August: The Month For Phony Issues

I could use that as an excuse for not posting recently; the truth is that I have been rehearsing a play six days a week for the past three weeks (something I've never done before).  But, as I look back on the events of this month, it seems to me to be a month full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

And that includes the issue of which party will control Congress after the fall elections.  Current polls point toward big gains by the Republicans, with the possibility of gaining control of both Houses.  If that's really the case--and I still have doubts, although anything's possible--the question then becomes this:  what will the GOP do with its regained Congressional power?

The answer, as I see it, ought to disturb everyone:  the GOP doesn't have the faintest idea, nor do they care about having the faintest idea.  My guess is that congressional Republicans will probably try to distract the Obama administration with investigations and subpoenas, while ramming through legislation designed to enrich their patrons at the expense of everyone else.  But, while they distract Obama with subpoenas, they will be distracting the rest of us with phony issues.

In fact, they've been spending the better part of this month doing just that, along with their supporters in the VRWC.  I'm talking about the proposed Ground Zero Mosque, which is neither a mosque nor a building located at Ground Zero, unless you want to decide that all of Manhattan below 14th Street is now Ground Zero.  It is an Islamic community center that includes a mosque, just as the Pentagon--the other confirmed September 11th target--contains a room where Muslims can pray.  And, frankly, its presence in Lower Manhattan makes the city less likely to be a target for a repeat attack.  (Three links worth sharing:  here, here and here.

I think that the reason this issue has acquired some traction stems from two things:  residual anxiety other another domestic attack by terrorists, and the general pro-WASP, anti-everything else that constitutes the basis for what's left of modern conservatism.  Hence, the phony concerns over Obama's birthplace, and the reduction of the entire complex issue of immigration to the issue of Mexicans crossing the Rio Grande.  The mosque "issue" merely serves as further proof that the party of Lincoln has become the party of John Birch.

God help us if Obama does have to contend with a Republican Congress, because I don't think anyone else will.  If it happens, it won't be the salvation of America; it may, in fact, be a divine indictment of our lack of national character and courage.