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The Show
It’s a Monday morning in America. Mothers ready kids for school, pack lunches, search for jackets, brush little heads of hair. Commuters creep along in traffic, drinking coffee, taking early calls on cell phones. Captains of industry sit in offices reading emails and sifting papers. Diners sit in cafes eating eggs and grits. Senior citizens in rest homes wander into common areas to see what the day will bring.
And everywhere, in all these places and many more, televisions and radios are tuned in and turned up. And in all these places Americans stop, and watch, and listen, and absorb the moment. A uniquely American phenomenon is under way - powerful events are being translated into shared experience – seared into the memory of a generation by an all encompassing media culture. The world seems to stop. Coffee cups stall in mid-sip, heads rise from computer screens, children stand with backpacks on one shoulder. Everyone watches, and listens, and absorbs, as a deep and comforting voice – a voice that has become familiar to the world in preceding weeks – begins to speak...
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I hereby convene this meeting of the full Judiciary Committee of The United States House of Representatives..."
The voice is that of Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, and as America and the world stand transfixed, the legislator and civil rights hero continues, his words rolling forth in a slow and deliberate cadence...
"The purpose of this meeting is to begin a series of hearings... on alleged high crimes and misdemeanors... committed by the President of the United States... George W. Bush... and an exploration of the potential necessity of referring a resolution to the full United States House of Representatives... recommending a vote of impeachment... and a referral of charges to The United Sates Senate... for trial before that body..."
The clicking of cameras and the flashing of bulbs dominate the crowded chamber. Citizens and reporters jam seats, many having waited overnight for their places. Outside, on the Capital Mall, tens of thousands of Americans of all stripes have gathered, clogging streets and sidewalks, to bear witness to the desperately awaited re-birth of their democracy. Television satellite trucks stretch for blocks and the denizens of the press stand like drones, their backs to the Capital dome, their scripts at the ready.
The public narrative has already been written. In a masterful display of unity and overwhelming determination, a coalition of Democratic leaders, elder statesmen, progressive organizations, uncorrupted media, and everyday people have driven the storyline to this grand communal morning of shared American experience. The dye is cast. The talking heads on the televisions and radios no longer question the necessity of this day. Instead they opine with contrived gravity on the long-standing ability of the tide to shift in American politics and conventional wisdom. They belatedly note the death of the once mighty Rovepublican spin machine. The mall-drones share this new reality with planet earth as their well coifed hair twitters in the morning wind.
In the Committee Chambers a hush falls over the room. The cameras hum, the Chairman clears his throat, and the show begins….
To be continued...
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