Dancing With The Devil
August 11th, 2015 | 
Author: I’ve got a bit of a library. I read a lot of books. There’s always one in my briefcase. I try to put a book by the toilet I’ve already read and liked for any number of reasons so I can be reacquainted with whatever I thought was important about it.
A few days ago ago I put “Stupid White Men” by Michael Moore beside the throne and I’ve been struck by a few things. He’s actually a good writer. He’s pretty funny and every thing he talks about from fifteen years ago is discouragingly worse today. It’s spooky prescient. No wonder he’s so disgusted these days.
Just today I read that Dick Cheney’s Haliburton is suing the very Iraq war veterans they poisoned. Somebody please explain to me how this real life Darth Vader fuck has not been carried from his lair and roasted on a spit jammed up his ass and out his mouth live on television.
I started this blog over seven years ago with one idea, most people aren’t stupid, they just don’t pay attention. I’m not sure I own that anymore.
Here’s what happened. Before Obama ever announced for ’08, he knew exactly what the transaction was. In exchange for however much he could accomplish, he knew he’d be making a deal at the crossroads at some point. He’s done just that. He hosts the evil while he does what he can. I believe that’s who he is now. I’m pretty cynical so that’s how I see it.
Part of what happened to the inspired left is their naivete. They never factored Satan into it. I don’t actually believe in Satan but you know what I’m saying. A lot of us on the left are kittens. We find ourselves asking if drones and a bullshit trade deal are worth marriage equality and a far from perfect health care mandate. If allowing big banks to consolidate even more power than before is a fair trade for for his populist rhetoric and a deficit cut in half. We wonder very hard. And we weep.
The answer is maybe.
Two steps forward and one step back may be worth it merely because we’re more fucked without it?
So we applaud and celebrate.
Therein lies our mistake.
We take what we are given and lament it all once the deal is done.
It really is our fault.
This is life in the fast lane. This is America. Everything is incremental except rage and lust for power and money. Those things are exponential. Otherwise, it happens one step at a time. Because most of us are fools we allow for it. We are flawed. We will not do the right thing this cycle. We will not and we will sit around again and wonder what happened.
It will be obvious.
We will have elected a Clinton or a Bush.
We’ll take to the streets again in small numbers and demand change.
The world will marvel at our stupidity.
Again.
Any liberal who complains we didn’t have a choice this time or were faced again with the lesser of two evils is full of shit.
The entire republican bench is astoundingly hollow.
There really is no there, there.
There is nothing to lose.
They are all complete fuckups.
Donald Trump says what they all think and he’s scaring the shit out of them. He’s leading the polls by double digits. He’s not going to last but he’s swinging for the fences. He is a singular and insular instrument of arrogance and stupidity laying bare the arrogance and stupidity of almost half of us.
As of today, Hillary Clinton refuses to stake a claim on the Keystone pipeline or the TPP. These issues are settled among progressives. She’s swinging the lumber of plutocrats and Wall Street.
I usually swing for the fences and I’ve enjoyed some pretty rewarding successes because of it. I’ve also had my ass cheese grated in a painful and regrettable fashion for the same reason. I always swing for the fences when there’s nothing to lose. Always. As of today there are seventeen republican contenders and three or four democratic ones.
We have nothing to lose by supporting the one democratic candidate that has never bullshitted us.
Not once.
Ever.
Bernie Sanders says what we all think and he’s scaring the shit out of them. He has no problem speaking against the pipeline or the trade deal. His whole platform is every single issue that was not discussed in the first republican debate. He is now and always has talked about them. He’s not lying about any of them and he’s not avoiding any them.
Bernie Sanders is swinging for the fences.
He has nothing to lose.
Drinks for my friends.
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Another enjoyable post, Mr. Douglass! Thank you for this.
I believe that this 2016 election will have further-reaching aspects than we appreciate right now. I hope I’m wrong, but our nation, as the patient, isn’t doing so well. Look at the damage that’s been done just in the past three years alone. This next election could drop our condition to ‘critical’. We’re one election away from becoming a true oligarchy in every sense. The symptoms have been showing for a long while, yet we’ve taken no steps to slow down the progression of oligarchy. Our own Supreme Court further fueled it just as effectively as adding immunosuppressants to our nation’s I.V. drip. Remember how some members of Congress lambasted the two horrible decisions that excised most of our remaining democracy? Some members of Congress were outraged (Aren’t they always ‘outraged’?). They ‘vowed’ to pass legislation to overturn these gross ‘errors’. We’d clearly had an infected democracy, though a good dose of ethics might’ve cleared it right up.
They got over their outrage before their next campaign contribution arrived.
