A Two-Legged Dog

It's amazing to me how easily we are distracted - Michael Jackson; Palin; pandemic; Putin; ‘global warming’, etc. In the meantime, we've got more immediate problems right here in River City.

“Sometimes you don't see what's right in front of you”, my mother used to say when I couldn't find something. 'Look again!' she’d tell me. I thought it was silly, but went back anyway. And then I would find it. Similarly, today we are so concerned with this or that in an effort to feel relevant. We catch the bait and run with it. We talk and blog; blog and talk. In the process, we lose focus; we wear ourselves out – and then we wonder why nothing ever changes.

Nothing changes because we talk around the things that concern us most. We dread the possibility of being aware; because awareness breeds commitment. We don’t want to tie ourselves down; we dread the job that clearly must be done if we are to survive as a nation. So, we project ourselves back to pre-9/11; pre-Obama, when dolts like Bush and Clinton were in office - men just like us with whom we could agree or disagree, but who were essentially non-threatening - ‘good-old boys’ who were nevertheless American and could be counted on to defend our nation should it ever come to that.

So, even if we don’t agree with present policies; even if our neighbor down the road has lost his job and is about to loose the house. Even as our own nest eggs have shrunk to the size of a Robin’s, we’re quite content to sit this one out and wait for the next election when we’ll be able to vote the bums out. If there is a next election, that is.

“Now he’s talking crazy,” I can hear Spencer and others say. “This is America, after all. Of course there’ll be elections!” But look what’s happened in Honduras recently. Look whose side we’re on. Look at the once great nations of Venezuela, Iran, and Zimbabwe. Look what elections are like in those places – kinda like Minnesota and New Jersey, don’t you think? Who knows what ACORN is yet capable of?

So, we refuse to see the elephant in the room. It’s easier to get back at the wife or the kids because they pi**ed us off last night. The earth still looks flat, no matter what anyone says. This elephant is not too big to fail; it’s too big to see!

I saw a two-legged dog tooling up our street this morning as I went out for a cigarette. It was going at a pretty good clip and I admired the animal. I also realized that it was on its last legs. If another one goes, it’s over. It reminded me of America. The executive branch is already gone; as is the House. All that’s left is the judiciary and the people. Should the judiciary fold (as seems likely now), all that’s left is the people – people like you and me, who refused to see what’s coming; indeed, what’s already here.