Thelma and Louise and the Democrats
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| Glenn K. Beaton |
February 19, 2017
by Glenn K. Beaton (ever-so lightly emended by FT)
In the movie “Thelma and Louise,” a bullied Arkansas housewife and a harried waitress ditch their mundane lives for a road trip in their 1966 Thunderbird convertible. It doesn’t end well.
In fact, it doesn’t even start well. Thelma, played by Gina Davis, gets drunk and is sexually assaulted. Louise, played by Susan Sarandon, rescues her. But then the assaulter insults them, so Louise shoots and kills him.
Their road trip turns into a getaway. They figure they’ll escape to Mexico, but Louise won’t travel through Texas because she’d once been raped there. They loop north to Arizona by way of the Grand Canyon.
Along the way, they meet a thief, played by Brad Pitt, who teaches them his trade. They blow up a fuel tanker, knock over a convenience store, outrun the FBI and steal a hat.
But the cops eventually catch up, and they’re cornered in front of the Grand Canyon where they’re forced to surrender.
Except they don’t. Instead, they hop in the old Thunderbird, kiss one another goodbye and floor it. They and the Thunderbird fly over the cliff and into the Grand Canyon.
That’s the end of the movie, and the end of them.
In another story — call it “The Dems” — the junior political party in America launches an extended road trip for their soon-to-be-elected president. But as in “Thelma and Louise”, things go south quickly.
Their candidate gets insulted by a provocateur and five-time bankrupt real estate developer with orange hair who fails to grab her and so she fails to shoot him. But she does have fainting fits, gets drunk and (allegedly) goes on a crime spree that draws the attention of the FBI.
The candidate stays one step ahead of the cops, who aren’t actually chasing very hard, but eventually the voters catch up with her. She and the other Dems lose the election.
Along the way, they also lose most of the governorships, lose the state legislatures, lose Congress, lose the Supreme Court, lose 30,000 emails, lose influence and lose a bunch of influence-peddling speaking engagements.
Then they lose their cool. They take time out from their nonstop moral preening in the rearview mirror for a temper tantrum.
For years, these losers have been proclaiming that their opponents are on the “wrong side of history” in politics, which is like being on the wrong side of the road on a road trip. But now they’ve learned that both in history and on road trips, it’s tough to make predictions, especially about the part in front of you. And that makes them so mad.
That, and losing.
They demand a recount. They ask the Electoral College to go rogue. They blame it all on the Russians — after giving them a pass on their Crimean conquest and Syrian slaughter.
Some refuse to attend the inauguration. Some call on the newly elected president to resign and, if he doesn’t, imply that he should be impeached or worse.
Their ideas are like Thelma’s 1966 Thunderbird convertible: fun and eye-catching, but unsafe at any speed.
And they can’t find anyone to drive. They can’t find someone to chair the Democratic National Committee after the past two were caught cheating. The recent possibilities include a Louis Farrakhan follower whom even fellow Dems have labelled anti-Semitic, a Socialist from the last administration (and the last century) and the head of the biggest abortion operation in the country.
While Middle America celebrates their soaring 401(k) plans, the Dems boycott hearings to confirm the new president’s cabinet. They protest in the streets. They revile and point accusatory fingers at everyone who disagrees with them.
They hang and burn the new president in effigy, call his immigrant wife a prostitute and mock their young son as autistic.
And they make good on their threats to leave the country. Oops, I got that part wrong. But one Dem state does fantasize about resurrecting the Confederacy by seceding from the Union.
They threaten to filibuster the new president’s nominee for the Supreme Court, thereby pushing the Republicans toward abolishing the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees (as the Dems themselves abolished it for district court and appellate court nominees) so that they forfeit the leverage they would have down the road in the next nomination.
Because their much-ballyhooed “arc of history” took an unexpected detour, they shout, cry and riot. And with a comic touch, they do so in the names of Tolerance, Emotional Maturity and Intellectualism.
