon.
Man’s ego is inflated, his laws are outdated, they don’t apply no more
You can’t rely no more to be standin’ around waitin'
In the home of the brave
Jefferson turnin’ over in his grave
Fools glorifying themselves, trying to manipulate Satan
And there’s a slow, slow train comin’ up around the bend
Over in the middle east it's already come around the bed and is pulling into Apocalypse Station. Over here our "public" servants are still getting up every morning and kicking that can.... kicking it down the road.... hoping that when that very bad day arrives they are up, up and away in their private government jet, heading to some paradise out among the impossible islands where nobody, but nobody, is going to track them down and hang them, like some cut-rate Mussolini, from a meat rack in the public square. Fat. Chance. The Very Bad Day sees all and takes all. And they know this. Which is why the first and last skill of "the governing class" is kick the can.
Seen as a tragedy the "governing class" is trying to keep the train on the tracks until we arrive at Paradise. Seen for what it is, "the governing class" does little more with the human race than Buster Keaton in the clip below. It tries to keep the train moving with scraps of fuel, broken tools, and always inches from derailment. All while the real pagent of history flows by on either side in the opposite direction. This as the "governing class" kicks the can after Max Sennet villains down a railroad spur that it can't find in a silent movie from long ago. Viewed from space this whole thing is comedy, but viewed from space isn't everything?
Posted by gerardvanderleun at August 15, 2013 8:10 AM