STB: Outing the Truth

My grandmother used to say “The truth will out.” She was one of the few die-hard Democrats in our family, and incredibly out-spoken in her criticisms of Republican demagoguery. Never afraid to call a spade a spade, I remember her on occasion also tearing into leading Democrats when in her opinion they warranted it. She was a strong-willed woman, and would have loved blogs and blogging, if she’d lived long enough. Her biggest personality flaw was, in retrospect, that she never admitted she was wrong.

I loved my grandmother when I was a girl. And I still do, though I see that her inability to see her own mistakes led to much grief and strife in our family, in later years.

That character flaw, and all its consequences, is present in this administration, too. Never show weakness, never admit mistake, no matter how ludicrous it makes us look to our neighbors. No matter how many tens of thousands have to die, or suffer horribly in the aftermath of the messes we create. It seems B43 can never allow himself to be wrong, and I wonder, when he talks to God, which of them is kneeling. And if he ever allows God to talk back.

It seems to me that power and arrogance go hand in hand, especially when the power is long-term and the personality attempting to manage it is flawed in some way. We handed this president an almost unprecedented amount of power in the aftermath of 9/11, and even more with a Republican majority in 2004. I’ll leave it to the experts to dissect the man’s psychological profile and discuss his issues with his father (B41). It’s enough to point out here that those blinders he’ s wearing appear to be soldered on. Not content with the power he has (stolen, according to some), he and the Neocons and the theocrats are grabbing for yet more, attempting to threaten the very foundation upon which our democracy is based.

2006 is coming, folks. It’s time to rein in the arrogance, time to instill reason and reflection in the Oval Office and the halls of Congress. It’s not too soon to start making those points right now, and frame the debate in terms of real moral authority and personal responsibility.

By the way, I think we should set up a “point system” for these posts where we find ways to award especially good ones. Extra bonus points would go for finding a way to quote Shakespeare…

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