Post FL: The Nation Needs A Time-Out – UPDATED

What is it about Florida? Every time the people in Florida vote, the whole nation seems to lose its mind.

Hillary’s largely illusory Florida victory has Chris Matthews near tears, probably because he fears grovelling to President Hillary (who will make him pay for his past heresy) so that’s a little understandable, but there is a lot of hot-headed angst going on out there. My email is full of fulminating folks on the right who are either furious about McCain or disgusted with Rush or the Romney crew. Or they’re mad at Giuliani (hint – he’s out of the race, dudes, lay it down) for his ill-advised strategy. Some folks are still crying about Fred Thompson and there is huffing and puffing about “the split of the GOP.”

Ya’ll need to calm down. Stop huffing because the “split” is exactly what many of you want, deep down, and you know it. It is what Rush Limbaugh seems to have been pursuing for some months, now, even before the veep-scheming FDT dropped out of the race.

This is all just starting to get interesting, so save yer breath for yer porridge and think about a few things:

***McCain is older and he has some health concerns. He is a true war-hero, and I do think he can pick up Independent voters, but he is – within his own party – already facing the sort of venom from the right that it took Dubya several years to cultivate and achieve. I doubt that will go away soon, or easily.

***Romney excites “the base,” (which is remarkable for his flip-flopping) but only because there is currently no one else. His support is a mile wide and an inch thick and his blandness (I find him bland, anyway, and so does Roger L. Simon) doesn’t inspire. Should a magically pristine “true” conservative (perhaps from the private sector or the military) suddenly appear from on high (or from behind Kingmaker Rush) and begin to woo the right and right-leaning moderates, they will desert Romney in an instant.

I will be VERY surprised if either of these two men – McCain or Romney – is at the top of the ticket when you go to vote in November. :::CLARIFICATION::: Or maybe what I more properly mean to say is that they may or may not top the ticket, but there may be a third party candidate. Bottom line: I’m saying everything is still fluid.:::END

Rush Limbaugh is a very smart fellow and Oraculations linked to him having a clever bit of fun today. Rush is maneuvering, just like everyone else who is deeply involved in this process.

A game is afoot – and masters are playing it. Right now everything bears watching; observation, not hyperventilation. Don’t let yourself get sucked into a news cycle and a strategy; you’ll be worn out by summer.

Contrary to most, I’m not believing that anything is settled, or even means much, just now.

Remember:

It is true that there are many illusions in the world. And on the world stage there stride some masters of the sleight-of-hand and the misdirection – you can recognize them because they are all of a mind, and of a piece, and they are all working different parts of the same trick. But if you can recognize a trick for what it is, you can prevail against it.

Half of what you are seeing is illusory. The other half is in flux and will not matter tomorrow, and illusions are bi-partisan. Do not be enthralled by the zeitgeist, by the raging spirit of this age – one of manufactured discord, real hate, mistrust, anger, labeling and endless “isms” – because it is meant to keep us distractedly paddling the surfaces, chasing our egos and our echos. It is all meant to keep us from pondering the depths.

“A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.” – G.K. Chesterton

It is easy to go with the flow – even a dead thing, or a dead movement, can do that – much more difficult to stand against a current and look about. If you’re riding the slipstream, consider side-stepping it for a little while, and see what it does to your perspective.

Pull back from the noise. Particularly in times of excessive noise and chatter and emotionalism and manipulation, like now. Turn off the radios; unplug the television. Click off the computer screen (yes, me too!) and spend some time being quiet, removing yourself from the reach of the illusionists (who are legion) and affixing yourself to what is real and true and NOW in your own life, and then spend some time in prayer – not the “O Lord destroy him; he maketh a blight” sort of prayer, but the generous one that first says “thank you” and then asks for guidance and wisdom, and then simply falls silent and listens.

“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.” Lincoln’s Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862.

This ride is only beginning. Pace yourself. Clear your eyes and your mind and just watch. Detach from the tumult of it all, strap in and prepare for a hell of a ride. Pay no attention to the men and women behind the curtains. Save today’s headlines in your hard-drive and look at them again in November. You’ll see.

Clarification: By “Time Out” I mean “a breather,” not a punishment.

WELCOME: Instapundit readers. While you’re here, please take a look around. I am asking everyone to answer this question in 100 words or less: What’s Wrong With the World?. We’re also looking back a bit and remembering U2’s stunning halftime show after 9/11) and the time Bush rescued his own Secret Service agent.