The Puppet Master

Someone recently asked why the "Powers That Be" or "were" would parade out Sarah Palin to support Donald Trump, "it makes no sense," they said. This is my feeble attempt to explain it. I would suggest that some portion of the following may be true, some portion may not, and I will not pretend to know the difference. This may start as a somewhat complicated metaphor, but should over time make sense.

Jordon Spieth, at the age of 22, is currently the number one golfer in the world. Now some have said that it can't be that hard to hit a golf ball that is just sitting there. But to take a club, with a clubhead not much bigger than the ball itself, torgue that club around your body on a perfect arc, and return that club to the ball producing clubhead speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour is another story. A variance of less than one degree will produce a shot that is so far off target as to be out of camera range which would not make for very good television. Some would argue that it doesn't make very good TV anyway. You watch a golfer choose his club, stand first behind the ball, line it up, stand over the ball then swing. The camera then tries to follow the ball in the air, swings to the green, and there drops the ball. Like watching paint dry.

It is so much different if you go to a tournament, and stand behind the player. Watching the ball in flight is a circus that doesn't come to town every day. It is a thing of beauty, the power and grace of the swing, the arc of the ball in flight, sometimes covering distances of over 300 yards-some of us can't even walk 300 yards.

Now a little getting to the point. If you go to the practice range, you can watch professional golfers hit shot after shot just the way they want to. The problem is that it is not so easy to take to the course where the pressure to succeed interferes with their ability to repeat shot after shot. The all-time greats were the players who could take this practice mentality, this repetativeness to the course. Jack Nicklaus could. Tiger often could not. Jordon Spieth is one who can. Even at his young age he is a master.

Now imagine this scenario. Spieth stands on the 16th (or the 70th hole) of the US Open, a tournament that he has already won once, with a four shot lead. It looks like he will win for sure. The announcers are talking about what seperates Spieth from other players. They call him a "master shot maker." But now imagine this. The 16th hole is a 275 yard par three. Spieth pulls a 5-iron from his bag. One announcer says he will have to hit it perfect to get it there. Now imagine that instead of facing the hole, he turns backwards and hits a perfect shot that lands not on the 16th green, but on the 12th. Everyone is too shocked to say anything. He walks to the 12th green and knocks in a four foot putt. People are saying; "It doesn't make sense." He is now 500 yards away from the hole that he is supposed to be playing. Imagine that somehow he manages to make a six on the hole, the 16th, makes a routine par on the 17th, and now stands on the tee of the 18th and final hold needing only par to win. Again he turns backwards, and drives the ball 300 yards in the wrong direction. And you are right this is a very unlikely situation. But apply this metaphor to public life, big business and politics where deception, and propaganda are king. I would term this illusion sheer magic, sheer brilliance in the hands of the master puppeteer. Deception so deep, we never see the truth.

Do you remember the scene in the movie "JFK" where Jim Garrison is talking with his staff. Now the president of the United States has be assasinated, shot and killed by an assasin still not 100% identified. Their investigation has led them through deception, lies, the deaths of key witnesses, through shady cover groups associated with Oswald, secret societies, cults and right to Washington DC, and possibly even the White House. His staff can't believe the evidence, are unable to deal with the "truth." Garrison says: "We're through the looking glass here people," an obvious reference to Alice in Wonderland. We are through the looking glass here people. American politics and business for the past 50 years could be described this way, a kind of reverse Kundalini (Google this if you don't know what I mean).

Now the collection of presidential candidates looks to me to be either from your high school special ed class, or a mental health crisis program. You have another Clinton, another Bush, Trump and others that really don't seem to be candidates (from the Greek word for candid, or "pure") for the highest office in the world, or at least it used to be.

Let's just look briefly at the Bush family. Father Prescott Bush, a senator, had property seized by the US government for trading with the enemy, the Nazis just prior to WWII. George H. W achieved noteriety as a pilot in WWII, but those who were there say that he bailed from his plane possibly leaving two crew members to die. "W" was also a pilot in the reserve but managed to avoid active duty by just not reporting. Wow! A family that produced a senator and two presidents, and claimed to stand by their troops?

And now a fourth Bush is running for president.

Here's the problem. We believe this shit. We don't do our homework, rather just sit and wait for the talking heads to tell us what the truth is. Here's the truth on the Bush presidents. If either deserted their posts they should have faced a military tribunal, not been sworn in as president.

President of the US is not a high office, it is a figurehead. It is a representative of the corporations and banks. He is commander in chief of their military branch. So sure parade out Sarah, and Bill, and Poppy, and whoever else to make us think that what isn't is. Deception and propaganda win elections. If you tell a lie often enough and in the right way we seem to believe it.