September 17, 2010

The Right-Left Merry-go-Round



Like an amusement park carousel with loud circus music and 'galloping' horses which seem to go nowhere, the democracies of the world hail out to the masses with ongoing promises of good times - if only the patron will hop aboard. Invariably though, whether the patron decides to jump onto one that leans left (clockwise) or rotates right (counter-clockwise) or even if he opts for a donkey or an elephant rather than the traditional horse, he finds himself right back where he started when the lights stop flashing and the music dies down - though regularly somewhat lighter in the head (and very likely pocket) and quite often with an upset stomach.

As the carousel of world events continues to speed up during these end-times, I continue to believe that one or other of the two major parties stateside will eventually grind to a halt as the great majority of patrons disembark for good in search of a sturdier platform. In the fullness of time, however, it will be discovered that the problem lies not in the particular ride that is selected, rather that the amusement park as a whole is marked for permanent closure.

Those of you familiar with Peanuts, the popular comic strip by Charles M. Schulz which ended an almost 50-year run back in early 2000 will recall the interplay between the main character Charlie Brown and Lucy. The interplay is recalled as an analogy to conservative politics from the Nixon era to the present day in suggesting an answer to Where the Right Went Wrong under this article - The Charlie Brown Syndrome.

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