Cheese Head

I watch this little popinjay Walker from Wisconsin strut his stuff and try and figure out why I am so put off by him.  Certainly the outright fakery has something to do with it; you know, saying that he is trying to balance the budget thrown out of whack by a few folks when really this is about being king.

When you look at it closely this it is purely about the hubris of one man being king. We are seeing a fox at work and it is all about that and nothing more. If you try and counter this, let alone explain it in any other context, one misses the point.

Democracy or the democratic process - call it what you will - is really a very civil form of mob rule. If my mob is bigger than your mob then my mob wins.  Sometime back we stopped fighting it out - mob v. mob - and decided that the benefits were a lot more bearable if we voted instead of took up weapons.  The vote versus the gun.  It is clear by the behavior of a lot of people that they don't see the rationality of voting instead of fighting it out,  as their first alternative to the vote is taking up arms or doing some strange war-dance spotted with the rhetoric of violence.  When the vote is abandoned in the mob v. mob set-to, we seem very much to favor the old way of settling things.  Mr. Walker, Mr. Governor Walker - Scott to the rich donors playing pranks - quickly saw that the better alternative to mob v. mob was to resort back to being a king.  No fighting. Absolutely ability to control and, in particular no votes and voting - just do what I say.  All neat and tidy.

Mr. King Governor Walker has now sneaked

Gov. Walker we think....

in a lot of little things into  a lot of little bills that brought the mob v. mob to  Wisconsin.  Things like replacing commissions and legislative actions with one person deciding.  Health care for the very poor is a good example.  In Wisconsin it was that if you wanted to futz around with how health care reached poor people you had to resort to the legislature and committee, mob v. mob and of all things, hearings where members of the various mobs could say something - ask a question - make a comment.  Mr. King Governor Walker simply unencumbered that process.  Now one person decides and that's it. There are, when you look at it, a lot of little "I'm king" parts to his legislation and he, Mr. King Governor Walker, doesn't have to talk with anyone about them.  More important he doesn't have to listen to anyone from whom he doesn't want to hear.  Kings are like that. They can mute a mob.

Now Mr. King Governor Scott Walker is being hailed far and wide as a big shot on the move up. Le Grand Frommage with legs.  He is something of a hero to many and lots of big words are being used - words we once used for kings but got out of the practice of it when democracy was adopted.  I just heard infallible logic applied to him. Brilliant leadership. Single minded purpose. Presidential timbre - but why be president when you can be king? Likewise the Mr. King Governor Scott Walker has ample praise for those who reside in the bigger mob who let him be king.  Therein lies the folly in all this.

A Fox once saw a Crow fly off with a piece of cheese in its beak and settle on a branch of a tree. "That's for me, as I am a Fox," said Master Reynard, and he walked up to the foot of the tree. "Good-day, Mistress Crow," he cried. "How well you are looking to-day: how glossy your feathers; how bright your eye. I feel sure your voice must surpass that of other birds, just as your figure does; let me hear but one song from you that I may greet you as the Queen of Birds." The Crow lifted up her head and began to caw her best, but the moment she opened her mouth the  piece of cheese fell to the ground, only to be snapped up by Master Fox. "That will do," said he. "That was all I wanted. In exchange for your cheese I will give you a piece of advice for the future".

Do not trust flatterers