So it has really come down to this.
Just this week, the US Supreme Court issued a ruling that, dovetailing its decision in Bush v. Gore, enshrined into law the principle that government has no Constitutional obligation to allow you to vote, or even allow you to register. The Green Zone in Baghdad came under heavy shelling, and more soldiers died in the month of April than had in any of the previous six months. The world's leading investment guru warned from his Nebraska home that our recession will be longer and nastier than virtually anyone else in the financial community is predicting. Home foreclosures and energy prices reached record levels. The Consumer Confidence Index fell to its lowest levels in six years. Sworn testimony revealed that terror detainees at Guantanamo are being tortured by Americans to extract confessions of wrongdoing from them.
And what, pray tell, has been the most pressing news item of late, the most urgent issue demanding the attention of our citizens? Yeah, that Wright guy.
Viewed through the muddied filter of our mainstream media, our search for perpetrators after 9/11 has taken us along an endless series of diversions and detours, starting with a real foreign enemy (Bin Laden), then veering sharply towards a past foreign enemy (Saddam) and hence careening wildly between assorted foreign non-enemies (Hamas, Iran, Syria). Now, more frustrated and befuddled than ever, our media guardians turn our attentions inward, to root out domestic non-enemies---and first on the block, the minister from Chicago. His crimes of disloyalty? For suggesting that America's original sin of slavery, and our treatment of others in past and present days, could be probable cause for divine retribution; for refusing to 'buke and scorn media-designated pariahs; for holding unusual and/or unpopular opinions about issues such as AIDS, Zionism and racism. In other words, for daring to think for himself, and to give voice to his thoughts as a free American, regardless of whether those thoughts are popularly held---to exercise his Constitutional rights as a citizen.
Silly man. These things aren't permissible anymore in this country. At least not from anyone. On the other hand, if you're a well-connected radio talk show host, you are free to exhort your listeners to riot at an upcoming political convention, or to call for the mass slaughter of Muslims. If you're a conservative evangelist, you are free to blame the deaths of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina on our nation's tolerance of gays and abortion, and it will scarcely raise an eyebrow. You can invent lie after lie, spread falsehood after falsehood, year after year after year, about who killed Vince Foster or who invented the Internets or who attended an Indonesian madrassa, and there will be no price to pay, and no retribution to be exacted, from your reputation or from your career.
But there are some thoughts, silly man, to which you are forbidden to give utterance:
First, you must never, ever question the motives of the government of Israel; they are God's chosen people, not an assortment of political parties, like all others, with self-interested agendas and scores to settle. You must never ascribe base motives to Anglo Americans; we only enslaved you to shield you from savagery. And you must never, ever, ever suggest that God does not favor America above all other nations, that we are all subject to the same divine codes of conduct as everyone else; for we are blessed above all the powers and principalities of this wicked world, and a beacon of hope to a lost and dying civilization.
And if you don't believe that, silly man, we'll invade your country, kick your ass, and by the way, you won't mind if we consume half of the world's resources while we're at it, now will you.
Barack Obama did what he necessarily had to do today, though the greater shame to me lies in an entirely contrived and media-driven non-crisis that forced him to commit an act of personal betrayal which, judging by his demeanor today, must have been a wrenching and sickening experience for him. But I also believe---contrary to a lot of folks in the blogosphere, apparently---that Jeremiah Wright did exactly what he needed to do the other night in Washington, too. Just as Barack Obama should (and will) act in his own best interests, so should Reverend Wright. And frankly, if I were in that silly old man's shoes, I would likely have thought something like this:
"They've already destroyed my name and reputation. But they can never take away my self-respect and beliefs. Barack? He's a scrapper---he'll get along fine without me."
And I think he'll get along fine, too . . . assuming our national media newsjackals give him half a chance. At least Jeremiah Wright, MSM-certified Bigot & Crackpot, can retire with his dignity intact. Do not go gently, silly man, and God speed.
---Vitelius