But as it sometimes does in the movies, and always does in the real world, reality eventually catches up to them.
Now the Dems are cornered at the edge of the cliff. They’re nearly out of gas — their ideas, power and lives are almost exhausted — but they still have just enough left to write an end to this story.
Depending on the ending they choose, they may also put an end themselves.
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| A perfect metaphor for today's Democrats? |
[NOTE: Glenn K. Beaton is a writer and columnist living in Aspen, Colorado. He has been a contributor to The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets.]
Would anyone that says that Donald Trump is "not their president" be willing to give up their passport. . Either shut up or stand up and be American.
ReplyDeleteIf you are American, then He is your president. We only have one president and someone, whether or not we like it or not, has to be that person. If you don’t like it then Shut the Hell up and go somewhere else where you’ll be happier!
Tom, I don't disgree, but this is NOT a response to the article comparing Thelma and Louise to the current spectacle Leftists are making of themselves vis the enemedia and the unabashed displays of bilious temperament and childish spitefulness indulged in by most of the Democrats in congress.
DeleteAfter reading a few dozen articles I thought this one by Glenn K.Beaton of THE ASPEN BEAT to be possibly the wittiest and most informative chronicle and analysis of the current political climate.
I feel we must learn to LISTEN, and not merely to EMOTE all the time. Tautologies are never patricularly instructive or entertaining.
Tom, if you met me in person, you would never tell me to "shut the hell up," and if you did, you'd find out really fast just what a little girly liberal I am. I wish you cons would tone down the online manly-man BS. Makes you look insecure.
ReplyDeleteFT, I don't care for Mr Beaton (who lives in Aspen, but needs a gun to live there, and thinks 401Ks are forever going up thanks to conservatives, something very recent history should have anyone knowing better).
His analogy is typical low-brow macho crap. "Thelma and Louise" has long been a derogatory trope for these sorts. I never liked the movie anyway.
BUT... now that I've gotten all that chemo-induced venom properly spewed in every direction, he does have a point, though I doubt he knows he made it.
The Democrats are having a debate on CNN to ostensibly help decide who's going to run the DNC (though I get the feeling it's probably a fait accompli). I watched a couple of the prior debates on C-Span. These debates have had no bearing at all whatsoever on the realities of the American working class, period. Not a wisp.
The problem the Dems have is simple - large blocs of their voters do not exist anymore. Union membership has declined to it's lowest since the founding of the labor movement. Catholic Irish, Italians and Poles, have long-since mainstreamed into society and are no longer a monolithic Dem vote, or even are Catholic anymore. Even Jews are less Democratic, (though these days I get the feeling it'll be swinging back the other way). They do not remember what it was like for their ancestors. They feel no kinship with the migrants who've come since, and no desire to see them have the opportunities their ancestors had, like the vote, and citizenship. At the same time, we've seen the masses suffer economic stagnancy for decades, and while the Dems talk about issues like the "glass ceiling," their target voters look up and see a Wal-Mart ceiling that NO ONE is rising to. While the Dems talk about equal rights for gays and lesbians, the Wal-Mart worker sees plenty of them all around them and they're already all the same, at the bottom of the ladder, while the Dems talk about the plight of the inner-cities, poor rurality goes unnoticed.
The Democrats need to change. They have to go after the service sector. They have to fight to get these millions of long-since Americans legalized. They have to advertise on TV with every penny they can raise to save Net Neutrality and LifeLine. They have to advertise every day on every channel to remind Americans they are being majority-represented by the minority party! The GOP, conservatives, are not majorities in the country, yet they've been running it for years (something someone really needs to tell Mr Beaton who just makes up facts like Trump does). Otherwise, yeah, they're driving off a cliff, but not because of anything they did, but because of what they didn't do, reach out to those who really need them right now.
JMJ
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteTom,
DeleteCUT THE CRAP!
Jersey,
DeleteI'm glad to see you writing with vigor. I'll take it as a Hopeful Good Sign about your general health and well-being.
