David CookI couldn’t find a puppeteer in Chattanooga, and the only mime I know couldn’t break free from his day job.
Tuesday, as we lined up to vote, I had hoped to provide some theater at area polling precincts. Some symbolic gesture — maybe a puppet, or a mime — could have reminded us: never lose our voice as citizens. Never let them pull your strings.
But really, I should have called a magician.
Because American democracy has become a disappearing act in slow motion, an illusion of the real thing, a magic trick that makes us think we’re actually in charge, when the entire charade is more spectacle than substance.
For the last few weeks, I kept hearing the same eight tragic words: