There's a report out of Istanbul that should tell every American voter a lot. The 97-year-old heir to Turkey's powerful old Ottoman Empire lived and died in Manhattan obscurity ever since the empire collapsed after WWI. But what happened this week might help us explain today's emotional grip on millions by the Palin's, Beck's, Limbaugh's, Dobbs and Southern white Republicans....!
When I traced our family history back to 11th C Constantinople (Istanbul), I was reminded of the grandeur of this magnificent city right up to the Ottomans. So I could understand the way tens of thousands greeted the funeral of this old exile. They call it "Ottomania" -- a longing for their country's glory days. Which, if we think about it, is very much what feeds the crowds today who rally to our anti-today-pro-the-Real-America populists.
Personally, I like yesterday as much as anyone, and more than most. But the trouble with yesterdays is the way you can lasso it, saddle it and ride it exactly how you wish to. So when these high-decibel critics of today's "socialist/fascist America" ride the range, they are intentionally heading for lush green valleys that never quite were!
Take the holidays. For the next few weeks we are happily immersed in the ginger-bready feel of Hallmark Cards and Currier & Ives scenes. Warm wondrous scenes to be sure! However, if your holidays don't quite match the scenes, don't despair -- it happens to everyone. Well, except our current legion of political populists who are tapping into their own version of Ottomania for the masses. You know, their passionate clarion calls for returning to the Real America where there were no drugs, no gangs, no government, no illegal immigrants, and no socialist-fascist deathers in the White House.
Hey -- you find me that America, and I'll travel there with you. Only it didn't, doesn't and won't exist.
This -- this fractured and furious America -- is the only one we have. So the sooner these glamorous range-riders turn their rage around to collectively face it and fix it, the better we'll all be.....
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"This -- this fractured and furious America -- is the only one we have. So the sooner these glamorous range-riders turn their rage around to collectively face it and fix it, the better we'll all be."
ReplyDeleteYou should send this to President Obama as I don't think he could express it any better!
So lets hope Obama can corral these mustangs...!
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