From Andy Rooney to Vladimir Putin, With Love

A year or so ago,"Sixty Minutes," Andy Rooney, floated the idea of a group of professorial advisors to the President of the United States. If not the"best and the brightest" these would certainly be among the most influential of the bureaucrats inhabiting Washington, DC, what some of us lovingly refer to as the"anal sphincter" of the Empire. This idea went nowhere, probably because Dick Cheney has that position.

Now The Christian Science Monitor reports that Putin is setting up such a
"parallel parliament" in Russia:

In a bid to save or reshape his country's troubled democracy, President Vladimir Putin is turning to 42 famous Russians - from ice skaters to nuclear scientists - who stand above the political fray.
President Putin ordered the creation of the Public Chamber, which some call a "parallel parliament," in the wake of last year's Beslan tragedy. Set to debut in January, it appears to be sidelining the unpopular but elected State Duma in favor of an appointed body.
The Chamber is tasked with personifying the public interest in supervising government, the Duma, media, and law enforcement. It may hold public hearings, call officials to account, and scrutinize draft laws. It might even draft legislation.
Supporters argue that the weak influence of public opinion, as well as institutions riddled with corruption, have given rise to the need for the chamber.
But critics argue that Putin, having muzzled the media, subordinated parliament, and cowed most independent social organizations, is aiming to replace genuine public opinion with a group of celebrities whose recommendations he can safely ignore.
"While the Kremlin is liquidating democratic freedoms, it is also busy creating institutions to imitate democracy," says Vladimir Ryzhkov, an independent deputy of the Duma. "It reminds me of Soviet times, when we had huge trade unions that did nothing to defend workers' interests, a peace movement that didn't criticize the USSR's arms buildup, and so on. I don't see how any good can come of this."

These 42 famous Russians will soon pick another 84 to join them, multiplying almost like a spreading flu virus

Since we already know that GeorgeII/43, and Vladimir are good friends, who cooperated together with Iran in quickly getting the US into Afghanistan in 2001, and both are terribly committed to Democracy and Nation building, perhaps George will soon pick up on this wonderful new "consensus" building mechanism, and propose it for the United States.

We certainly have a number of famous Sports jocks, both male and female, as well as Entertainment and Media personalities, of both sexes, and all of those in between, who could provide us with a "parallel Congress" to help run the country.

By golly, I think Vlad is on to something here!

As it is, after spending millions in our elections, most of the Congress gets reelected anyway. Isn't this a waste on money, at a time when the nation is increasingly financially strapped? And, when an election is really close, it tends to get decided by the Supremes. Is this Democracy?

Since in most cases these Academic, Sports Media and Entertainment types are already "rich and famous," they wouldn't be tempted by the subtle donation/bribes of the Abramoff-DeLay variety to which so many in Congress seem susceptible. In case some mere teacher slipped in, we could qualify that category by stipulating that any Academic had to have some combination of best-selling books, or research grants from the Pentagon or Big Pharma, or be a "tenured" resident at some think-tank, if such a category exists.

Those Russians have been Godless for so long, that it probably never occurred to Vlad to include some Religious leaders in the group, but George wouldn't let that happen here. Pat Robertson or Ralph Reed, whose wealth would certainly qualify them for the group.

Conservatives, even Neocons, don't take kindly to radical, new ideas, but this is not new to America. A century or so ago, that this kind of efficient rule by the best folks in Society was clearly what Progressivism was all about. Thus, this has a great potential for bringing the Left and the right into harmonious consensus. Finally, let's let Vlad try it out first, and then learn from the Russian experience.

Where would this esteemed group of "Parallelers" meet?

Probably the biggest performing center in Washington, or New York City would do the trick! Certainly, Fox Entertainment would want to broadcast their deliberations 7/24. Who would preside, probably the Celebrity of the Week as selected by the Media. If the "Paralleles" were meeting this past week, for example, Scooter Libby would clearly have been the guy in charge.

Since Government and Entertainment have obviously been merging for the last few decades, this would put many of the real pros in charge, almost any of which could do a better acting job before the cameras than George.

Well, it's fun to dream, but the reality of the Empire is that the existing massive bureaucracies, the Congress, etc., are not about to let some bunch of "Parallelers" steal the show.

Good luck over there in Moscow, Vlad, we'll be watching your show!