She’s a grand old flag. A high flying flag. She once belonged to the Clinton campaign- the second one, as I recall. I was working in the building on Glebe Road in the Ballston neighbourhood of Arlington, VA, on the right side of the Potomac. With the exception of a few years downtown, I have lived or worked in that neighbourhood for nearly fifteen years. Nice place, but it is changing.
Of course, everything is, and it quite unsettling to those of us in our declining years. I have been down at Refuge Farm since before Christmas, and it feels as comfy as an old shoe. If shoes had snow, that is.
It certainly changed when the Hillary Campaign- the second one- moved it’s headquarters into the building next door. We prospective voters would periodically see the big black Suburbans pull up in the lot behind it, which meant the Candidate might be pressing the flesh with her team. Or something.
When she did not win against Mr. Obama, there was a fire sale on the office equipment and fixtures the failed campaign had used. I saw a flyer and went to check it out. I bought a couple external computer speakers, a computer keyboard and one of the ceremonial flags used as backdrops for the campaign pictures.
I liked the flag. It was in like-new condition, and flew from my staff screwed into the flank of my patio oak tree up at Big Pink.
The wind blows fiercely at my corner of the building, and after a season was showing some fraying on the hem. I am a stickler for flag treatment, and thought I could use it for a while on the back deck where no one could be offended until I do the ceremonial burning on the big rock that protrudes from the north pasture with honour.
I did not get to it, and Hillary’s flag flew right through this morning. It still is. If I was doing this properly, I would have burned Old Glory because she is in no condition for public display. But heck, the farm is my private property and no one can see it without invitation or trespass. Over the years, I began to look at Hillary’s flag not so much as an object of veneration, but as an object lesson.
I looked at it with dread during Secretary Clinton’s inevitable march back to the Oval Office. Like most of the rest of us, I was dumfounded by the improbable win of Mr. Trump, and the delightful prospect that there would be at least four years before the Fundamental Transformation of America could resume.
I left Old Glory up, viewing the disintegration of my flag as being part of it.
Frankly, I am not surprised the House flipped in last November’s elections. There are all kinds of new tools available to the politicians now, Social Media, search engines, ballot harvesting and wholesale importation of undocumented prospective voters.
Even more exciting, there is talk of a new legislative initiative- a Green one, of course- that will roll up single-payer healthcare, national conversion to a ‘renewable’ energy economy, free college and a guaranteed income. All in the next decade.
Can you imagine? I can see the attraction of all that public largess. It is an unbeatable deal for those receiving it, and a bit of a squeeze on those who will have to be taxed to pay for it. All for only $30 Trillion dollars over just ten years.
Yeah, trillion with a “T.”
That anyone could seriously propose replacing fossil fuels over the same decade- the ones that power transportation, heating, electricity for our computers- must be seriously delusional and need an intervention. Of course, none of this is about anything but a ruthless and quite startling transformation in our national life.
We have a ballooning national debt that is so large that it staggers the imagination. We are adding a trillion of debt each year. So, should anyone be crazy enough to endorse that strategy will have us $60 trillion in the hole by the time the decade has passed after such lunacy is implemented. If I am alive, it will be a kick to the ribs of a decrepit old man. For my grandkids, it will mean a life of serfdom, or worse.
Of course, I am hard pressed to think of something worse save death. What was that old line? “Liberty, or something or other, without giving offence or invoking some privilege or another?”
This first week of the new Congress had it all. A Freshman legislator accused the President coarsely of unseemly conduct with his mother. I am searching hard for a comparable remark, and the best I could come up with was the congressman who audibly accused the sitting president of lying over his plans for healthcare.
Which of course he was. But even that few years ago, there was horror about the disrespect to the man and the office. But as they say, the times change, there is a new generation rising, and by the time we get to the 2020 election, the Green proposal may be regarded as “common sense,” which in my experience is the case for everything that isn’t.
It is nice at the farm. I may stay here and look at Old Glory on the back deck. Long may she wave.
Copyright 2019 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com