A Hush over Progressive Paradise

A few weeks ago, at a time when one might reasonably expect considerable post-Obama-victory crowing and cheering in my little corner of Progressive Paradise, political topics had all but disappeared from public conversation. While the President and and his entourage of Democrat lawmakers were busy stuffing enough money to fund 35 Manhattan projects (in today's dollars) into a hurry/hurry/rush/rush spending package, my normally politically opinionated neighbors had nary a word to say. What was going on?

I suspected that my Progressive friends and neighbors were confronting private realizations that, in their haste to rid themselves of all things George W. Bush, they had managed to saddle themselves, their families, and their retirement accounts with a probable loser. Big time. A loser whom they would have to find some way of supporting if they didn't want to lose their credibility here in Progressive Paradise.

Three weeks later, political banter is still in exile here.

To me it seems an eerie and unwholesome kind of quiet, like the calm in the eye of a storm that cannot be enjoyed because it is deceptive. People seem to be in an introspective mental state equivalent to that of soldiers quietly milling around as they await their next orders. Indeed, it is not too much to portray my Progressive friends and neighbors as foot soldiers of the Progressive movement. They certainly are among the many whom Obama's political machine expect to take up the next popular cause.

This abstinence from political expression can't last forever, especially among people so unused as these to having their political ideology challenged. I wonder if, when the chatter begins to flow freely again, who will show themselves to be defectors. I am looking forward to meeting them.