Firecreek: A metaphor for these political times.

[Skidmore]

Last night we watched "Firecreek", a western made in 1968 and which stars James Stewart and Henry Fonda. It's the story of Johnny Cobb, the pacifist farmer and erstwhile sheriff of an isolated community in onlyGodknowswhere of the old West. An injured Bob Larkin (Fonda) rides into town with his gang of thugs to wait to rob the stage when it comes into town on the next Saturday. They proceed to terrorize the community while they wait. Johnny is a "sodbuster" just trying to care for his farm and his wife and boys. His biggest problem now is the impending birth of a new child and his wife's difficult pregnancy. He considers the sheriff office (for which he gets paid $2/month) to exist for the purpose of maintaining the status quo and to be clearly a sideline. Bob Larkin and his gang destroy the towns infrastructure and seek to impose their own corrupted moral sensibilities on the towns people.

Larkin and Johnny are similar in that they are leaders of their individual groups with no will to stand up for more than the bare minimum of what it takes to preserve society in the manner it serves them individually and they recognize this in themselves and each other. Johnny, like the townspeople, prefers to get along and not make waves. The citizens cast their eyes down and choose not to see trouble when it is in front of them. The general store owner, a reclusive lawyer who fled to these backwaters because he no longer wanted to be responsible for making big and hard decisions, represents the nearest thing to an "establishment". The general store owner points out to Johnny that the town is actually a collection of "losers", and ignoring trouble is a more prudent path. Larkin, a criminal with some stirrings to be an upright citizen, derives his leadership from his willingness to allow the outlaws with him to rampage freely. He tells Cobb, "Where there is no law, you make your own." Both men recognize that aspect of themselves in one another. They circle around one another gingerly until the the gang lynches a young, simple-minded stable boy who chose to stand up adn address the indecent behavior before him and each leader is forced to stand up for something. Larkin tries to find an easy way out--to give lip service to wrongdoing, try to ride out of town, and get away scot free. Johnny Cobb is able to rise to the occasion and make the emblem of his office (a tin star with "Sheraf" incised on it--a handmade gift from his small sons) into a real badge. This is a really good film and well worth seeing.

Currently, the political parties in this country, are both at the point where they need to address what constitutes leadership. The Republicans are currently deriving power from *s willingness to let the thugs among them rampage and pillage and rape the land at will. The Democrats have chosen for too long to try to maintain the status quo by nodding and smiling in acquiescence to the thugs. As long as they are allowed to party on the sidelines with minimal interference, then they will tolerate some afronts to social order. To me, Larkin was like *. Trying to sell a bill of goods behind a deceptively amiable demeanor while providing a front for his gang. Johnny Cobb doesn't have an exact parallel in the political world right now, except for maybe the Democratic Party as a whole. The party needs to deal with what leadership meas and the principles for which it is willing to stand. Then it needs to fight. No matter how bloodied or daunted, it needs to fight back hard and not wait till a simple-minded livery boy gets lynched to do it.