The Human Sacrifice in US mid-term elections
It is said, that in order to reconsecrate their temples the Aztecs offered human sacrifices to some god. Those sacrifices were better in bigger numbers, although the numbers were mostly exaggerated. There were sacrifices to be offered for many different reasons. There were those periodic sacrifices bound to cosmic cycles believed to be responsible for an end of the world if not stopped, there were the sacrifices that had to be offered before or even after a battle and there were the sacrifices to specific gods persuading them to do something. But the most interesting part of the sacrifice was not, who it was to, but who was to be sacrificed!
In current terms, both Parties in the upcoming mid-term elections in the USA are asked (and are asking themselves) whom they should sacrifice, in order to reconquer (or reconsecrate) the senate or congress. Judging after the newest polls the Republicans are going to bring up some sort of Uber-Sacrifice to justify securing both (or even one of both) houses.
Outsiders
One of the most important sacrifices to Aztec gods were the bodies of those who were defeated - but not killed - in battle. So naturally US-politicians look around and search for any human being not able to vote for them. These are the least costly sacrifices of course. I doubt the 650.000 dead Iraqis count as a sacrifice the voters would honor. The Bush administration has tried very hard to sell the Iraq-War as a success but they failed right around the question why killing yet more humans (and thus infuriating those that’d been spared) could be counted as something good for the USA. More than half of American voters think the benefits of the Iraq war weren’t worth fighting for - after reviewing the cost! Yet this leaves 44% approving of the war. Perhaps there is still something to be gained out of those dead bodies - be they getting back out of Iraq in coffins, or staying there uncounted and for the time irrelevant..
Democrats surely would like to use those sacrifices for their advantage but there is a problem: Democrats were mere bystanders while the Bush-Administration took that sacrificial knife, cut through those bodies and presented them to the gods (or be it ‘hid them from them’). Even though democrats gave the president full authority and partly contributed in the preparation works, they can hardly claim those human sacrifices since they now are calling for a pull-out.
‘Illegal’ immigrants could well prove to be a very welcome sacrifice. The Republican Party won’t let that walking dead issue go unharmed..
Sacrificed Politicians
The list of sacrificed politicians in the ranks of the Republican Party in the run up to the elections can’t get much longer - the latest of which was Mark Foley.
But now, the call for another - a bigger sacrifice is heard:
It is one thing for the majority of Americans to think Rumsfeld has failed. But when the nation’s current military leaders start to break publicly with their defense secretary, then it is clear that he is losing control of the institution he ostensibly leads.
…
Rumsfeld has lost credibility with the uniformed leadership, with the troops, with Congress and with the public at large. His strategy has failed, and his ability to lead is compromised. And although the blame for our failures in Iraq rests with the secretary, it will be the troops who bear its brunt.
Of course, the editorial concludes, that “this is not about the midterm elections”, but who would truly believe them - a week before election1?
The popular sacrifice?
Meanwhile, another head is being offered to the US public - right on schedule.. A head nobody wants to be caught on record asking for it to be spared:
“‘Today we witnessed a landmark event in the history of Iraq: Saddam Hussein was convicted and sentenced to death by the Iraqi High Tribunal,’ Mr. Bush said to roars of approval in a hockey auditorium packed with supporters in Grand Island, Neb. ‘Saddam Hussein’s trial is a milestone in the Iraqi people’s efforts to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law.’”
Of course the US-Administration did not interfere with the timing nor the outcome of the verdict. How silly of anyone to think of that..
Snow: “Yes. I mean, the idea is preposterous. This is one of these tinfoil hat sort of things, where people suddenly decide, if there is news that may call into questions the things that they’ve been saying, that somehow we’ve been scheming and plotting with the Iraqis.”
…
White House Briefing reader Ross Weiner writes in an e-mail: “So, as this White House would have it, it’s preposterous to believe that the same administration who is paying to have positive stories placed in Iraqi newspapers, who will do anything for a catchy motto or slogan, and who has avoided reality at all costs by insisting that things are going well and that we are repeatedly ‘turning corners,’ might actually have orchestrated a bit of good news to come out of Iraq immediately preceding the elections here? And while that might be preposterous, it is quite obvious to the Vice President and others that every roadside bomb that goes off is designed to influence our elections, and has nothing to do with the thousands of years of sectarian strife that has plagued Iraq.
Although Saddam Hussein could be a worthy sacrifice (who does really like him?) looking at the polls reveals another very worthwhile human sacrifice: George W. Bush! More than half of the American voters disapproves of the way George Bush is handling his job as a president (45% disapproves strongly). Nearly 60% think the country is going in the wrong direction. Asked why they feel that way, 11% say, it is because of “Problems with Bush”2!! 31% of the voters have based their opposition to republican congressmen on their views about Bush (only 17% are voting in support of Bush).
The republicans might still have a chance to turn this thing around if they just got to the point of sacrificing the Bush administration. It will be a very hard new beginning, but i think for the better!
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Tags: Ausland, Aztec, Donald_Rumsfeld, election, George_W_Bush, Saddam_Hussein, USA
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By David, 7. November 2006 @ 14:53
Hi Omar,
I just voted this morning for change (ie Democrat). I think this time the Gods of Elections are on our side!
By Omar Abo-Namous, 7. November 2006 @ 17:20
i sure hope, that change is on the way. I don’t think the foreign policy will change, but if the administration is forced to change its views about human and civil rights, i think this will be a very big step in the right direction..