The Long Race

Sometimes it seems to me that the political situation in this country is like a race. Decisions and policies are not presented and debated, then adopted after rational discourse. No, the policies are crammed down our throat and then, when we object, we get into this long, protracted argument which seems to extend on into infinity.

As the argument extends, many of us lose heart (which is, of course, the purpose of such an extension) and eventually the question becomes moot or trivial. Never in our wildest dreams did we think that we would be arguing the merits of torture performed by representatives of the United States Government. But, when we try and counter this horror, we are greeted by Dick Cheney who argues that this is an acceptable practice at the same time that his putative boss states categorically that "we do not torture."

The search for a Supreme Court Justice has extended into the future; the Plame affair, even after the Italians seem to have broke the story wide open, is still with us. All of these things are like leeches or ticks. They sit there and suck the blood of the body politic. Soon we will be too anemic to do anything. And, I guess, that is the purpose of the Bush, Cheney, Norquist government. To drown us in a bathtub.