I found this picture, which I think I might have snapped sometime in 1947 or 2005, rattling around in the “old pictures” folder on my hard drive. It caught my attention not because of any artistic or technical merit (it is sorely lacking in these departments), but for its simple personal resonance in light of the escalating assault on working people by the republican party (non-capitalization intentional) and its bosses, corporate sociopaths such as the Koch brothers.
The amount of money pumped into political races by corporate donors dwarfs—nearly to the level of complete insignificance—that which organized labor can muster. This dichotomy has further widened in the wake of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, yet huge numbers of anti-thinkers, led by conscience-deficient blowhards who fill the airwaves with hateful and inaccurate crap, vote directly against their own economic interests because they’d rather ameliorate their fears and validate their dearly-held stereotypes than actually see what’s right in front of ‘em. We’re being led into serfdom, and many of the serfs-to-be are enthusiastically participating in the process. The corporatists seek to destroy labor unions not because of whatever rapidly eroding financial support they can give to Democratic candidates, but because they provide one of the last well-organized sources of boots-on-the-ground logistical support in hotly contested races. And because they make convenient scapegoats.
None of this stuff is new. Only the particulars change. When these corporate Hannibal Lecters fully achieve their goals, their followers will realize that they didn’t “take back” anything at all—they just gave it all away to a relative handful of rich bastards who would just as soon squash them like bugs. The term “kochroaches” is an apt moniker for these followers. Will some of them decide they don’t like the role of expendable pawns? I hope so, but it doesn’t seem likely.
© Pseudocognitive
See this vehicle? I’m betting its primary purpose is to make people think it’s some kind of cop car. I don’t have to point out the features that would fool some people–there they are, right in front of you. The telltale aspects of its phoniness are there as well, although they may be harder to spot in this crappy camera phone picture. My point is that this is a vehicle of deception.
I took the liberty of deciding that Charlie Sheen and Mike Huckabee arrived together in this vehicle and were inside the supermarket when I snapped this shot. Charlie drove, of course. He drove with a mania few can appreciate unless they’ve witnessed or experienced it first hand. He shoved that car with an urgency of hurt, slicing and bludgeoning his way through traffic, following old wheel ruts left a century and a half ago by foolhardy citizens who ate their neighbors’ thighs and tender parts. Mike rode shotgun, chuckling at Charlie’s wild persistence at plowing the latest road to Hell. Mike traffics in the idea of Hell. He’s a master of it, and Charlie is his pilot on personal retainer. It’s a perfect match.
Next: Mike and Charlie run for office.
© Pseudocognitive
