Saturday, we went to a Halloween Party. There…we were surrounded by…ZOMBIES!
About an hour west of Washington, the location was beautiful Rappahannock County, VA. Stone walls…trees wearing their autumn dresses of red and gold…brisk weather…
There was a bonfire to chase away evil spirits. Music. Dancing.
And a witch warned that we were entering a “dangerous period, astrologically.”
“The last time Pluto lined up with Saturn like this was in 1933. You know what happened after that.”
But the festivities didn’t chase away the zombies; they drew them near, like hyenas to road kill. Yes, dear reader, a party so close to the nation’s capital is bound to attract zombies.
And they are cunning. They thought they could put one over on us. They thought we’d fall for the old trick…
Yes, it was a big Halloween costume party. One person came disguised as a monk. A woman was dressed as the Mad Hatter. Robin Hood was there too…and Albert Einstein. But the zombies tried to fool us…with their blood stained, ripped clothes…carrying axes and meat cleavers…shuffling along. They thought they could pass themselves off as FAKE zombies. Underneath the ripped clothes and phony blood was the real thing… REAL ZOMBIES…
Their clever get-ups didn’t fool us. We saw their license plates – Washington, Virginia, Maryland…and we saw that look in their eyes…predatory…craving something-for-nothing…lusting for power…eager to boss others around.
By day, they work for the:
- AbilityOne Commission
- Access Board
- Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
- Administration for Native Americans
- Administration on Aging (AoA)
- Administration on Developmental Disabilities
- Administrative Conference of the United States
- Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
- Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
- African Development Foundation
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
- Agency for International Development (USAID)
- Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
- Agricultural Marketing Service
- Agricultural Research Service
- Agriculture Department
- Air Force
- Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau
- Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Bureau
- American Battle Monuments Commission
- AmeriCorps
- Amtrak
- Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
- Antitrust Division
- Appalachian Regional Commission
- Architect of the Capitol
- Archives (National Archives and Records Administration)
- Arctic Research Commission
- Armed Forces Retirement Home
- Arms Control and International Security
- Army
- Army Corps of Engineers
- Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Interagency Coordinating Committee
Hey, we’re still in the ‘a’s!
There were also number torturers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics…the Fed…and who knows where else…
And plenty of congressional aides, whose job it is to make their bosses sound as if they had a clue about what was going on…
And lobbyists, lawyers, chiselers, spinners, contractors…all hip to how Washington works…all wise about how to make it work for them!
We have lived among them. We have learned their zombie ways…and we can speak their zombie language fluently. Often, they are surprisingly sharp.
“So, you work in the House?”
“Yes, I have been on the Ways and Means staff for about 15 years.”
“What do you think will happen in January…when they take another swipe at budget control?”
“Oh, you know…it has nothing to do with budget control. This is pure politics. Posturing. Posing. For many of them it was just an opportunity to get their names in the paper. I don’t think it turned out the way they planned.
“But there are some real believers in the group too. And I don’t think they necessarily lost as badly as the press reported. They’ll be back. And we’ll have another show.
“The real issue, or the real problem for all these guys, is that they are elected by the average voter. And the average voter hasn’t gotten much out of this administration or this Congress. The average voter has gotten poorer. His family has less disposable income. His children have a harder time finding jobs. His cost of living is rising faster than his income. He looks around and he sees Iraq reverting to a bloody mess. He tries to sign up for Obamacare and the website won’t work. He reads the paper and he discovers that US students rank last among developed nations in math and sciences – despite spending a lot more on education. And he sees too that he spends twice as much as other people on health care – and dies earlier.
“And now, the economy has become arthritic too. The rate of new business start-ups has fallen…people are afraid to switch jobs…and indicators of social mobility show us less dynamic than Europe. That is, if you’re born poor in America, you’re more likely to stay poor than you are even in Europe…where nothing ever changes.
“He looks at all this…and the voter gets fed up. And I think that’s what’s really behind this Tea Party vote. They’re not really for freedom…or in favor of less government spending. They just think something is wrong with the whole system. They don’t know what to do about it…except to try to stop government.”
Regards,
Bill
