Saturday, April 13, 2013

Superman Building Closes -- GOP Takes up Superman Mantle


The largest building in Rhode Island -- 111 Westminster in Providence or “The Bank of America Building” --is losing its final tenant. Nicolas Retsinas, lecturer from the Harvard Business School, calls the resulting massive blight "the ultimate urban pothole”. Yahoo.com reported that the building’s shattered shut-down is another huge sign of Rhode Island’s decline. The state faces 9.4% unemployment, and the numbers just get worse. From poor schools to rising food stamps recipients, to a hostile business climate, to a mass exodus of residents, there is no escaping the obvious: Rhode Island needs a savior.

The huge building in Downtown Providence is often referred to as the “Superman Building,” because it resembles The Daily Planet Newspaper headquarters from the “Superman”television program, where Superman walked among mere mortals as Clark Kent, reporter for The Daily Planet. When trouble lurked, when chaos broke out, Clark Kent would turn into Superman and save the day.

If any state needs Superman, it would be Rhode Island.

Incidentally enough, there is a party that can summon its inner super powers, that can help turn the state of Rhode Island from worst to first.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s the Republican Party!

“The Republican Party can meet in a phone booth!” many jeer.

Where does Clark Kent go before transforming into Superman?

“The Republican Party can fit in a clown car.”

Kal-El, the original name of Clark Kent/Superman, crash-landed on earth in a space-ship, not much bigger than a clown car. When he first stepped out, as a little child, he did not impress anyone, not even the farmer and his wife who found him by the side of the road. Yet when they need to lift something heavy, little Kal-El just hoisted up the obstacle without any strain. Just by looking at him, people could easily figure Kal-El/Superman to be slight, yet when he moves, he moves big, and gets things done.

“The Republican Party is a caucus of losers. No one should take them seriously.”

Superman walked the streets of Metropolis by day as reporter Clark Kent. He went about telling people the truth of what was going on in and around the city. Nobody took him serious, at least on the surface. He looked just like anyone else, more nebbish than novelty, more homespun than hero, more loser than winner.

Yet in fact he was the real deal. Unlike most comic-book superheroes, “Superman’s” true and initial identity was “Superman”. Just as the mighty stranger and truth-teller could never be defined by his circumstances or the opinions of others, so too the leaders, promoters, and activists of the Rhode Island Republican Party should not be underestimated, nor will they shrink from the forces of evil in their state just because their numbers for the time being are small.

“Someone needs to turn back the clock for the Ocean State to revive.”

The Republican Party represents the time-tested values of free markets, free enterprise, and free people. Superman turned the entire earth around, causing every event to go backwards, and revive his love Lois Lane. Just recently, Democrats want to make “calamari” the state appetizer, even though their fiscal policies are turning the state into mincemeat. With twenty-six seats for starters, the Rhode Island Republican Party can stall the General Assembly’s mad spending spree, and demand that the Democratic hypermajority pay attention to the needs of all Rhode Islanders

“Rhode Island needs a party that stands for truth, justice, and the American way.”

Like Clark Kent/Superman, the Rhode Island Republican Party has been telling the residents of the state the truth about the fiscal chaos in Providence for years. Yet like Lex Luthor or the myriads of alien miscreants who bedeviled the inhabitants of Metropolis, the Democratic Party has kept the voters in the dark, must like the Superman Building on 111 Westminster. Instead of shining the light on the budget obligations and the sickening, disgraceful effects of welfare and cronyism, they have plied their own version of “kryptonice”,assuming that a narrative of “Dead, Dead GOP” will keep the opposition from rising up and taking back the state for the voters, the students, and everyone else looking for more than a handout.

“Superman’s greatest weakness is kryptonite.”

“Kryptonite” suggests death, with the base word “crypt” so conveniently exposed in the word. How many times have reporters, pundits, and intellectuals written off the Rhode Island Republican Party as “dead.” Yet just like Clark Kent jumping out of his phone booth at the last minute to save the day, so too the leaders of the Rhode Island Republican Party are taking their principles of free markets, free enterprise, and free people to Rhode Island voters.

The Rhode Island Republican Party has suffered some serious setbacks, just as Kal-El/Superman had to flee his home planet and seek refuge in a foreign world. Now that the Democratic hypermajority policies have turned “the Superman Building” into an empty tower, the Rhode Island GOP can take up the Superman mantle, break forth their power of ideas and outreach, and help save Rhode Island.

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