There is no more tired political cliche than a tortured Titanic metaphor, but what can I say? I really like rearranging deck chairs.<\/p>\n
![\"titanic-P\"](\"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/titanic-P.jpg\")
\nAs we join our tortured metaphor, already in progress,\u00a0the Titanic ship of state\u00a0is\u00a0steaming straight toward the iceberg of total, Greece-style\u00a0fiscal insolvency, frozen in place by an\u00a0aging nation\u00a0demanding\u00a0the fulfillment of governmental retirement promises that are mathematically impossible to keep.<\/p>\n
The iceberg\u00a0is clearly visible across the\u00a0port bow and has been for quite some time. It blots out the horizon to the west, stretching out as far as\u00a0the eye can see. There is safe passage to the east, and a small shift to starboard\u00a0earlier in the journey would have easily prevented disaster. But the rotating\u00a0roster\u00a0of captains balked at making even the slightest adjustment. It seems\u00a0the western\u00a0waters offer\u00a0much smoother sailing than the choppy eastern current, and the fickle and restless passengers have been\u00a0known to make the\u00a0skipper\u00a0walk the plank if they rock the boat. So each captain has blithely kept the ship plowing forward, assuming that a successor would make the necessary course correction when the time comes, each one thinking to himself, “Better that the next guy gets thrown overboard, not me.”<\/p>\n
According to the duty roster schedule, the\u00a0current captain’s term of service\u00a0is almost up. \u00a0His time at the helm was marked by a hard turn to port and an increase in speed, which everyone\u00a0found exhilarating as they stood out on the deck and let the wind whip through their hair.\u00a0Now, as the passengers gather to choose\u00a0someone new, two distinctly unappealing boatswains, one a paranoid criminal and the other a narcissistic imbecile in orange clown makeup, step up to try and take the wheel.<\/p>\n
The criminal\u00a0promises\u00a0turning even harder to port for an even smoother ride. The imbecile\u00a0promises to simply barrel ahead until\u00a0he decides to turn to port. Neither even raises the possibility of \u00a0a decrease in speed, let alone the unthinkable option of a starboard turn. Heated discussions ensue about which potential captain will better accommodate the upcoming shuffleboard tournament.<\/p>\n
When Lola, a sensible gal who doesn’t play shuffleboard, steps forward and mentions that neither of these possibilities is going to avoid the iceberg, she is shouted down from both sides. You have to vote for one or the other, they all say. Supporters of the criminal point out that the criminal, while demonstrably corrupt,\u00a0is\u00a0a very competent and accomplished criminal. The imbecile’s backers point out that his\u00a0clown makeup keeps the kids entertained, and\u00a0at least he’s not tacking\u00a0further to port. Many who are reluctant to back the orange guy\u00a0do so in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, as he’s diddling with the steering wheel, he might accidentally turn the ship the right way, although there’s an equal possibility that he’ll step on the accelerator because he doesn’t know what the pedals do.\u00a0(Do boats have pedals?)<\/p>\n
So, given that dismal metaphorical reality, what choice do\u00a0Lolas like me have but to jump ship?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thereis no more tired political cliche than a tortured Titanic metaphor, but what can I say? I really like rearranging deck chairs.![\"titanic-P\"](\"http:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/titanic-P.jpg\")
As we join our tortured metaphor, already in progress,\u00a0the Titanic ship of state\u00a0is\u00a0steaming straight toward the iceberg of total, Greece-style\u00a0fiscal insolvency, frozen in place by an\u00a0aging nation\u00a0demanding\u00a0 ... Read more<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4027"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5172,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4027\/revisions\/5172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}