I worry about our national health due to the symptoms I observe daily. These include:
* A raging fever – one that’s caused 224 mass shootings at last count so far this year. About one every day. (http://shootingtracker.com/wiki/Mass_Shootings_in_2015)
* Unexplained bouts of rage – with police brutality continuing, despite the flood of cell phones everywhere you go. Despite the presence of multiple eyewitnesses. Despite their body cameras and police car cameras and nationwide exposure. With no effective addressing of this national disgrace by the federal government while police “investigate” their own shooters.
* Mutism – Communities and cities, notably NYC and LA, are paying out millions of dollars, sometimes monthly, to victims of unnecessary police violence. For lack of more detailed information and state variances, I must presume that these are taxpayers’ dollars at the bottom line. If citizens cannot bring change from the horror of the acts themselves, then the funding should certainly be the next point to be vigorously protested, yet they’re silent on this aspect.
* Memory impairment – How have so many completely forgotten George Bush’s failed presidency in terms of both body count and national economy? And Ronald Reagan’s bullshit that trickled-down all over us? Yet these realities were replaced with more tolerable alternative versions, courtesy of their group hypnotist, “Fox”.
* Widespread Rash – An itching, seeping, highly-contagious rash affecting rich old white men, making them extremely uncomfortable and highly agitated. This rash is concentrated in the anal region and becomes so unbearably inflamed that sufferers are unwilling or unable to reasonably participate in their most basic job functions, crying “No, no, no!” to any request or idea presented to them. Even legislators working only ~110 days a year at very substantial salaries have been known to veto all legislation before it’s even been seen or heard due to the irresistible need to scratch themselves. Note: Some afflicted have even gone so far as to shut down the government simply to obtain the necessary privacy for some personal scratching.
* Hemorrhoids and severe constipation – Easily evidenced by the large sticks occasionally protruding from the rectal area of many Republicans. It’s possible these bundles of sticks (fags) were ‘accidentally’ inserted to alleviate the unbearable itching described above.
* Swollen, bruised, cut knuckles – from dragging them on the streets and sidewalks.
* Swollen, tender knee joints – from regularly begging for campaign donations.
And lastly,
* A very dangerous sociopathic state involving high degrees of narcissism, delusions, hallucinations – both visual and auditory, and sadistic behavior. Patients often: (a) claim to see/hear God giving them personal instructions; and (b) believe themselves to actually be God, wielding complete control of others’ autonomy and seeking to punish others (specifically women) for their “crimes” of being raped, being victims of incest and for enjoying sexual activities in the absence of the possibility of pregnancy. Sufferers of this disorder often blame women themselves for assaults against them and strive to overturn existing laws simply to inflict pain on these women and their families. Note: Most of these patients simultaneously suffer from micropenia.
Because of the nationwide decreasing of the public IQ facilitated by the obscenely wealthy, their unwitting Tea Party pawns and the cult known as Fox and Friends, this election may doom democracy as our founders had intended it to usher in a new era. One I don’t want to imagine. One that our kids don’t deserve. Here in NC, our new Tea Party started off by re-writing existing laws. But now, even that’s not enough for them. Instead, they now effect changes to our state’s constitution. Much more difficult to reverse, I’m told. But they want to ensure their legacy of denying poor families food, heat and basic health services remains firmly intact. To continue forcing doctors and school teachers to lie. To safeguard Duke Energy’s right to poison us and to remove our methods of seeking damages.
Our country’s been under a constant assault for years. It’s small wonder we’re in this condition, given the degree of lunacy and hatred of so many, spread and strongly encouraged by the very wealthy via Fox. But if we don’t correct this in the next election, I simply don’t envision any democracy surviving.
Our kids and their kids deserve so much better.
Whoa! Good response! Do you blog, too? I LOVE Michael’s stuff – you are good too! I love anyone who can turn a phrase!
I just stood on mah desk and applauded Michael Wade and the reply beneath it! As always, you nailed it. One of the few people in all of my reading who understands how the real world works!
Well said Mr. Douglass. Bernie Sanders wont stand much of a chance unless people start sending him more money. I’m 52 years old and have never felt more passionate about who I think should win. It is true that up until now it has always been a choice between the lesser of two evils. This will be the first time I will take some of my fixed income and contribute to a candidate. If Bernie has any shot he’s going to have to make up the difference with regard to his war chest. The “people” are going to have to make up the difference. SEND BERNIE SOME MONEY. FEEL THE BERN
You are an arrogant knuckle dragger. What about “drinks for my enemies” you buddist hating asshat. All that is to say, spot on mate.
“Two steps forward and one step back may be worth it merely because we’re more fucked without it?”
Isn’t that another way of saying what Otto von Bismarck said: ‘Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best.’?
