An American Lion

The White House, 31 Oct 2009

Contrast the image above, with a poorly-positioned Imperial Stormtrooper, and this:

Trying to explain successful efforts by conservatives to topple the Republican establishment’s pick to run in an upstate New York congressional special election, a leading Republican said Sunday that he thinks the country is in the midst of a “political rebellion” driven largely by people who have not previously been vocal in the political process.

“We’re in the middle, I think, of a political rebellion going on in America,” House Majority Leader John Boehner said on CNN’s State of the Union, ”And this rebellion is by people who really have not been actively involved in the political process and they don’t really care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican. They want to see people who are going to stand up and protect the future for our kids and grandkids.”

These are ridiculous times. The "stormtroopers" from Star Wars were the bad guys, cloned fanatics who were the "muscle" of the Empire. I don't understand why they are ubiquitous in the culture when, clearly, it was the small band of rebels, who, in their rebellion, were able to outsmart and outfight the Empire. And, of course, what a poor choice of names. No phony outrage here--I'm just pointing out that there is no political "rebellion" in this country. There are simply screeching, overly-vocal people (many with antecedents in the Free Republic movement and in the Ron Paul movement) who are shouting their way into the debate without regard for the truth. It's not your father's Republican Party anymore, but it's still a Democrat Party that can't cooperate with itself or run a one car parade.

What is lacking right now is a loyal opposition that is not insane. We expected good government after last year's election but what we have gotten are countless examples of incompetence, fraud, and bungling.

Whose idea was it to put one near the door of the White House? Harmless though it may be, what a poorly-chosen symbolic image.