These Things Must Come to Pass

“Well, this may not be the most cheerful message for you to remember. This is mainly the conclusion I came to. I was very depressed after ‘72.: ‘This may be the year when we finally come face to face with ourselves, finally just lay back and say it: that we are really just a nation of 220 million used car salesmen’ – that’s up to about 280 million now – ‘with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms at all about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable’ – the more things change the more they stay the same – ‘The tragedy of all of this is that George McGovern, for all his mistakes and all his imprecise talk about “new politics” and “honesty of government” is one of the few men who have run for President of the United States in this century who really understands what a fantastic monument to all the best instincts of the human race this country might have been if we could’ve kept it out of the hands of greedy little hustlers like Richard Nixon. McGovern made some stupid mistakes, but in context they seem almost frivolous compared to the things Richard Nixon does everyday of his life on purpose, as a matter of policy and a perfect _expression of everything he stands for. Jesus, where will it end? How low do you have to stoop in this country to be president?’” - Hunter S. Thompson, from the documentary Breakfast with Hunter, reading from Fear in Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72

“Richard Nixon looks like a flaming liberal today, compared to a golem like George Bush. Indeed. Where is Richard Nixon when we finally need him?” – Hunter S. Thompson, “Fear and Loathing, Campaign 2004” - 10/27/04

We got up at 5:45am on the morning of 11/2/04 to get to the polls early. We arrived at Carrboro Elementary School by 6:10, stood in line behind 10 people and drank horrible store-brand coffee from a giant thermos. The polls opened at 6:30 and we were out of there by 6:50 with our votes for John Kerry in the bucket.

It was a clear, crisp autumn day, and I was encouraged by the news of Kerry flattening Bush in the exit polls. As my working day was coming to a close, the sun was a huge orange ball in the sky and everything was glowing. I walked out the side door of my office building and there were glowing orange leaves scattered around a maple tree that weren’t there before, and I took that as a sign. What it the sign meant I have no idea.

We drank wine that night, and Joann made stuffed mushrooms and pasta. I watched the election for five hours straight and then, after seeing the pasty white doom in Joe Lockhart’s face at 11:30pm, walked a mile down my street and down the side of Hwy 54 to get a couple of 24 oz beers at the 24 hr gas station, and came back, and hoping it would clear up my headache and knock me out.

The next day in this town there was an overwhelming sense of doom. It was cold and dark and raining, and women and children were crying, and dogs were howling. Doom lingers here even today, but not with me. I dabbled in optimism and anger and patriotism for a while, after 9/11, now it’s all funny and dumb to me again. Democracy in Rome and Athens only last about two and a half centuries. In Rome it was replaced by military empire after Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his army, defying the will of the Senate. Athenian democracy was replaced by oligarchy and the rule of tyrants. Now it looks like we’re going to have a combination of both, with the endorsement of 60 million citizens.

Yes, the Democrats are doomed. I was naïve to put my hope in them. Even though they were both rich boys, both from the same elite class, there was a huge difference between the candidates. But if Kerry had been elected, either the inevitable would have only been delayed, or there would have been a long road to recovery, but I’m inclined to think that the Project for the New American Century would have gnawed at his wounds and eaten him alive. It is Their Time now. George W. Bush is the United States of America’s president down to the bone. He won the election on “flip-flopper”, wolves in the forest and the dreaded ketchup conspiracy, with strong support from his fundamentalist Jesus freak base. Excessive power always requires a fundamentalist base – ask Osama bin Laden.

Of course Americans re-elected George W. Bush. In Him is every characteristic in most of modern America – even for a lot of those who voted against him – and thank God for George Bush for casting light on the American Mind for all to see. I support everything he does in the next four years. I hope he’s more aggressive in his foreign policy, and I hope he runs the national debt up another 8 zillion dollars. These things must come to pass, and sooner better than later. America is too dumb to live, and prolonged death ain’t no fun.

Despite all the talk about Bush worrying about his legacy, what we’ll see over the next four years will be an aggressive military recruitment campaign, followed a war with Iran (early 2007?), and, unless tens of thousands of young boys voluntarily leap into a fiery pit of Hell, a draft. Economically, we are top heavy, a golden tower built on sand, and the fall of the World Trade Center was only the first two bricks. 9/11 is the tip of the iceberg. Iraq has become a factory for new terrorists. “God is in the White House again”, thinking he has political capital and a mandate from the People, and he will do whatever the fuck he wants, without fear of retribution and the support of 60 million. Bush and Bin Laden are diseased, and it’s about as useful being angry at them as it is being angry at a malignant tumor. Cancer needs a host to feed upon. Bush has the fear of 60 million Americans, Osama bin Laden has the anger of young Iraqi boys, but neither of them have me and my people.

