Speaking with Dragons

When speaking with dragons, it is wise to know the names of things. True names have great power and if you know the dragon's name...


I've been sitting back, these last few days, watching the dust settle and seeing all the old song and dance routines, the familiar pressures brought to bear in the name of party 'unity' for the Democrats. The slow, grinding, patronizing "there, there, now, now" susurrus meant to lull all the plebes back to sleep.

You shouldn't have woken us up...

"There, there," they say, "this will all be over soon, like a bad dream and you can go back to your little lives, we'll take care of everything." And they are, the maneuvering to neutralize Hillary's supporters goes on. Maybe they'll have to give her the VP slot just to shut her up, I'm sure they'll avoid that if they possibly can - after all, then they'd have to hire a food taster for Obama, wouldn't they?

...because we're not going away now...

The point of all the posturing and faux unity nonsense is not to provide a place for the actual winner of the primaries, no, it's to provide a plausible pretext for saying - to all the 'bitter' people: "See? It's all better now, come home and we'll talk about it; there, there, now, now." smooth as butter, "Just walk with us for a little while - until November - and then you can rest." the sound of unruffled feathers fills the room ...

...we have looked behind the curtain...

They'll play on all the buttons: the "Party Unity" button - "Come on now, Hils, you've been a good little Democrat for goin' on, what now? Forty years? Done what you're told, toed the line - except for these last few months - but what the heck: forgive and forget, right? Just reel in your white racists, er , uh, disaffected Democrats for us and we'll give you a big present, mebbe pay off your campaign debts - oh, don't you worry about that legal stuff, Obama'll fix that as soon as he takes over. Mebbe, we'll even make you the VP, eh? How'd you like that? You could snooze all day over at the Naval Observatory, cut ribbons at mini-malls, go to parties, hold a bake sale - anything you want!"

...we have seen through your mask, we know your true name now...

The "Little Lady" button: "Aw, don't be like that, Hils. You know we didn't really mean it when we said you an' Chelsea were whores - that's just politics, you know nobody means anything they say out there, it's just BS to rile up the voters so they'll do what they're told... well, sure, maybe you meant it but... Sweetie, why don't you just simmer down and let the menfolk handle things, hmmm? Don't you worry your pretty little head about it anymore, all right?"

...and you have had so many names through the ages, haven't you?...

The "Patriotism" button: "You have to swallow your pride now, Hillary, it's for the good of the country. After all, we let you go on and on through the whole, entire, useless primary season, didn't we? Even though you knew you we were never going to give it you, right? So now it's time to step back in line and be a good little soldier for Obama. After all you wouldn't want that other guy to win, right? So just get your stupid supporters to shut up and do what they're told and everything will be all right."

...some names come from the old days: Alcibiades, Dionysius of Syracuse, Caligula, Attila...

After the 'sweeting' ploys are done, the bouquets scattered on the ground, the courtship over, we'll begin to see the plan unfold. The disingenuous attacks on patriotism, the false claims of moral superiority, the demonization of the 'other'. All the classic ploys that each side will now use, identical tactics and strangely similar messages - because there is now no difference between them. The Republican fanatics we have all reviled in past contests for their lies, smears and blatant racism - will now be matched filth for filth by home-grown Democratic thugs.

...some have more recent provenance: Lenin, Beria and Stalin from Russia, Mao from China, Hitler and Goebbels from Germany, Pol Pot from Cambodia, Tojo from Japan...

The grandiose proclamations, like the one today: "no lobbyist money allowed" while the lobbyists' lawyers sit on all the advisory boards and the money flows, unimpeded. Obama will, no doubt, be 'shocked, shocked' to discover that "K Street" money has somehow appeared in his coffers.

...oh, and there are others, so many, many others...

The blatant racism that pervades the Obama organization has been subject to a peculiar wrinkle in the fabric of space/time: everyone (the Obamabots, the political world and the media) has agreed to ignore it, rationalize it, invert it - to the point that, if it is ever even mentioned, the transgressor is immediately accused of racism themselves. It will be interesting to see how that strategy works when Michelle's words with Mrs. Farrakhan are 'leaked'. They may not remember, but we will.

...they come in all shapes and sizes and colors, they come as ministers or as wise men with words as seductive as a summer dusk; they come as firebrands, burning with passion, keepers of a secret flame; they come as bearers of glad tidings, eager to spread the good, good news...

The themes of the potent demagogue, riding high on the surge of his own rhetoric are legion in our culture. Hubris is the word the Greeks invented to describe the fault: overweening pride and arrogance, sufficient to make the gods take notice and intervene. Calling yourself 'transformative' might qualify, comparing yourself to Kennedy, to Lincoln, to... well, who's next? That might qualify as well.

...so many shifting shapes, so many thin disguises, a veil for every taste, a coin for every sleight of hand...

The dance goes on and on, the steps are set, lines learned, lights on... let the beguiling begin.

...but we know you now, whatever your disguise, despite your soporific words - the sound of silk on silk - the warmth of a mother's kiss...

Like all the empty men before you, you seek to fill the void inside with the empathy and energy of your acolytes, that is why there is no surcease, no surfeit; there are never enough new followers to fill your need and there never will be. They hear in you the echo of their thoughts because you have no center, all is reflection and refraction, their hopes and dreams meet your event horizon and fall past remembrance into your dark center from which nothing escapes.

...we know what you want, the only thing you want - our grasp released, our embers banked, our brow lowered, eyes unfocused, hands folded - our acquiescence...

The unending cycle now repeats, in a slow chaconne: step - don't worry, I'll take care of you, step - give me your allegiance, step - don't bother with the details, step - I'll do the thinking for you, step - sign here and then forget, step - now you can sleep again.

...you will not wrest it from us this time, you will have to tread the great wheel again, to another time, another imagining, finding other victims in other dreams of power...

Some, of course, will not collaborate, for any price. The proud who require honor and respect, the stubborn who demand to know the details, the critical thinkers who want positions defined and defended, the questioners who want their questions answered. We who are not satiated with soaring rhetoric (we can do that, too, we're not impressed) . We who want to know the 'what' of what is it you're planning, the 'how' of how you plan to do it, the 'why' of why it is you think we should. We have hinted and implied, we have asked and requested, required and demanded and your response has been...silence, eloquent in its quiet thunder... so be it. Now we will answer you.

...for now we know your name, we have no need to speak it, you are already robbed of your power over us. The time has come for you to hear our name - so you will know we mark you, we who will never give in, never forget, never forgive.

Our name is: Nemesis.