Sunday, February 26, 2012

WHAT DO WE WANT? APOCALYPSE! WHEN DO WE WANT IT? NOW!

This will be interpreted as the work of people who worry that something horrible might take place in America. That's not what it is. This is an expression of hopes, not fears:

Wyoming House advances doomsday bill

CHEYENNE -- State representatives on Friday advanced legislation to launch a study into what Wyoming should do in the event of a complete economic or political collapse in the United States.

House Bill 85 passed on first reading by a voice vote. It would create a state-run government continuity task force, which would study and prepare Wyoming for potential catastrophes, from disruptions in food and energy supplies to a complete meltdown of the federal government....

The task force would look at the feasibility of Wyoming issuing its own alternative currency, if needed. And House members approved an amendment Friday by state Rep. Kermit Brown, R-Laramie, to have the task force also examine conditions under which Wyoming would need to implement its own military draft, raise a standing army, and acquire strike aircraft and an aircraft carrier....


The folks who fight for legislation like this, and a lot of people who vote for it, on some level want America to collapse. It would confirm their worldview. It would -- or at least they hope it would -- let them actually become the heroes they are in their own minds.

I'm betting that a lot of these legislators like to hunt and fish and shoot, and generally consider thmselves vastly more self-sufficient than the rest of us. That's fine -- bully for them. They live in a largely rural, sparsely populated state. They feel far removed from the federal government, and from the East in general. They think we in the East have turned America into a nation of, non-hunting, non-survivalist, society-dependent (and especially government-dependent) sissies (even though I bet not a one of them will ever refuse to accept Social Security or Medicare).

These guys are having a Walter Mitty fantasy about societal breakdown. They'd like to be the heroes of stories that play in their heads (and on their favorite movie channels), tales in which real men get the job donew while "Washington bureacrats" are told to suck eggs.

These guys don't think they're preparing for disaster. They think they're preparing for Utopia. For them, this bill is porn. I bet they needed a cigarette after the vote.

3 comments:

Never Ben Better said...

An aircraft carrier? In Wyoming?

boggle boggle boggle

Ten Bears said...

Damn, beat me to it.

These creatures may feel far removed from the federal government, and from the East in general, but they're a lot closer than Oregon. When we build our wall, from Eureka California to Eureka Montana, they'll be on the other side, part of what we are not a part of.

The title of my soon to be published book: Where the Salmon Berry Grow - Cascadia, A Place Apart.

Physics is everything, everything is physics: "wheels coming off" implies momentum, momentum implies anticipation of where the wheels will go.

BH said...

The Wyoming Navy, eh? Wonder where the hell the home port will be. Maybe they anticipate using the doubtless-vast Wyoming Army for territorial expansion to a coast. Better get busy on your wall, Ten Bears.

May all these patriots be re-elected indefinitely by the sovereign people of the great state of Wyoming, lest we run short of comedy material.