I'm also very glad to see your understanding and admission that the Democrats are not doing a very good job. On that we can certainly agree, although your reasons for it, and mine undoubtedly differ.
Sorry you don't like Mr. Beaton. I found him to be an excellent writer, and an unusually astute analyst with a wonderful wry sense of humor.
He did not say that 401K's would rise "forever," he merely stated –– with perfect accuracy, I must add, –– that they HAVE RISEN DRAMATICALLY since President Trump won the election.
My portfolio, which is the sole source of my support in retirement has languished in the doldrums and made hardly any significant capital gains since Mr. Obama was elected. Financially I, –– despite the aid of excellent professional money management ––, have only managed to tread water since the Deep Dive of 2009.
Since November 8, 2016, however, I've made greater gains (on paper) than I have at any time prior to the devastating Bear Market that suddenly overtook us on the eve of Obama's election.
Do I blame G.W. Bush for the Big Drop? Of course, he was a LOUSY president, but only partially to blame. The REAL villain in the piece is DODD-FRANK, which effectively destroyed the equity in millions of homes throughout the nation.
My STOCKS and BONDS have weathered the storm very well all things considered. My losses there were kept at a minimum, even during the worst of it, thank God, BUT the value of my HOUSE plummeted 70% (SEVENTY-PERCENT!) overnight thanks to the imbecilic lending policies imposed on the banks by DODD-FRANK.
Yes, my home's value has recovered A BIT, but it is nowhere near what it had been in 2007. EIGHT years later I am STILL nowhere near the BREAK-EVEN point on my investment. I would LOSE at least a couple of hundred thousand dollars were I to sell, right now. –––– NOT a good thing after owning the place for nearly EIGHTEEN YEARS, and virtually redesigning and rebuilding every aspect of it!
We have seen economic stagnation for the working class and for mid-level executives, Jersey, because LEFTIST policies have made it harder and harder for businesses to make profits, and THAT is what has driven so many factories out of business and so many jobs offshore.
When you sicken, maim or KILL the Goose that Lays the Golden Eggs, you can't expect to get much increase in our supply of gold, can you? ;-)
If my noticeably psychotic vigor is a good sign, then thanks for noticing! (I think I'm just cranky. Strangulated my left hernia Sat for a while, right in the middle of chemo!) It's cool, though. You know me. I can take it. ;)
DeleteIt seems to me, and it really kicked into high gear in the 80's, that we put faaaaaar too much emphasis on the stock market as the driver of the economy. Though that said, we should always be wary when it moves rapidly, in either direction, for no clear reason (like some huge breakthrough invention or a war or something). Trump strikes me as a bad reason, an opportunity for short gains that will leave a big hole once taken.
When I look at the boom/bust cycle we saw in real estate most recently, the one main factor I see playing was the repeal of Glass-Steagall. Here's a great little piece summing it up (and putting the blame on Bill Clinton, which you should appreciate!): http://www.demos.org/blog/9/11/15/owning-consequences-clinton-and-repeal-glass-steagall
Dodd-Frank was a band aid on a bad stitch-job. Like just driving around with lots of water in the car to keep filling up when you've got a cracked head. Like... okay, enough metaphors... But it has had the effect of keeping the market more stable, and after some years of correcting, the market looks far more realistic today than it did in 2006, the biggest of the boom years.
The Motley Fool had a good piece on what I'm getting at when it comes to stagnation: https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/13/1-chart-every-middle-class-american-needs-to-see.aspx
"Why middle class wealth is withering away
...
First, the housing bubble from late last decade really sapped the net worth out of middle-class households...
Secondly, access to credit is arguably easier in the U.S. than in many other regions of the world. During the housing boom in the mid-2000s, this was a great way for middle-class families to grow their wealth. However, the housing bubble, combined with high debt levels, have chipped away at middle-class household wealth.
