If
the US budget fiasco were a TV crime show, what would happen? Law and
Order, NCIS, and the Mentalist line up as the likeliest suspects.
First, Law and Order would make a lot of noise about "compassion
for victims." NCIS would feature a diverse cast racing against
the clock to snag the bad guy. The Mentalist, of course, would find
some poor schlep to hypnotize.
In
every case, though, tension must ratchet up until the very last
minute—to keep the audience from switching the channel. A ratings
war is always waiting in the wings to undermine popular shows'
standing. The stars always are negotiating their—not our—job
contracts. The writers have a lot on their minds, too, so an old plot
revamped is cheaper than a new one.
How
many times do we have to watch this drama before we say: Enough
already! Give DC its own TV show, and let America get on with
producing something besides a plot so hackneyed that H. L. Mencken
would say again:
"The
whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed --
and hence clamorous to be led to safety -- by menacing it with an
endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
For
more scandalous thoughts from H. L. Mencken, please see:
http://whale.to/a/mencken.html
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