American Politics: More Like Science Fiction All the Time

Multiple Flash-type individuals.

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By my count, the sci-fi superhero known as The Flash has two dozen different identities, depending on the plots and the various universes depicted in comic books, movies and TV series. 

That's at least 23 more than convenient.

It would be hard to keep them all straight even if they were standing still. They are very different from each other.

They can’t really all be The Flash. No matter how many universes one imagines, there are some individuals who are too different to be understood as the same entity at the same time.

Some things that may seem alike really aren't, no matter what we think. 

For instance, the future of our nation may depend on us appreciating the difference between people and things that  are “very bad” and those that are merely “not good enough.” Only in a comic book, or perhaps a movie featuring Chris Pratt, would those two concepts be confused. One would think. 

But lots of Republicans and Democrats alike seem to think they are pretty much the same.

They're not. Donald Trump is an example of “very bad.” He is a Thanos-level repository of evil who somehow attained the presidency. He ran that office as a criminal enterprise and then attempted a coup to hold onto it.

Congresscreatures who cooperated, Ferengi-like, in that criminal enterprise and coup: also very bad.

This should be clear. As clear as that Cardassians are almost always up to no good.

The Democratic reconciliation deal that's likely to result in a $740 billion climate change/deficit reduction/healthcare bill is an example of something that is not very bad, but probably not good enough. Certainly not as formidable as the original $3.5 trillion Build Back Better bill that didn't quite get Loki-like Joe Manchin on board, or the $1.75 trillion October, 2021 version that also didn’t fly with That One Guy. 

But Republicans fist-bumping after killing a bill that would have helped veterans recover from being poisoned on the job? That’s definitely very bad. 

Lex Luthor-level very bad.

It would still be very bad in any alternative reality in the Marvel Cinematic Universe or Dr. Who. Or Star Trek: Deep Space Nine or The Umbrella Academy. It doesn’t really matter if you have no idea what any of that is. There is no world, real or fictional, in which such behavior conforms with the Prime Directive. Or any other directive respected by right-thinking people or aliens.

Soon, it is likely that 50 United States senators will vote against a bill intended to keep the world from burning up. Who would do that? Emperor Palpatine? Magneto?

It is possible that because of them, and one or two other legislators reminiscent of The Penguin or Two-Face, that the package containing the climate bill will fail. 

If that happens, millions of Americans are likely to declare a pox on both our political houses, forgetting or ignoring that there is a difference between very bad and not good enough. That is like equating the Daleks or the Romulans who frequently try to blow up all the planets with those planets’ defenders who sometimes fail to stop them.

So when the time comes this fall, they won't vote for anybody, not the very bad and not the not-good-enough.

If you don't believe me, ask President Hillary.

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