CSI: American Carnage (Monday, October 7, 2019)
THE CENTRAL PLAINS – Far below the ragged, yellowed corn that marks the central plains, the Dark Ones sit in the Antechamber of Anamnesis, fast becoming the favored area of the vast central plains complex. The soft hum of MagicFingers fills the air, jostling the younger brother, whose digits and other body parts are becoming perilously loose. My brother, says the elder, hold yourself together. Now is not the time to fall apart. The younger brother, his face becoming a rutted plain of pits and arroyos, remains silent. The tip of his forefinger drips on the floor forming a small puddle of corruption. He seems to expel himself from within, ignoring his brother’s admonitions. The elder gazes up at the portrait of Father. He says, Father set us on the course. He showed us the path. He explained that it was indeed possible to expand until it we became one with the state, indistinguishable, grand, invincible. And indeed, there is now no difference between the silent running of our operations and the operations of the state. Our interests are now universally seen as the interests of the state. Oh, it has been a long time coming, my brother. Remember when we set up the think tanks in Washington and California? You said, Who needs the pointy heads? They are a distraction from pushing our defense contracts, seeking to end the tax theft, fighting for our liberty! All worthy, my brother, very worthy indeed. And our foundations! Yes, it was painful to pay others to make obvious what had been outrageous. But now the abnormal has become routine. What say you now? You are silent! And the ideas of the think tanks propelled by the foundations have permeated everywhere. They are pushed by our lobbyists. Pushed by our senators and congressmen. Pushed by our journalists and writers. They are ideas that course through the body of this great empire, which is our body! Make now mistake. We have created a permanent rule in this land. The Bushes come, the Bushes go, but deregulation and all who crave it are forever! Even the Kenyan Usurper was seduced. The Lying Jezebel and her hound-dog spouse were two of our greatest creations – we owe so much to them! He falls silent. The MagicFingered hum continues; the portrait of Father gazes down in silence. A tear rolls down the cheek of the Dark One. He says, Forgive me, my brother, for this spasm of sentimentality. But who could have foretold that someone such as the Gambler Showman, inept, incoherent, so lacking in vision, so unable to grasp our creation, so uninterested in all but petty personal finance, would bring us to such a pass? To be brought down by an obscure region at the far reaches of our territory is almost incomprehensible. Who would have predicted it? Yes the Gambler Showman is a nihilist. Yes he is completely amoral. Of course he is erratic. What of it? Our institutions have been built, brick by brick, since the one they call Reagan began pushing our wheelbarrow. Where is our error? The elder Dark One falls silent. His brother does not respond. The rot continues to drip from his forefinger onto the floor. – Monday, October 7, 2019