Freedom and Weep

DESIGN by Robert Frost
I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,
On a white heal-all, holding up a moth
Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth–
Assorted characters of death and blight
Mixed ready to begin the morning right,
Like the ingredients of a witches’ broth–
A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth,
And dead wings carried like a paper kite.
What had that flower to do with being white,
The wayside blue and innocent heal-all?
What brought the kindred spider to that height,
Then steered the white moth thither in the night?
What but design of darkness to appall?–
If design govern in a thing so small.

With thanks to Mrs. TD on tonight’s post title.
The President treated us all to his State of the Union speech, which ran to an annoyingly Clintonian 60 some minutes, including some sort of a miscue with “the Iraqi woman voter”, and the usual applause lines (“make tax cuts permanent”, “freedom”, “our enemies”, etc.) Ahmad Chalabi couldn’t make it to Laura’s box this year.
Well, look: whatever Bush says about social security, it’s clear that Democrats are prepared to hang together on this (though as Unqualified Offerings observes, probably not the same universality of opposition to torture, at least as personified by the Alberto Gonzales nomination), but Republican Congressional members simply cannot afford to run for reelection after “voting to destroy social security”. Bush knows it. Whatever he says, he knows bloody well it’s not going to pass in any way more meaningful than a pilot program or a tweak.
Also unsurprisingly, Democratic Congressional leaders Reid and Pelosi’s Democratic response is peculiarly lame (and devoid of principled alternatives short of “what he ways is wrong”).
As expected, the President told us that if we set forth an Iraq exit strategy, “the terrorists will have won.” In Axis of Evil TM news from the SOTU… Iran… still evil. North Korea… still evil. Iraq… good… freedom… democracy… Syria… now evil… Saudi Arabia and Egypt are, evidently, to move toward democracy… whatever that means… Palestinians to get an astounding $350 million… that’s $350 million (calling Dr. Evil; a figure that astounding requires one’s pinky inserted in the corner of one’s moutn).
Look: nothing new, here. Nothing particularly radical in the SOTU. The name of the game was to hold serve, and remain in power. The Bushmen pulled it off. The stealing can now go on unabated. Sure, sure, the President acknowledged his support for the constitutional Gay Bashing Amendment (the GBA) and the “culture of life” (code for banning abortion without doing anything about it), but no one seriously believes he would really expend any effort on those matters.
In short, the whole thing smacks of a snooker: the President has something up his sleeve, that the rest of this “ambitious agenda” (which is actually designed not to pass and is designed to get Democrats high fiving themselves over “a victory”) only to sneak in something else… complete repeal of progressive taxation? Repeal of any and all taxation for anyone earning over $1,000,000 a year? Half a million dollars a year? A draft? WHAT?
Well, contrary to their performance when other people’s lives, liberty and money is on the line, when it comes to their own power and agenda, methinks the Bushmen have something in mind… almost as if they planned all this…

Share