George W. Bush as the Anti-Christ Essay -- Exploratory Essays Research

George W. Bush as the Anti-Christ To really grasp the significance of the symbol of the anti-Christ we must first posit politics as itself symbolic. Politics is the semiotics of a nation's will: it becomes the People just as the People become it by being elected into office and participating in the political process, or in dictatorships, by following the rules and not forming underground movements. But in a democracy, it is an especially tight symbolic relationship, thus the clear relationship between political symbol and anti-Christ in George W. Bush. Both subject and subjectifier, politics in this nation exploits as it empowers by allowing a popular will (or a popular sense of defeatism) to manifest itself as a political candidate, who in turn is forced by his media (and his electability) to pander back to the People. Thus a candidate becomes a symbol--being both subject and object in the mind of the electorate. This goes beyond being a mere figurehead: figureheads are allowed peccadilloes since they are not considered to be "real" decision makers. Figureheads express a polity's emotions about an office, and only those. American political figures--especially presidents--express emotions and will, and they express them in terms of a man (Americans seem to feel strongly that the office should be held by a man). The presidency is symbol in that it expresses us: we impeached Clinton because we found his conduct with Monica Lewinsky to be reprehensible. There was not the political will to convict him, however, because we knew that essentially he stood for us, and who among us has not had love affairs of which we are embarrassed? In essence, we brought Clinton before a crowd, but the crowd could cast no stones. Th... ...lves: rich, spoiled, kind of dumb, but basically likeable. Bush is the essence of America's self image: untrusting of too much wit, intelligence or erudition. It would be a miracle if he were to win the White House, which is exactly why we will put him there. Thus the cycle of representation and symbolism is complete: Bush is who we are: corrupt, unrepentant, in awe of money and simultaneously endowed with it. The ultimate estimation of the Bush candidacy in terms of Revelation is not so much that it will positively usher in the End Times, but the indicators are undeniable. We have become the corrupt society that Revelation predicts. We have become ripe to receive the deceiver. Works Cited Conason, Joe. "Notes on a Native Son." Harper's Magazine Mar. 2000: 39-53. Phillips, Kevin. "The Prospect of a Bush Restoration." Harper's Magazine Mar. 2000: 54-8.