It's the bad guys' turn

Every now and again in life, the balance between left and right (or what some might say 'right and wrong') starts to tip toward one or the other to create an imbalance. This is when one should prepare for change, because when there's an imbalance, it means pressure (or a vacuum) is being created on the other side. An imbalance means action, and for every action there is a reaction. This is why society and government are best kept in stalemate mode. It's why justice is holding a scale. Why there's a ying and yang, etc.

And so it goes in the current environment.

We are now deeply in a left-hand, liberal balance. It started way back when the Prius and Hybrids became The Vehicle for the holier than thou set, and when Al Gore was given a Nobel. It gained momentum when Paul Krugman received same. Then Obama won. The Steelers beat the Cards (working class vs. middle class), a really fat stimulus package passed and finally with the Academy Awards, there was Sean Penn, admittedly a great actor despite being an ass, edging out the more deserving Mickey Rourke for Best Actor. (The fact that Kate Winslet won for The Reader is also a slight sign of the imbalance, but one can argue that Holocaust dramas always win; also Heath Ledger? C'mon. A great performance, great makeup, but this was clearly a bone to the Ledger fam, and a largely self-congratulatory gesture on the part of Hwood.)

So there you have it. Gore, Krugman, Obama, Steelers, Stimulus, Penn. These are the names that describe our current state of things. They are polarizing people and things. Sure, you can claim George Bush as one of these people (most with a vehemence that I still don't understand), but there was balance -- a Democratic congress, a war, Katrina, economic chaos, the images of which the left controlled.

But now we're whole hog the other way. To the left. This will breed many things, with any luck, a backlash, which unfortunately will bring us to the other side. Ever dog has his day.

We need to get to the center stalemate again. The center. Although now there are claims that the center is moving to the left. Maybe temporarily, but I think many times left/right are hardwired for some people; or enough people to keep thing the scarf in the middle of the rope.