I don’t get it. I don’t see anything in this arrogant fool that represents anything I’ve ever considered strong or moral or wise. I can’t wrap my mind around why anyone would vote for this corrupt dipshit, but there he is. John Edwards talked about two different Americas, and I agreed with him, but I wasn’t thinking of economics. I think Americans are living in two different realities. I don’t think everyone who voted for Bush is dumb, but according to the latest Harris poll, 41% of Americans are complete fucking idiots: They still believe Saddam Hussein orchestrated 9/11. Of course those people voted for Bush. Why wouldn’t they? The politicians are talking about Unity now, and I laugh. No amount of debate can convince them. When we unravel one thread of their reality, there are thousands of others tangled in the vast web of words. That’s how Karl Rove operates – with a barrage of bullshit. And some will believe it to their deaths.

Dear Those Who Voted for Bush:

Congratulations, sincerely. We lost. You won. John Kerry is defeated. Please can you do me a favor now? I offer you this olive branch: That John Kerry was a flip flopping traitor who shot himself on purpose to get a medal and then spit on the Vietnam vets by throwing away his medals before going to France for a cocaine-fueled communist plot to take down America with Hanoi Jane then flip flop his way into a seat in the Senate where he never even showed up for work and never cast one vote on anything, yes, makes perfect sense. But can we drop the Heinz Ketchup bullshit? I will not be annoyed if French fries are called freedom fries. The 56 million people who voted for Kerry are all dumb jobless hippies on welfare – this is so obvious. But please... PLEASE with the Ketchup.

I’ll shoot fish in a barrel this one last time: Heinz is not run by Democrats and liberals. They maintain that they are non-partisan, of course, but in reality they used to be run by rich, Fox Chapel Republicans. Everyone in Pittsburgh knows this. John Heinz, who used to be married to Teresa Heinz-Kerry, was a Republican politician since the early 1970s. Teresa only recently became a Democrat. “Over the past seven years, the Heinz Company PAC has contributed $96,000 to Republican candidates and $54,000 to Democratic candidates.” A lot of companies contribute to both Democrats and Republicans. Clearly, this company favors Republicans. Furthermore, all the surviving members of the Heinz family combined, including Teresa Heinz-Kerry, own less than 4% of stock in the H.J. Heinz Company. That means they don’t even own close to a controlling stake in the company. Your cute little boycott will do nothing to harm Teresa Heinz-Kerry’s bank account.

I know you think I hate rich, Fox Chapel Republicans like the Heinzes. You’re right. But from way back in the day when the Heinzes owned the H.J. Heinz company, Heinz is as good as rich Republican bastards can possibly get. Personally, my brother-in-law works there, and they’ve directly helped my family out a great deal when we needed it most. I know it’s all good fun politics, but John Kerry is done now, and it’s really okay for you to stop eating that disgusting Hunts crap.

***

Now. I’m finished with these stupid arguments framed by corporate executives and eaten up by fools. That’s where my non-resistance to the American cancer starts. They feed on your anger, your participation, and your time, but left without it, the TV culture is weak and dumb, and cannot survive without air conditioning and fast food and childish stories about the battle between good and evil. There is nothing in them but violence and retardation. In a little while I’ll be rid of television forever. I’m done with these people, and I don’t care what happens to them. Let them eat themselves. I’ll be moving out to the sticks where I will never get a satellite dish much less an antenna. I have a few acres of field to plow, and few acres of forest full of bobcats and copperheads and wild dogs that snatch chickens and little babies in the night. These things will make me strong. I will work my way out of the cubicle of the military industrial complex mind, and for now, I’m done thinking in terms of “we as a nation”. I was hoping we could change the course of this country, but I was wrong. Let it try to eat and kill everything. These things must come to pass, but nothing built on violence can last very long. In the meantime I will what’s best for my tribe. May the earth swallow the wicked to fertilize my fields.

Luke 21:
[5] And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, [6] As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. [7] And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass? [8] And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them. [9] But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.