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Thursday
I still haven’t gotten over the gut punch many of us felt when the “Surrender Caucus”—seven Democrats and an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats—voted to end the Democratic filibuster, which was the only tool the party had to prevent health insurance premiums for 24 million Americans from doubling, tripling, or even quadrupling. Republicans refused to negotiate, using SNAP benefits and hungry Americans as hostage, and their hard line appears to have worked. We’re now back to business as usual, only with the GOP once again learning that the party that cares about governing will always fold when the going gets rough.
After spending months watching the Trump administration fearlessly violate norms, laws, the Constitution, and basic human decency, the resistance was finally feeling hopeful. First there were the October 18 No Kings marches, which drew close to seven million protesters. Then we saw a blue wave on election night as Democratic candidates swamped the opposition, a positive sign for next year’s midterm elections. With the filibuster, we believed that Senate Democrats were finally showing backbone after capitulating on the budget last May. All the momentum, however, came to a screeching halt with this Neville Chamberlain moment.
My sick feelings have taken me back to my least favorite episode in the Narnia chronicles, which I otherwise adore. The last battle in The Last Battle involves the forces of King Tirian, which include Jill, Eustace, Jewel the unicorn, Farsight the eagle, Poggin the dwarf, and others. The Narnians have squared off against Calormenes intent on seizing Narnia, and the battle is notable in part because Jill takes part, the first C.S. Lewis heroine we see shooting enemy soldiers. The Narnians notch a temporary victory but then realize that more Calormenes are on their way against their now depleted ranks. They have another card to play, however, as wild Narnian horses rush to the rescue. Think of them as Senate Democrats demonstrating unaccustomed fortitude. Thanks to Narnian mice, the horses have escaped Calormene captivity:
“Listen!” said Jewel: and then “Look!” said Farsight. A moment later there was no doubt what it was. With a thunder of hoofs, with tossing heads, widened nostrils, and waving manes, over a score of Talking Horses of Narnia came charging up the hill. The gnawer and nibblers had done their work.
Then comes the stab in the back. A group of dwarfs, who owe their freedom to the Narnians, now turn their arrows on them:
Poggin the Dwarf and the children opened their mouths to cheer but that cheer never came. Suddenly the air was full of the sound of twanging bowstrings and hissing arrows. It was the Dwarfs who were shooting and—for a moment Jill could hardly believe her eyes—they were shooting the Horses. Dwarfs are deadly archers. Horse after horse rolled over. Not one of those noble Beasts ever reached the King.
At least the Surrender Caucus is not jeering at its allies as the dwarfs do. “Thought we were on your side, did you?” the dwarfs shout. “No fear. We don’t want any Talking Horses. We don’t want you to win any more than the other gang. You can’t take us in. The dwarfs are for the Dwarfs.”
A little while later, the dwarfs begin directing their arrows against the Calormenes, as we can expect the Surrender Caucus to begin doing again against the GOP. The damage has been done, however, and, in the end, the dwarfs don’t fare any better than the Narnians. All are thrown into a stable, which functions as Lewis’s metaphor for death. “I feel in my bones,” says Poggin, “that we shall all, one by one, pass through that dark door before morning.” Better for the author to show Jill being dragged by the hair and thrust through the entrance than having her disemboweled by a sword.
In the novel the Calormenes presumably overrun Narnia, although we don’t see this since Lewis at this point introduces the Book of Revelation. Earthly setbacks ultimately don’t matter, we learn, since a final apocalypse renders irrelevant such trivial concerns. When the good guys all go to Narnia heaven and the bad guys to the other place, we cease to worry about old Narnia.
Labor activist Joe Hill mocked such consolation with “You’ll get pie in the sky by and by.” Those who oppose the authoritarian takeover of America don’t have that luxury. Their battles must be fought in what Aslan calls the Shadow-Lands, and we’ll be facing a desolate wasteland if the Calormenes win.