I like Bernie Sanders, and would vote for him in a heartbeat, but am afraid that the fence he’s swinging for is too far away.
We do what we can do, and and always wish we could do more, but we should appreciate even small victories. Then we try again.
I LIKED YOUR ESSAY DANCING WITH THE DEVIL VERY TRUE . IM WITH YOU TILL THE BITTER END AND IM PRAYING FOR BERNIES PROTECTION. I THINK HES POKING THE HORNETS NEST AND THEY MIGHT JUST SEND A HITMAN AFTER HIM.THANK YOU FOR READIING THIS DRIBBLE.
Wow – that is SO weird! I just said the same thing on Facebook. Why are we all thinking the same thing?
We’re all thinking the same thing because we all know that we’re only about one or two inches from the abyss and we all can smell the sulfur. It’s not that Bernie is our best chance, it’s that Bernie is our LAST chance. Deep down inside we all know it.
As per usual Michael Wade Douglass a compelling read & very well presented ~ also “Spot On” accurate ~ B R A V O my dear fb friend ~
regina
aka
queenie
Very good Michael. I thoroughly enjoy your vents, invectives and rage against all of what is and all of what we have lost.
You’ve explained it very well, Michael. Democracy is messy, very, very messy. If you have ever tried to reach consensus within a group you know that it’s a lot like herding cats. Those who “do” get annoyed by those who stall or engage in “what ifs”; and the others are drunk with the power of a discussion rule that everyone deserves to be heard.
In my study of history I have concluded that for the most part, we are going through the motions, accomplishing bout 10% of what needs to be done, with periods of amazing destruction or amazing accomplishments sprinkled in between the depressing parts.
I agree with you that for once in a very, very long time, we have a candidate that is saying the same things he’s said his entire adult life — campaigning for the same people and the same rights he’s always supported. Bernie is an open book — and he expects us all to act like adults and recognize that we are at, probably, the last turning point available to save civilization.
I see Bernie as THE BIG OPPORTUNITY to move a Great Leap Forwards in consciousness that will both allow and lead us to a better future for all, especially given how much damage the austerity-idiots and religious nuts have already done to our “constitutional experiment.”
Michael Wade Douglass, you posted this on a FB post by Don Danielson. You got me by the first sentence, so I’m glad I came over to read the entire post.
A couple of years ago, I started emailing my concerns to my Democratic Representatives from California, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and Congresswoman Susan Davis. Susan Davis was good at first about responding, but when I asked about the TPP all she said she was keeping a close I on it. She certainly was. She voted in favor. I wrote her a scathing letter after that, threatening to tell everyone in her district how she had betrayed us and not to vote for her again. Feinstein and Boxer each answered thanking me for my interest in protecting the wildlife. When I wrote again to let them know they hadn’t responded to my concerns the blocked my emails.
Then I noticed Bernie Sanders. Out of all those people on The Hill, he and a handful of others were standing behind us and calling the others out on their bullshit. I started emailing him about the Tea Party, police brutality, the division the Tea Party Republicans had made to keep us distracted from what they’re doing behind our backs. Each time I saw videos of him or posts by him expressing his opposition regarding the items I wrote to him about. I never turned back.
I would write to him long diatribes about how the people were reacting to all of the negative actions going on, about the stealing of our nation right out from under us and replacing our system with a fascist Oligarchy. And there would be Bernie Sanders digging a hole to shove the bastards into.
It worries me that some think he does not have leadership capabilities, but they are usually Hillary fans and, even though I don’t care that much for Hillary Clinton, it concerns me that people will not vote if their particular ‘favorite’ candidate does not win the primaries. Now that is wrong.
Anyway, I appreciate your commentary. Nice to know someone of like-mind is out there.
Richard, I thought that I was the only one who would receive totally inane and non-responsive replies when I wrote my legislators. I remember sending Sen. R. Durbin a letter asking him to lighten up on the penalties for those of us who lost our jobs in the bad economy and had to use our savings, 401(k)’s, etc. and his reply was something about foreign policy.
What I really like about Sen. Sanders is that he invites us to join him in the work. That’s what we should have been doing all along, AND if we hadda, we wouldn’t have to have this conversation.
Cheney and Rumsfeld were the architects of the 9-11-01 attacks on American soil. Then the dummy granted unilaterally uncontested as sole supplier the Halliburton company, Dick Cheney’s previous company. Rumsfeld “lost” over 2 years a total of nearly 5 TRILLION dollars from the DoD budget. Just how much do you think it costs to pull off an operation like the one on 9-11? Far too many questions, not enough answers. Send at least Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld to the Hague for an inquiry. Also, read the Wolfowitz doctrine and you will have an idea where the Republican party is heading.