The small circus comes to town every summer, but anyone who has seen a full-scale three-ring circus in Denver, for example, knows there is no comparison. I’ve seen two of these large circus productions and each time I forgot any troubles and was completely engrossed by the performers, the oddities, and of course the gut-bursting clowns.
If you can’t make it to Denver and can’t wait for the circus to arrive season this year, there is a new traveling group of entertainers. True illusionists, freaks, and spectacles of comedy; all of them. These professionals in amusement go by the name of The Grand Old Party. At some point I decided the Republican candidates are making such fools of themselves, I must have missed the point. Apparently—finding an absence of potential winners—the Republicans decided instead to cash in on the buffoonery of several of their most outrageous members.
It’s genius really. Why risk millions of dollars on campaigning ethically and successfully and why use thousands of hours of peoples’ lives to attempt to gain the highest position in the country, when they can just as easily choose the most off-the-wall candidates and campaigns to create a farce of the whole affair and make a joke out of our political system itself? Funny no one thought of it sooner.
The great thinkers behind the scenes of this move deserve quite the ovation. They are innovators and, hopefully, trendsetters. Let us hope the great spectacle we have been shown this year does not die with the political aspirations of its members. With any luck we will see more and more inadequate politicians creating a boldfaced mockery of American democracy. With any luck, we can have more Perry debate moments, more candidates who are so mired in sex scandals they cannot address any real issues, and, of course, more candidates who never really had a shot, but refuse to back down. With any luck the elephant will continue to carry the master ringleaders. With any luck the few naysayers left who still think American politics should be taken seriously will finally be welcomed into the twentieth century of democracy, into the greatest show on earth.