A third issue? Stagnant wage growth... Pew Research pointed out that in spite of nominal wage growth of 727% between 1964 and 2014, in constant 2014 dollars... real wage growth has totaled just 7.8% over 50 years. College tuition, medical care, and even fuel costs have risen at a faster pace, thus diminishing the buying power of the middle class.
Fourth, there's quite an income gap between the richest Americans and the middle class in the United States. According to CNN, the U.S. has 42% of the world's millionaires, and basically half (49%) of all people with $50 million or more in assets. These super rich Americans certainly skew the results.
Finally, near record-low lending rates aren't helping. The middle class, which was hammered by the stock market decline during the Great Recession, has few avenues of safety to turn to with CD and money market rates losing to an already reduced inflation rate."
In all my years, I never saw some Leftist anything hurt growth in America. If anything, we are about the least Leftist nation in the developed world. It just doesn't add up. I would argue exactly the opposite - the it is short-sighted Rightist policies that have done the damage, stacking the odds for the well-off and leaving the rest to the scraps. Other countries have far higher taxes, but they don't allow the off-shoring of everything. Even our corporate tax rate (and I'm not a fan of corporate taxes), which seems high on paper, is actually, about average, once the effective rate, the actual amount corporations pay, is measured. So, I don't see that either.
What I saw was Wall Street messing around on Maple Street, and the American homeowner got robbed. If we had a strong Left in this country, that would never have been allowed to happen.
JMJ
Oops!
DeleteDodd-Frank was a band aid on a bad stitch-job. Like just driving around with lots of water in the car to keep filling up when you've got a cracked head. Like... okay, enough metaphors... But it has had the effect of keeping the real estate market more stable, and after some years of correcting, the real estate market looks far more realistic today than it did in 2006, the biggest of the boom years.
;)
JMJ
I have to admit that I never saw the movie "Thelma and Louise", primarily because I'm not a fan of Susan Sarandon. I'm not a Republican or Democrat and can't vote in an American election since I'm not American. But I do support the President in his endeavors to "drain the swamp" and move the political actions of the future toward smaller government and roll back the ever advancing state into the lives and privacy of the citizens of the country.
ReplyDeleteIs Trump on course for attaining this end? I don't know for sure. I've seen his recent extended press conference and his rhetoric seems to indicate he is. His recent speech in Florida seems to indicate that he is. But his actions lately make me think maybe something has changed from his campaign rhetoric Some of his appointments make me think that he's been compromised by some establishment tyes within the party—starting with the V.P. and onward from there.
Trump can still play his strong suit to "drain the swamp" but he's likely got some of the pedophile creeps within his own administration now. If the mission to drain the swamp gets derailed I'd guess it's because of this. And he'll then need to be watching his back more vigilantly.
There are rumors around the Mike Pence himself may be more of a "swamp creature" that one who would actually "drain the swamp". And Rex Tillerson was directly involved in imposing the homosexual agenda upon the Boy Scouts of America, not a positive, IMO.
All in all, I'm optimistically hopeful that Donald Trump can see his way around some of the snakes in the swamp and stay the course that he defined earlier. Hopefully it was not just empty political rhetoric to get elected.
While the Obama's saw the White House has nothing more than their personal playground - a way to have tax payers foot the bill for them to travel around the world, host Beyoncé , JayZ, Tiger Woods, and George Clooney to play golf, and make appearances on everything from The View, to the Late Night Shows where Michelle would show the world how many Jumping Jacks she could do in 10 minutes, to CNN, where Barack was able to vent by calling Fox News every name in the books. While Donald Trump is politely telling them "thanks....but no thanks - I've got work to do".
ReplyDeleteNow I never said that Trump wasn't a narcissist. But at least he's not a narcissist who views the White House as a way to fill his pockets with Millions from deals and promises to our enemies like Iran. Or speeches to Goldman Saks .
So instead of going on vacations with Movie and TV celebrities like Oprah, or Meryl Streep, its nice to have an adult in the Oval Office again. And I’m glad to see he is already repairing the relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel that Obama destroyed..
