November 5, 2010. Still Disheartened By The Election? It Could Be Worse . . .
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| Guy Fawkes contemplating the 112th Congress |
“Move along. Nothing to see here.” As President Obama observed, we took a shellacking on November 2nd. Since then the sparks have ignited, with pundits and talking heads fanning the flames, assigning blame (“It’s Obama, stupid!”) and predicting retribution (“Democrats are an endangered species!”). This election introduces a wild card into the 112th Congress – the emerging Tea Party (TP). Though their beliefs and legislative priorities are nothing new to Capitol Hill, their base of supporters appear more invested. They will be watched carefully by them and expectations are high. The Tea Partiers believe in their kinship with revolutionaries and speak a similar language. They seem to be heading to town to drastically dismantle the very government they come to take part in. Could it be worse? Oh yes . . .
Things could be worse, much worse.
When thinking unsettling post-election thoughts I was reminded that this evening is Guy Fawkes Night in the United Kingdom. Fireworks, bonfires, and burnings in effigy will break out in plenitude in Britain tonight in contemplation of Guy Fawkes, the longest remembered plotter, who was the explosives expert among the group that attempted to destroy the House of Lords on November 5, 1605, the opening day of Parliament. If successful, the attack likely would have reduced to dust King James I of England, the royal family, the Lords, the Commons, and other principal figures in the British government.
The plot hatched, it is thought, from dissatisfaction with James I’s treatment of Catholics, the perennial theme of the times. In the final hours before the explosion was planned, however (due to a warning letter received by an individual who was to attend the opening of Parliament on November 5th), Guy (or, as he preferred, Guido) Fawkes was discovered with nearly one ton of explosives in a cellar beneath the House of Lords, and promptly arrested. He was quickly reduced by the rack and his initial confession is below. For a concise and readable overview, see the House of Commons description; for greater detail go here.
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| (Readable text here.) |
Just Enough For Now Is Plenty. We haven’t reached that point yet, and despite unsuccessful Nevada U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle’s invocations of “2nd Amendment remedies,” I think we’re a good distance safe of that. Let’s hope to see the 112th Congress join together just enough, with just enough hobbled together votes, on just enough issues to cool the temperature down a few dozen degrees. Let Guy Fawkes Night remind us of the possible consequences of long-standing unresolved animosity . . .
