A Very Social Disease

Yesterday political commentator Arianna Huffington called the Tea Party Movement "...a boil alerting us to the infection lurking under the skin" of America. She suggested the 600 appearing at their rally, headlined by palm-reader Sarah Palin, might be like "canaries in a coal mine."

Arianna, are you being deliberately obtuse?

This is like seeing Chicago overrun by zombies and saying it's an indication alerting us to a new kind of infection lurking in the human biology.

The Tea Party phenomenon is not an indication of a boil under the skin. Eisenhower's warning about the power of the military-industrial complex was an indication. Richard Nixon thinking he could get away with it was and indication. The fact that the body politic could be completely captured by the Lewinsky scandal when there was actual governing to do was an indication.

But the fact that the nation didn't seem to care that the 2000 election was stolen was not an indication, it was the real thing. The fact that the last administration started two wars without provoking a Vietnam-style massive resistance was not an indication, it was the fact of a sick and diseased body politic. The existence of Fox News is both a symptom and a cause, as when pustules break open and themselves cause further infection. The tea party is not an alert, it is not an indication, it is a diseased member that requires immediate treatment lest the patient be entirely lost.

Sarah Palin isn't the news. The fact that she's still in the news, that anyone would listen to her after her political and intellectual performance last year - THAT'S the news. No one was surprised that she writes cheat-notes on her hand, but more importantly most people don't seem to care.

It tells us much about the zombie army that is destroying America.