August 22, 2012

The Reverse French Revolution



Sometimes Dmitry Orlov is just too funny (from cluborlov.com):

"And if you can't, then why don't you go out and take part in the Reverse French Revolution that's underway in the US. That's where revolting peasants do all they can to elect an aristocrat who will swindle them out of their savings even faster and lock up even more of them in the Bastille. And what makes these peasants so revolting is that they are all fat—from eating cake instead of bread, just as Marie Antoinette had suggested.]"

I don't know how to describe the tendency of the American electorate to "vote against its own economic interest," as Thomas Frank described in "What's The Matter With Kansas?" and as Roy Zimmerman set to music in "Real America" any better than calling it a "Reverse French Revolution." I suppose, back in France in 1789, the French, inspired by the American example of 13 years earlier, could not be so easily distracted by warning them that if the Aristocrats were not allowed to stay in power, the next thing you know, Henry et Jacques will be getting married!  Sacre bleu!

Whereas, in the United States of 2012, that's all you have to do - just tell Americans that, although they're broke, at least raped young women are going to have increasing trouble getting an abortion.  So we've got you covered! 

Meanwhile, the Most Boring Presidential Campaign in American History grinds on toward its electrifying finish - Bank-Coddling Barack versus Offshore Tax Haven Mitt.  I presume that if Mitt is elected, he will enthusiastically endorse (and begin to use) the new power which Obama created, that of the Presidential right to whack American citizens deemed Too Dangerous to Live, without trial, without charges, without giving a reason, for that matter. 

It's all good, all part of the Reverse French Revolution that is the American political process.  Tom, just write another book and call this one What's the Matter with America?