Not to say that Obama didn’t do anything, I must admit that he dis, after all he set the record for most people on food stamps during his administration! He set the record for most people out of the labor force! He set the record that most likely will never be broken for most debt accumulated by a president! He set the Middle East on fire facilitating the birth of ISIS!
He completely destroyed U.S./ Israeli relations! He obliterated U.S - Russian relations!
He caused millions to lose their health insurance and their doctors! He caused healthcare costs to skyrocket! And he caused energy prices to skyrocket! Yes, our boy sure did a bang up job didn’t he! Maybe spending 85% of his time with JayZ & Beyoncé and playing golf was a godsend for the American people. I shutter to think of the additional damage he could've done to this country if he had a work ethic. And lets not forget the lavish meals in the finest restaurants in the world along with the many, many lavish vacations alover the world with their friends and family along at the taxpayers expense.
The American people were fed up with unconstitutional government, left-wing fascism, and a media pushing the left-wing agenda. We elected Donald Trump to beat the ever-loving crap out of the left. That's what he's doing. He’s doing exactly what he was elected to do. And it's having the exact effect the American people wanted - it's causing left-wing bleeding hearts to completely meltdown.
And for your information, Obama didn't inherit a "Mess" from Bush.
The "Mess" occurred the moment that a radical Marxist was elected president!
"...he set the record for most people on food stamps during his administration! He set the record for most people out of the labor force! He set the record that most likely will never be broken for most debt accumulated by a president! He set the Middle East on fire facilitating the birth of ISIS!
DeleteHe completely destroyed U.S./ Israeli relations! He obliterated U.S - Russian relations!
He caused millions to lose their health insurance and their doctors! He caused healthcare costs to skyrocket! And he caused energy prices to skyrocket!"
Mr. Know It All, do you really believe all those things happened because of Obama? Do you even think all those things happened in the first place (energy prices???)?
JMJ
They happened under President Obama's WATCH, Jersey.
DeletePresidents ALWAYS get blamed for whatever occurs during their administrations, even though the seeds may have been sown much easier.
History, as you know, is nothing but a very long series of chain reactions.
I think we should stop digging around for 'evidence" that smears and defames people in power, and judge them strictly by the RESULTS they produce –– usually against much mindless opposition and tremendous stress.
Being President of the United States is a one sweet son-of-a-BITCH of job. Why anyone would want to do it is beyond my comprehension.
I can't stand when people put all that on Obama. It shows a clear lack of character or principles.
DeleteJMJ
Good Read.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kid. I love pieces that use a little imagination and draw parallels to movies, plays, books, poems, etc. Breaks up the monotony in political discourse.
DeleteI've always despised Susan Sarandon, as I have Jane Fonda, so it tickled me pn to see something Susan did used as a metaphor for the SUICIDE of the D'Rat Party.
Of course they'll never REALLY go away. We know that, but it's good to see them brought low and reduced to sputtering, impotent, incoherent, self-destructive out-of-control behavior.
I have to agree with Michael Savage: Liberalism [really is] mental disorder.
It troubles me that so many of my dearest friends identify these;vis as Liberal Democrats. Most of them really are very nice, very decent people.
Kinda drives ya nuts to think about it.
I believe it, as well.
ReplyDeleteNews Flash! The Vast Majority of Canadians Don't Want Any More Refugees Either! Surprise, Surprise!
ReplyDeleteAlmost half of the total murders in Ottawa last year involved Muslims. The same had also been true for the previous year.
And I Can't say That I blame them. I'm sure the Canadians have been watching what's been going on over in Europe, and the rest of the world just as we have
But our Democratic “friends” just can’t understand that! But, unfortunately for Canada they are still ruled by progressives, who will always rule against the will of the people. So thank Heavens for President Trump.
Ivana Jurkitoff said
ReplyDeleteYou have to admit one thing about Susan Sarandon. She may be a nasty fool when it comes to politics, but even at seventy she is still one hot babe.