Okay, so maybe they’re a little less fashionably dressed than most Americans. Actually, it’s pieces from a 12th century chess set that were found on an island off the coast of Scotland — the British Museum can tell you more. I don’t know if it’s just the medieval Everyman mentality, but they sure do look glum.

We have a very bizarre concept of democracy in this country. First, there was an unpopular war. Then, the party that was somewhat opposed to this war won big in an election, and almost everyone agreed that the war was a major reason. Then, the war got a lot worse immediately afterward. So what’s the response?

1) Escalate that war.

2) Start another, even less popular war in the nation next door.

Stuff like this makes you realize that the concept of “the mainstream” has lost all meaning. That’s why I always say the corporate media, not the mainstream media (or “MSM”). If the public defines the mainstream, neither the “troop surge” nor attacking Iran is within the mainstream. These options are not just unpopular (like “staying the course”), they’re downright marginal — fringe ideas. Within the Beltway, however, while there is some real opposition to them, it’s cautious; strong opposition is still treated as suspect.

A “mainstream” exists within a democracy only when there is a certain synchronicity between public, media, and politicians, such that it is possible to articulate a shared middle ground. There is no such thing in today’s America. The popular and establishment middle grounds barely even overlap.

Back in the 1970’s, there WAS a mainstream — a quite broad one. It narrowed considerably in the 80’s, and cracks and strains started to appear in it because of the corporate media’s attempt to falsely portray public opinion as conservative and steer debate to the right. Nonetheless, there were certain limits to that operation, and the mainstream continued to exist, albeit a mainstream that was clearly right-tilted. In the 90’s, it was the right-wingers themselves who ungratefully devoured this mainstream for not favoring them blatantly enough. Yet it continued to exist, in however trashed and devalued a form. 9/11 resurrected it into a national religion.

It’s only been in the last few years, as most Americans lost their 9/11 devoutness, that the discrepancies between popular and establishment views became not merely large and persistent but irreconcilable. Only since then could one definitively say: there ain’t no mainstream no more. The problem isn’t the center: it’s the corporate right.

It’s us, the pawns, against them, baby.