Electing the Wizard

Isn’t it time we stopped looking for the Great and Powerful Oz?

I loved The Wizard of Oz. The movie, that is. The book was compelling, too, but as is often the case with literature-to-film transfers, the movie supplanted any memories I have of reading Frank Baum’s original.

I’m not the only fan of the giddy, color-saturated movie — it grew into a cultural juggernaut after a somewhat slow box office opening in 1939, spawning memorabilia, pop culture references, Broadway musicals (The Wiz, Wicked, and an Andrew Lloyd Webber version), not to mention endless Halloween costumes. (Admit it — at some point in your young life you trick-or-treated as Dorothy or The Scarecrow.)

It even inspired a rather convincing interpretation in the 1960s as political allegory of populist sentiment. I won’t go into details, but if you’re interested, here’s one account.

Now, it has spawned another analogy: Donald Trump as the Wizard, brought to you by the likes of author/journalist Geoffrey Dunn and, ironically, Hillary herself. I’ll buy that analogy, but there is more to it.

The Great and Powerful Oz is the embodiment of ALL modern politicians on the national stage, left or right, red or blue.

Our politicians are grand holograms, projected and held aloft by spin doctors and handlers and PR specialists, abetted by a slavish media who ensure that the curtain stays firmly drawn. Dunn claims that “Trump’s appearances before his rabid supporters are staged and controlled. He never allows the American public behind the curtains. His act is all a carefully crafted construction, a fiction…”

Fair enough. But show me a politician whose act ISN’T. It’s all a highly entertaining show, and we are buying the tickets.

Don’t get me wrong; some of these Wizards have been more likable than others, or seemingly trustworthy, or even inspirational. And like Dorothy and her pals, we show up at their doorsteps with our problems and expect solutions.

Isn’t it appealing to think that someone else has all the answers? “Here! Take this responsibility off my hands, won’t you? Think big thoughts and make all the right decisions for me. I’m going back to sleep.”

But politicians are just like us: deeply flawed human beings who don’t have all the answers. It’s time we stop handing them the power that we ourselves possess. We have the brains, the heart, and the courage — and always have had.

As one commenter I read said, “politicians may offer you miracles, pretend great wisdom, and make you feel feeble and dependent, but only you can really help yourself.”

And to take it one step further, ANYONE who offers us those things — in the form of miracle fixes, religious certainty, or scientific “fact” — does not deserve our attention.

I think it’s time for us all to break out our ruby slippers.