JUNGLE BOOGIE
New York Episcopal priest, consultant and leftist tool Tom Ehrich recently strapped on the ol’ pith helmet and explored darkest Kansas:
I came home from a weekend of consulting in Topeka, Kansas, feeling weary.
Kansas can really take it out of you.
But mainly I felt disoriented, like after a sleepless night. In Topeka I had seen the future of America, and it worried me.
Why is that, Tom?
I saw racial tensions still high 58 years after Brown v. (Topeka) Board of Education outlawed segregated public schools, but also launched “white flight” to the suburbs. In one of those suburbs, a watchful neighbor recently called police when he saw a black man walking out front. It turned out the black pedestrian was a neighbor living nearby.
You saw all that after one weekend in Topeka, Kansas?
I saw state government in the hands of right-wing ideologues being bankrolled by the Koch brothers of Wichita. These sanctimonious evangelicals are rushing to curb freedoms and opportunity for all but a few.
Damn it, Tom!! Would it kill you to warn a guy when you mention the [shudder] Koch brothers? Some of my readership is sensitive about these things, douchenozzle.
And you have in your hands a list of [INSERT SCARY NUMBER HERE] sanctimonious evangelicals in the Kansas legislature, do you? I’d call you out for your brain-dead libel against fellow Christians except for the fact that I have to get back to one basic fact.
You figured all this out after one weekend in Topeka, Kansas?
I saw end-of-empire circuses, like the Kansas Motor Speedway hosting a major NASCAR race, alongside unmistakable signs of economic decay, such as crumbling streets, rising unemployment, steadily declining home values, vacant storefronts, and empty parking lots. The speedway just added a $380 million casino and hotel.
For crying out loud, Tom, were you born that dense or do you wear out two or three bongs a year? I’ll try to type slower this time. You saw all that after ONE LOUSY WEEKEND in Topeka, Kansas?
I don’t speak against Topeka, for the city seemed charming in many respects. But what I experienced there crystallized perceptions I have had throughout recent travels across the U.S.
Or I decided what I wanted to think before I left New York and then found two or three liberals who agree with me but who may or may not have ever actually visited Kansas, never mind lived there or spent the night.
Except for pockets of energy and optimism, the prevailing atmosphere seems new and yet worn, busy and yet listless, like a house that was built quickly and doesn’t survive its first owners. I see worry, frustration, and a mounting sense of a dream stolen.
And heads up, Episcopalians. The sanctimonious evangelicals are coming for you.
As right-wing ideologues try to turn this very dissatisfaction and frustration into a power grab, progressive Christians find themselves both a target and a much-needed voice.
If you’re wondering if Ehrich thinks Barack Obama can wake us from our long national nightmare during his second term, Tom apparently thinks Romney’s pretty much a lock.
We need to stay awake as the darkness of gloom and repression looms. We need to feel the despair surging around us and understand it as a call to mission. We need to stay with our neighbors, even as they retreat to circuses. We need to speak truth to power, even as well-funded power strikes back.
Sounds pretty bad. But since you mentioned well-funded power, Tom, maybe you could hit George Soros up for a few more millions so you could start yet another cable “news” TV network and get the word out because Vague, Ambiguous, Infinitely-Malleable, Episcopal Deity Concept knows that the left can’t be heard anywhere these days.
UPDATE: Tom? Jim Rogers wants to know if you actually went to Topeka. Because he noticed a slight discrepancy in your piece. Nothing much, really.
If he saw Kansas Motor Speedway from Topeka, he’s got a great set of eyes. The track is in Kansas City, Kansas.
I came home from a weekend of consulting in Topeka, Kansas, feeling weary.
Kansas can really take it out of you.
But mainly I felt disoriented, like after a sleepless night. In Topeka I had seen the future of America, and it worried me.
Why is that, Tom?
I saw racial tensions still high 58 years after Brown v. (Topeka) Board of Education outlawed segregated public schools, but also launched “white flight” to the suburbs. In one of those suburbs, a watchful neighbor recently called police when he saw a black man walking out front. It turned out the black pedestrian was a neighbor living nearby.
You saw all that after one weekend in Topeka, Kansas?
I saw state government in the hands of right-wing ideologues being bankrolled by the Koch brothers of Wichita. These sanctimonious evangelicals are rushing to curb freedoms and opportunity for all but a few.
Damn it, Tom!! Would it kill you to warn a guy when you mention the [shudder] Koch brothers? Some of my readership is sensitive about these things, douchenozzle.
And you have in your hands a list of [INSERT SCARY NUMBER HERE] sanctimonious evangelicals in the Kansas legislature, do you? I’d call you out for your brain-dead libel against fellow Christians except for the fact that I have to get back to one basic fact.
You figured all this out after one weekend in Topeka, Kansas?
I saw end-of-empire circuses, like the Kansas Motor Speedway hosting a major NASCAR race, alongside unmistakable signs of economic decay, such as crumbling streets, rising unemployment, steadily declining home values, vacant storefronts, and empty parking lots. The speedway just added a $380 million casino and hotel.
For crying out loud, Tom, were you born that dense or do you wear out two or three bongs a year? I’ll try to type slower this time. You saw all that after ONE LOUSY WEEKEND in Topeka, Kansas?
I don’t speak against Topeka, for the city seemed charming in many respects. But what I experienced there crystallized perceptions I have had throughout recent travels across the U.S.
Or I decided what I wanted to think before I left New York and then found two or three liberals who agree with me but who may or may not have ever actually visited Kansas, never mind lived there or spent the night.
Except for pockets of energy and optimism, the prevailing atmosphere seems new and yet worn, busy and yet listless, like a house that was built quickly and doesn’t survive its first owners. I see worry, frustration, and a mounting sense of a dream stolen.
And heads up, Episcopalians. The sanctimonious evangelicals are coming for you.
As right-wing ideologues try to turn this very dissatisfaction and frustration into a power grab, progressive Christians find themselves both a target and a much-needed voice.
If you’re wondering if Ehrich thinks Barack Obama can wake us from our long national nightmare during his second term, Tom apparently thinks Romney’s pretty much a lock.
We need to stay awake as the darkness of gloom and repression looms. We need to feel the despair surging around us and understand it as a call to mission. We need to stay with our neighbors, even as they retreat to circuses. We need to speak truth to power, even as well-funded power strikes back.
Sounds pretty bad. But since you mentioned well-funded power, Tom, maybe you could hit George Soros up for a few more millions so you could start yet another cable “news” TV network and get the word out because Vague, Ambiguous, Infinitely-Malleable, Episcopal Deity Concept knows that the left can’t be heard anywhere these days.
UPDATE: Tom? Jim Rogers wants to know if you actually went to Topeka. Because he noticed a slight discrepancy in your piece. Nothing much, really.
If he saw Kansas Motor Speedway from Topeka, he’s got a great set of eyes. The track is in Kansas City, Kansas.
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