I Saw This One Coming

Just a reminder: Politics is a spectator sport for me. I have zero sympathy for any current political organization or agenda. No government on this earth does what God requires so there’s no point in taking sides with anyone.

Back when it first came out in theaters, I went with my sister to watch an afternoon matinee featuring The Pit and the Pendulum. At the climax of the film, our hero was strapped to a table beneath a massive razor-sharp pendulum swinging side to side. With each pass the whole thing dropped a centimeter or so, torturing the poor victim with the thought of his painful demise before actually taking several slices to be fatal.

That’s the image in my mind every time I think about our American political system. However, the sheeple aren’t even aware of the whole picture. They live under a fantasy that they can push the pendulum to their side and make it stay. They don’t realize that it will eventually slice them up. While I can’t pretend to know the names of powerful figures cynical enough to do this on purpose, there has to be a few out there fully aware that issues gaining popular notice aren’t that important. They are simply playing the assigned role by pretending to care about partisan issues. Meanwhile, the truly awful stuff takes place behind the scenes while everyone else is distracted.

It’s about time to switch back the other way. We see today a left-wing drive to press the advantage before the pendulum stops and begins swinging toward the right. I’m going to guess that the issue most likely to explode in their faces will be some attempt to confiscate personal firearms. I assure you that if government really intended to disarm American citizens, it would be done very quietly and very slowly because that’s the only way you could pull it off. No, whether the guns are taken or not isn’t the point. There has to be some kind of manufactured crisis right about the time the really nasty background stuff goes through.

Then we will be set up for the right-wing backlash. One of the people who plans to lead that backlash is Oklahoma’s Congressman Steve Russell.

As with everything else, I can’t possibly know all the pertinent facts, but I am compelled to maintain a clear conscience for myself by faithfully reporting my own experiences in seeking God’s favor. It’s all about that narrative. I was in the crowd at First Southern Baptist Church of Del City when Russell came home to a hero’s welcome, having been battalion commander of the Army unit that captured Saddam in Iraq. As soon as he rose to be identified, everything about him radiated political animal.

I became acquainted with his kids, heard his early public presentations and even helped edit some of his early editorial articles as he attempted to get his name out there in the public awareness. I was neither enemy nor fan, but simply wanted to see if my guess was accurate. So far, all my predictions about him came true. He’s no statesman, just a propaganda shill.

He has some charisma and worked on his propaganda skills, but he’s just not quite as talented as his ambitions. His early worked reeked of cheap manipulation, so all he ever managed to do was fire up those already sympathetic to his agenda. He’s always been the darling of the Rush Limbaugh fans. In those early days I feel certain he was a true believer. However, unlike someone of Ron Paul’s caliber, his convictions are fantasy that requires some amount of compartmentalized awareness. Ron Paul is apparently guileless, sincerely deceived about the usefulness of politics and Western Civilization. Russell is a little on the edge of wacko. He’s a hard-core Zionist, among other things. Not so much in what he says, but if you watch his actions, you’ll recognize this is his nature.

For example, he recently published a report on wasteful government spending. I assure you it wasn’t the money, but that said money wasn’t spent on his favorite causes. A retired Lieutenant Colonel? You bet he’s a war-monger, and would not hesitate to slice and dice a few harmless Muslims just because they are Muslim.

Recently there was a big local controversy when a bunch of unelected officials with nothing to lose decided that there would be a new turnpike running more or less along Peebly Road between I-40 and Turner Turnpike (I-44). But they pretend to care and hosted a presentation to answer questions. They claim it’s not mapped out yet, but one of the answers they gave to a question was that this is a done deal and they will be taking mass quantities of property to do it. These are not nice people; they won’t hesitate to sick armed troops on people who would prefer to keep their own land. You can bet some of them are making big corrupt money of this process.

So Russell showed up at the meeting in part because he owns property out there. He claimed his presence was as a private landowner. However, it’s been a long time and I sense that he’s far more cynical and less idealistic than when he first got started. Either he’s already been bought off or he’s fishing for some kind of political deal by showing up like that.

Given how he’s met every one of my expectations in the past, I see no reason I shouldn’t warn those folks out in eastern county that Russell is not your friend nor ally, so don’t trust him. He talks all cool and collected, but if you get in his way, he wouldn’t hesitate to ruin your life. At least one commentator has called him a “Shiite Republican.” When the rigth-wing backlash gets rolling, he’ll do his best to be in the front of the pack. Again, I’m not his enemy and totally insignificant in his world. All I can do is watch that pendulum swing and slice.