The Long, Hot Washington Summer finally released us from its clammy grip. Overnight, the temperature dropped from 80 to 50, and we could shut off the a/c and throw open the windows, prisoners no more to swampy humidity that has lain seige to our city, with scant reprieve, for the past three months. While I tried to take solace in Drs. Limbaugh and Hannity’s (PhD, BSc, Meteorological Physics) assurances that the planet is not warming, I have to say I was very concerned to see the squirrels in my front yard bartering away their stocks of acorns in trade for sun block.
Perhaps it was the break in our fever that produced the aberrant behavior on Capitol Hill, where Congressmen put aside their latest squabble over disaster relief and voted to keep the government open for another couple of weeks.
There’s a rumor going around that a group of 100 CEOs of major companies has been sending out a communication to other CEOs urging them to boycott all campaign contributions to either party. If this is the case, it could be the latest manifestation of a “US Autumn”, another of which is the occupation of Wall Street.
We have seen before the salubrious effects of cutting off funding to combatants. When the Berlin Wall fell in the 80s, and Castro cut off funding to the Central American guerrillas, followed by the U.S. ending military aid to the governments, peace followed.
Maybe things had to get so bad with our government before they could get better. Maybe there’s life in our democracy yet.
Rupert