This isn’t political. Rather, it’s observational. 

The go-to national narrative of a surging RED WAVE, which morphed into forecasts of a giant RED TSUNAMI drowning everything in its way, in reality had all the power of a child’s pinwheel on a windless, random summer beach day.

As it turned out these midterm elections in the US, which traditionally favor the political party out of power (Note: In this case, MAGA Republicans), turned into the minority party pretty much once again being roundly defeated at the ballot box.

So much for reliable mixed metaphor predictions of our current climate, be they weather-related or political.

Or both.

It was confirmed Saturday night that Democrats would indeed continue to be the majority party in the Senate, and perhaps gain one seat.  This means the body of government in charge of confirming judicial appointments will still be confirming judges who are likely to follow the rule of law vs. election denying or abortion prohibiting.

Yes, we’re looking at you U.S. Supreme Court on down, because we are trying to stay merely observational.

The reliably predicated switch of power in the U.S. House of Representatives to that red MAGA column is also no longer a sure thing, at least at this point.   With the results of 20 seats still not called, the very best the MAGA party can do right now is a razor thin 3 plus seat majority above the minimum 218 seat total needed for control.

But the WORST it can do is to also LOSE it all with a 1 or 2 seat plus BLUE MAJORITY.

That result would be 1000% counter to the environmental conditions they were last week crystal balling — a likely 30-40 seat or more RED rule domination.

Either scenario now means that at least now we won’t have to suffer through endless televised hearings investigating bogus claims of 2020 election fraud; or even a deep dive into Hunter Biden’s magical, mystery laptop because there won’t be nearly enough mojo, nee power, for that national loop of Q-Anon insanity to take root on the floor of the People’s House.

Yup, as it turned out this weekend the American voter weighed in.  And he/she/they said:

Um no.  Some things are a bridge too far.  You can’t take 50 years of the right of women to control their own bodies away.  You may not pretend you won when you lost and expect the rest of us to be dumbass scared enough to go along with you.  And you may not impose a religious agenda into a secular society.

We don’t like economic hard times but we’re smart enough to know some things are more important.

Like democracy.

Speaking of which, you’re no longer going to limit our voting rights because we’re going to show up in numbers big enough to prove to even you that YOU LOST.

(Note: And thank you, Gen Z, for showing up in droves.  It’s hard not to feel just a little safer knowing that you have all of our backs).

This week I watched the season 5 debut episode of Netflix’s The Crown, as well as the season 5 finale episode of Hulu’s Handmaid’s Tale.

I have seen every episode of both series and what I truly admire at this point is how each so perfectly illustrates the delusions of people who are, were or will be major players in a cult of power.

No matter how many life lessons they seem to learn their inability to voluntarily take the high road remains reliably consistent.  Having once experienced the blood lust of life in the ruling class, they will do anything they can to hold on to whatever vestiges of superiority they have left.

Lessons might seem to be learned but only if they are absolutely forced.  And even then it’s likely a façade.  Once you’ve tasted that kind of privilege, that satisfying degree of carnal nourishment, it’s pretty much impossible to become one among millions of mere mortals again.

This goes for Queen Elizabeth, who gave no thought to the economic woes of her British subjects in the eighties when it came to charging them millions for the repair of her cherished yacht, a cost she and her family could personally well afford.

It also went for Prince Charles’ clandestine machinations to go behind his mother’s back to the Prime Minster in an effort to nudge her off the throne and himself into power, all the while cheating on and mocking his beloved Princess of a loyal wife behind her back.

It applies to one of the secret architects of the dystopian society of Gilead, Serena Joy.  This is a woman responsible for unspeakable physical and mental tortures of her personal handmaid June, who she forced to act as her captive sex slave and now believes can be a new-found friend since she’s fallen out of the ruling class and managed a semi-heartfelt apology.

It even pertains to June, who can’t help but imagine a better, more moral world for her children as she watches the actions of every power broker she ever knew ultimately disappoint her over and over and over again.

Of course, June’s last seemingly misguided ray of hope in humanity is what we 2022 American/almost Gilead citizens are also clinging to in our mid-term elections. 

So far be it for any of us here at notesfromachair.com to put it down.

This is especially the case since the Ukrainians have recaptured their key city of Kherson in the last seven days; France’s President Emmanuel Macron trounced anti-Semitic right wing Marine Le Pen in his re-election bid earlier this year; extreme British conservative Liz Truss was forced into resignation as the shortest serving British prime minister in history (Note: Shorter than the life of the iceberg lettuce she was constantly being compared to); and our own American Object of Ridicule, Trumpty Dumpty finds himself being roasted not only by the liberal media but by the Justice Department, several state attorney Generals and even Rupert Murdoch and Fox News.

Not to mention the fact that national treasure Dolly Parton was just officially inducted into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame and sang Jolene onstage with help from an all-star class that included Annie Lennox, Pink, Brandi Carlisle, Pat Benatar and the out and proud, self professed “old queen” lead signer of renowned metal band Judas Priest, Rob Holford.

Even this old queen couldn’t have imagined the latter.

But I also couldn’t have imagined Dave Chapelle surfacing back on Saturday Night Live this weekend spinning a web of anti-Semitic remarks in a monologue on network television and passing it off as comedy.

Oh well, you win some and you lose some.

This, more than anything, is the price of mid-term democracy and freedom.

Dolly Parton and friends – “Jolene”