Kissin' Cousins

The only one who could ever reach me
was the son of a preacher man
Oh yes he was 
--The Son of a Preacher Man,
Dusty Springfield 

 They are not "job creators" as Mitt Romney tells us.

They've been waiting for economy to die

so they can make billions - billions - on scams,

flim-flams and political, military muscling

--fr. Vultures' Picnic interview 

Aw shucks, it ain't nothing but possum tails,

owl gizzards, and grits fried in bear grease.

And then that there gravy --

that's just goat's milk with vulture eggs

and mashed catfish eyes   

--Kissin' Cousins (1964)

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Some commentary spurred by the two bumper stickers in the Helen shop -- "WWRD: What Would Reagan Do?" and "Support Your Local Militia". 

Y'all folks on the more enlightened coast might not understand the obdurate nature of many Southeasterner's ignorance. (We understand that this stalwart conviction bleeds across the Midwest, too.)  While it is heartening that only 38% of respondents in a recent Gallup poll gave Romney's RNC speech positive marks, Americans are still impressible to manufactured emotions which define the unbridgeable chasms of modern politics.

Who cares what Reagan would do?  One thing is certain: Reagan would not be parading his issue across the stage like the good Republicans today preaching their family values.  Nope -- ballet dancer Ron Jr. and perennial malcontent Maureen would not have provided cozy bookends to that icon of the right.

We are such fools to devour the images which we believe define us and will make us safe.  We see Reagan on a screen, larger than life, and remember his presentation, forgetting the actuality of his term.  We see Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry or Josey Wales character and feel better. We see George W. Bush's or Reagan's ten gallon hat and feel secure; somehow, the bogeymen will not get us.

But what we refuse to see is that the bogeyman is already here, intertwined with every facet of our lives.  However you define the bad man, hovering in a convention hall among your fellows in silly hats will not save you.  Crying for less government will not extricate you.

Symbols and their real world referents have lost their connection.  Reagan and Eastwood represent Hollywood, which represents the distortion of truth and manufactured emotion.  Hollywood can only provide us real men before whom we suspend our disbelief.

Ann Romney's speech served the same function of delivering an image of ourselves of which we are not  actually a part.  She tried to feel our pain, but with her own personal Swiss bank account of $3 Million, we again see another disconnect between words and actuality, symbol and referent.

Surely the government has usurped powers and functions not intended by the Founding Fathers, but can or would we change that fact?  Does any man who aspires to be President actually intend to dilute the power to which he so desperately aspires?

While her husband Mitt has surely been a successful venture capitalist, how will his personal success translate to  into a benefit for the average American should he be elected?

This year, the choice is clear.  We can either elect a venture capitalist vulture, or award a second term to President Obama, a man who bailed out failed venture capitalists.  The center -- which defines America as we know it -- is gone.

It's a Hobson's Choice.