A New Kind of Shock and Awe

Sorry about the posting delay. Between my computer woes and both dogs puking, it's put me behind schedule. I must have been booted off my computer at least thirty times last night. I finally waved the white flag and did something more productive: I watched the semi-finals of Dancing with the Stars.

Here is a warning, a LOUD warning to all you readers who happen to align with Democrats, the ones who tend to be liberal or at least somewhat left-leaning in their political thinking:

The Republicans have a new kind of shock and awe: Bristol Palin.

This is a two-fold smarty pants use of the phrase so deliciously tied to Dubya: One, it is shocking and leaves me in awe that a mediocre dancer is in the finals of DWTS....a non-star whose claim to fame isn't really that she is an unwed mother professing the merits of abstinence, but rather that she has a conservative, Republican-darling of a mother who has captivated more people than I would like to admit; secondly, Democrats are about to get a whole 'nother level of shock and awe come 2012 if things don't change.

People, THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL.

The Republicans have taken over the House and they have taken over Dancing with the Stars.

There is power in voting.

If you didn't believe that before, maybe this will slap you in the head.

Bristol obviously didn't win because of her dancing; she won because the "Right" has been voting like there is no tomorrow. And, there won't be a tomorrow if the "Left" doesn't get off its sorry ass and do something.

I am not here to trash a young women. I am not here to trash "She-who-must-not-be-named." I am here to trash us. If you are a Republican who voted for Bristol BECAUSE she is Sarah's daughter and because you want to send a message, I applaud you.

Of course, the thought that I am writing about a reality TV show as related to politics scares me, but it's true. We are a shallow bunch of people. We sit around and are consumed by TV, especially the reality time. I am guilty as the rest. We have become a cartoon of ourselves. Like it or not, the Tea Party is mighty smart. They may be divisive, they might be way out there, they may be scaring even their own party, but they have mobilized and they know how to vote. The "Right" is rising up and they have the power, the momentum.

Why do I care? Why do the results of a TV show have me all befuckled?

Because I like my civil rights. I like not having to worry I am going to be fired or denied my housing because whom I love. I may not be able to get married or have a civil union, but at least I can keep my job in the state of Illinois.

Don't be rolling your eyes at me. There are plenty of States where it is perfectly legal to fire someone if they are gay. It wasn't that long ago that employers in the Illinois could do the same thing. Remember me being told I was "too gay" at a previous job (whatever the hell that means)? That was perfectly legal. I don't want to go back to those days. I don't want to go backwards at all. I like basic, human rights. The Tea Party has a whole different view on this.

And so, we have a new kind of shock and awe: shock that someone who can't dance and who isn't a star is in the finals of a TV show; awe at the prospect that a group of people has such power to accomplish this.

Come 2012, don't make me say, "I told you so." Take heed. The future is now and the future is speaking.