Lucifer and the Republicans*
Satan is the world’s greatest optimist. Milton’s Paradise lost opens with Satan
Hurld headlong flaming from th’ Ethereal Skie [ 45 ]
With hideous ruine and combustion down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire,
Who durst defie th’ Omnipotent to Arms.He tried to unseat omnipotent God from his thrown. As it turns out, it was a bad idea. As the book unfolds, we learn that the battle wasn’t even close. At first Satan and his legions had some mixed success against a bunch of angels—then the Son came out and it was over like swatting a fly. So Satan is lying chained on a lake of fire next to an equally tormented Beelzebub and he gives a speech that essentially says,
- This sucks.
- We may be deformed and in a lake of fire—but we’re not dead.
- I mean, seriously, who would have thought the Omnipotent would be omnipotent?
- We’re not dead and our cause is hopeless—which is where we were before the fall. We’re really no worse off than before. Let’s call it a draw.
- Actually, now we know we don’t have a chance. We’ve learned something useful. In that sense, we’ve come out slightly ahead. Let’s call this whole cast from heaven and bound on a lake of fire thing a minor victory.
Through the poem, Satan has all kinds of trouble coming to terms with his own irrelevance. While Satan’s speeches attempt to set himself up as the evil half of some Manichean struggle, he is ultimately deceiving himself about his significance. He is so wrapped up in spiting the one who defeated him that he loses any sense of perspective. It is both tragic and comic.
Which is sort of how the Republicans are acting. (I don’t want to take this analogy too far. I hold Obama in very high regard—but he is not the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer of the universe.) Recently, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said, “If this is going to be bipartisanship, the country’s screwed.” Mr. Graham is right, to the extent that his experience was not what bipartisanship feels like. It was what being a regional party feels like. Obama tried to reach out to the Republicans. The Senate Democrats made significant changes to get a few Republican votes. The Republicans lost so badly in the election that they simply aren’t as relevant as they are used to being. They have fallen from power and they have fallen hard. If they want to affect the country, they’re going to have to get used to playing by somebody else’s rules.
Clearly, the Republicans can and should disagree with the Democrats when it’s necessary. And Obama did promise to work for bipartisanship. But bipartisanship requires two functioning parties. You have to go pretty far right these days to even find a Republican. The Republicans lost the moderates. Now they’re blaming Obama for their inability to field a functioning opposition. The Republicans lost the election, lost the center, and lost their ability to set the terms of debate.
* Normally I don’t like comparing anybody to Lucifer, Prince of Lies. It seems to run afoul of Godwin’s Law (in spirit, if not in letter). But sometimes it’s the only workable literary analogy. Don’t blame me—I didn’t write Paradise Lost, and I didn’t force the Republicans to act like they’ve acted. I’m just calling it as I see it.
interesting analogy/observation.
