Thursday, March 29, 2007

There are Storms and then, there are Storms

I tend to like and comprehend the theatrical froth of Political Storms -- the weird little scandals that take off on CNN, like Foley talking dirty to House pages, or even the tedium of Senate hearings where right-wing spin meets desultory attempts to get at "the truth".

The wind of a Great Storm is certainly noisy enough to attract attention, and can do considerable damage -- tear off a roof, or, sometimes, knock a house off its foundation. The Republican Party is a house, being knocked off its foundation -- a political Party pretty clearly headed to several years of minority status, foredoomed to lose the loyalty of a majority of Americans and with it all hope in 2008.

But, the real action, the world historical shifts, take place not in air, but in water, sometimes in shifting bedrock. The deep currents, tidal waves and seismic shifts are made of sterner stuff than rhetorical theatrics and interest group politics. It is still about political and social choice, but at a deeper, more profound level, most hidden from view, beneath the landscape, beneath the waves.

Stirling Newberry, my hero, has a wonderful rant up today, which takes a glance at those deep currents underlying the American economy and the implications of the Iraq War policy for the same. It is scary stuff.

http://agonist.org/stirling_newberry/20070329/bernanke_lies

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