The Paulites and Paulitos have been kinda quiet lately. Perhaps they are bitter, disillusioned... or maybe they will write-in their avitar, clinging to the illusion that the "elections" are real. Maybe they will pile up firewood and stock up on canned goods... firm in their Ayn Rand conviction that they don't need no steenking "collective." But they DID form their own "collective," whether they realized it or not... and it was fun... even kind of inspiring to watch... while it lasted.
Maybe the self-proclaimed "libertarians" have learned something many of us realized thirty years ago: sure, the "system" is "rigged," (assuming there is a "system" at all)... but the larger truth is this: to most of the US population, "elections" are entertainment... like everything else. It's no different than American Idol or the Sooper Bowl. They wouldn't back your boy because he couldn't "win." Win what? That's waaayyy too abstract. As crappy as the Matrix is getting to be... it's all we know. It's not only too scary to imagine anything else... it's nearly impossible.
But the "anything else" is coming at us like a runaway freight train... and it's not going to be good. It doesn't have to be completely bad, either. Crisis creates community. So go ahead and imagine you're Pioneer Pete and fill your basement with cans-o-spam. Your sad illusion of "self-sufficiency" will go the way of the rEVOLution. You will have a choice between joining the prison-industrial complex for a "paycheck," suppressing the population who is terribly upset at being lied and cheated into abject poverty... or not. The grid is flickering, the toilets won’t flush, and the population is armed, evicted and angry.
Maybe you’ll join with others in eluding the clash between mobs and the mercenaries. Time will tell. And still, the blathersphere is loaded with pleas to “tell your Senator” this or that. Right. Then, go into your bathroom and ask your toilet to grant you three wishes. Rub the bowl and a genie will appear. Jiggle the handle hard enough, and maybe Tink’s light won’t go out. That Clue Train is about to arrive any minute, and those Reality Chickens are coming home to roost. Your “hard-earned tax dollars” won’t mean much when you don’t have a “job” and a “dollar” won’t buy a paper cup of piss.
The winter of 2008 is going to be hard and terrible. We’re going to need each other. Will you be in solidarity with your fellows who woke up the hard way (yes, a bit late)? Will you throw in with the goons who guard the treasure of the real looters? Will you join the chorus of peace and reason? Your life will depend on the collective you choose, and choose you must. There will be much to do. All meaningful work and thought will be beyond the “system” as it exists now… if it exists at all. Welcome to the ranks of the conscious disenfranchised.
What took you so long?
