Monty Python explains it all for you…
“Line on the left…One cross each..”
This is a line from “Life of Brian,’ a hilarious sacrilegious film about the fanatic followers of a Christ-like figure called Brian. And the film is about those who take all the wrong messages from his beliefs and teachings….Sound familiar?
The way of appeasement seems madness. Because it will, in the end, mean YOU are the one who is hoisted on the petard…as in Monty Python. The absurdity of the act of sympathy that backfires means if you hold the cross of another man, you wind up on the cross yourself.
With those pushing in opposing directions for strong actions regarding Ukraine’s admission into NATO, keep in mind that this is from a country where a former Football Coach has the power to hold up judgeships as well as Military Appointments over the subject of abortion rights. And although winning on the overturning of Roe, these people, like Trump, want to push the experiment further down the road towards a national ban… Meanwhile the response from the opposing side- the one supporting democracy- so far has been mild finger-wagging and strong letter writing!
And those who are pushing for a co-equal authority over another branch of government corrupted by dark money have fared no better. The Supreme Court Judges who were appointed by a corrupted President, reveal the response has also not gone further than the obligatory stern warnings. It too, has consisted of the wagging of fingers and threats such as drawing red lines and double dog-daring those willing to flaunt precedents and past unwritten rules . This has enabled the dark side to simply thumb their noses at subpoenas and strongly worded letters and polite requests.
The Trump-fueled view of the world and the flouting of conventional norms has created this Monty Python like world of absurdities where the nice guy finishes last and sometimes is nailed to the cross for his troubles. There is an old saying that goes something like, “No Good Deed goes unpunished.’ The current political situation in America evokes the feeling that those who see others trying to do the right thing at times create a response rooted in resentment and anger rather than gratitude and acceptance.
That is the world in which we now live. It is a place where there is no self-reflection or understanding from a certain quarter. And the flaws and vices pointed out are from those critics living in the most brittle of all glass houses ever built. The House that Trump built, the party he destroyed, the cult he created and the character (or lack thereof) he revealed in so many situations has now manifested itself in the GOP and in the America he has helped to create today. It’s a culture of resentment and a cult of personality built on a House of Cards that is guaranteed to crumble with one fragile push. Let us hope that the push comes sooner rather than later lest we find ourselves without a democracy to live in or a leg to stand on!
