Sleep-talkin’

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

I adore mysteries and enigmas. I dote on picture puzzles, a guilty pleasure, infrequently indulged, and a nice diversion when trapped by a mantle of winter snow. We haven’t had but a day or two of snow this season, but with politics as they are, I haven’t missed it this year. I suspect that my talent for unearthing the hidden extends to ferreting out the connective tissue in any argument and is complements of my Scorpio Venus conjunct the midheaven, quietly searching out the dark corners. Given the amount of time I spend scouring the news for the missing pieces, jumping two or three moves ahead of any given situation to investigate the possibilities, you’d think that I’d play a good game of chess, but I don’t. I’m not very competitive. Basically, I’m just driven to fill in the blanks, round out the big picture and figure out where we are on the bell curve. That means I’m very busy these days, rooting around in the flailing psyche of a young nation’s business.

There are some signs of progress. The media, responding to public pressure, is getting better at telling the truth, have you noticed? Television anchors are asking harder questions, demanding actual rationales for some of the more egregious statements made by politicos. Back when there were established boundaries for politicians, well before the Orwellian double-speak practiced by the Bushies became kosher, it was seldom necessary to take the offensive position, anticipating either a stonewall or a confrontation. Back in the day, everyone expected a politician to fudge a bit, skew to his party’s world view and defend his talking points, but this actual lying-out-loud business took us all by surprise.

Then along came Dubby, and by the time we shook off our stupor and became aware that confrontation was vital, nuanced liberal thought fell prey to the sound bite. Sadly, liberals aren’t well-designed for this kind of winner-take-all knife fight; they’re better with twelve rounds and a referee. People who see life in shades of gray are more civil in their speech, more generous in deliberations and less critical of faults than their black ‘n white counterparts. That has made liberals the likely target of a sucker punch from the beginning of time, and traditionally too slow on the up-take, but lately the facts have proven so overwhelmingly contrary to the Republican-approved story line, there’s no way to let the record go uncorrected. At this point in history, any reporters not prepared for confrontation are failing the public (but perhaps not their employers, who haven’t welcomed facts over profit in a couple of decades; if confrontation draws ratings, truth will out, she said, cynically).

Realistically, this confrontation thing isn’t easy for most of us, especially the always-fair, look-at-my-own-culpability-first, spiritually inclined. And when the conversation is turned upside down and inside out, as is most political rhetoric, confusion reigns. It takes a while to work through the bluff and bluster, the deliberate obfuscation and knee-jerk response attached to any issue to get to the core of it, and by that time, either the crisis has been settled or you’re too exhausted to care. Take the business about “forcing” the Catholics to provide birth control for their employees. A simple case of employee rights. No employers get to foist their belief system on those who work for them.

The separation of church and state instituted by the founders protected the government from religious mandates as much as it protected the church from intrusion by the government. Please note that our president — clever, nimble dude that he is — took care of that little dust-up so quickly the Catholic clerics are still wondering if they got enough PR juice out of it to make it worthwhile. Obama cut to the chase, refusing to give the issue time to fester. This contraception stuff is a winner with the Pub base but no one else. That’s just shy of 30% of the population who have already made up their mind about the most hated president in memory. Seems to me that the Pubs’ wholesale war on women is a losing proposition, but they’re short on new tricks in that bag of theirs, aren’t they? Now it’s all about presenting real ideas, and they’re fresh out.

Rather than fess up to their corporate agenda, Boehner and McConnell, Issa and Cantor, offer no toe-hold on reality. And when we are barraged with things that we know are patently untrue, when hypocrisy is spread so thick we can taste it and the prospect looms of a future controlled by determined ideologues eager to shatter what’s left of our fragile social contract, we have no choice but to respond. The good news is, we’re getting better at it.

We must be doing something right lately, because the Pubs let the renewal of the payroll tax cut, along with unemployment extension, go forward without a squall. Are you shocked? I am, and I’m looking closely to see what’s hiding in the cracks of this maneuver. Seemingly chastened by the “news” that Americans don’t appreciate their obstruction, the Pubs stood down without exacting corresponding spending cuts, which means they wiped out billions in reductions that they had previously won. Said one House Rep, a Texan, “In the end House Republicans felt like they were re-enacting the Alamo, with no reinforcements and our friends shooting at us.” Ahhhh, the sweet strains of El Degüello, announcing no quarter. But we can’t relax yet. I don’t believe their ease of acquiescence for a minute. Something’s up.

You just can’t relax with this stuff. I haven’t been completely relaxed since 1999. I dream about this stuff — not apocalyptic road-warrior nightmares, more like filling in the blanks, a subconscious quest for stripping away cumbersome veneers of niceness. Turns out my subconscious is a hard ass. For instance, last week I forced myself to wake up and scribble down a sound-bite collection of bumper stickers for the presidential campaign. Tell me what you think:

Gingrich in 2012: because Dubya wasn’t enough national despair and international embarrassment

Vote Santorum: getting screwed in the boardroom but not in the bedroom

The Romney Ticket: because America’s ready for liquidation

A little sharp, perhaps. Naughty subconscious. Still, until we’ve put a stake through the heart of some of the remaining Republican Bush-era mythology, we can’t relax or let up. Phony climate science showing up in education, funded by the Koch brothers. The rewriting of history, the challenge to Federal law by individual states, the big money PACs threatening this election in ways we can’t even imagine. Even more vital, the need to redefine the very system that has allowed so much corruption and the atrophy of our liberties. From an article on corporate lobbying, this list of vulnerabilities tells the tale:

“… one piece of the larger crisis facing America in 2012: the capture of government — and both major parties — by well-heeled special interests. While we would all like a simple fix, the reality is that the solution is more complex. We must advance a range of reforms: from limiting super PACS, campaign spending and contributions to requiring full transparency of all political spending, including think tanks like these. From blocking the “revolving door” of politicians and K Street, to fixing the gerrymandering of congressional districts. From increasing voter participation to fixing antiquated legislative and election rules like the filibuster and the electoral college.”

It’s not time to relax, but the era of despair is behind us. When most of the nation was captured by Republican rhetoric and tribal drums that kept us scared and angry, that was dark time. This is a time when light is peeking through the clouds. Things are moving along quickly now. The new Pisces energies will pass everything through our hearts, producing a powerful signature of compassion and wisdom. The universe is singing a new song. Perhaps I’ll start writing music at night, instead of bumper stickers. Oh, and about that last, I’ll leave you with another slogan, drifting up from my night musing:

Boycott Quilted Northern and Angel Soft: don’t let the Koch brothers flush democracy

‘Til next time, sweet dreams!