America, The Greatest Show on Earth

 

P.T. Barnum and James A. Bailey coined the term, The Greatest Show on Earth to describe their American circus extravaganza.  They have traveled throughout America since 1871.  By the 1920s the circus had been bought out by the Ringling brothers who continued and expanded the show to include over 1,000 people with 16 camels, 26 elephants, and 335 horses.

Circus Clowns 1906

I vaguely remember going to the circus when I was probably eight.  This guess is from research that indicates that the Ringling Circus made a tour that ended in Miami on November 22, 1953.  1957 was the final time they used tents before switching to arena venues.  Future shows were at the Miami Beach Convention Center in the 60s, and the Miami Arena in the late 80s.  I remember working across from the Orange Bowl in a nearby office complex when a circus elephant walked by my second-floor window having broken loose from a parade on the street.  My only other circus references are from the many movies like The Greatest Show on Earth and Trapeze.

Having just witnessed the RNC and DNC conventions with their choreographed shows, the circus analogy came to mind.  Every four years the presidential political circus comes to town.  After the conventions, they take the show on the road for the final push before the big election.  Like the circus performances of old, the modern political circus has its high-wire acts, clowns, hucksters, and a freak show that is not to be missed.  The only thing missing is the animal acts unless you count the childless cat ladies.

Both sides feature inane rhetoric and to quote Jimmy Durante, “Everybody wants to get into the act.”  At the RNC Convention gathering, Arizona Republican Kari Lake’s speech ran over, and she was twice warned to “get off the stage.”  The second warning added the additional line, “Trump waiting.”   A short time later, Teamster president, Sean O’Brian was seen supporting Trump before he was nudged aside by an impatient Trump. 

That part of the clown show was disconcerting if one only considers the fact that it was Joe Biden in 2022 who provided the Teamster’s pension fund a one-time $36 billion bailout to halt the threat of pension cuts for 350,000 workers and retirees.  Those workers are generally in trucking, warehousing, and food processing industries.  While it was certainly a questionable use of tax dollars to support and keep solvent a private pension fund, one economist pointed out that annual tax benefits to higher-income taxpayers through 401k plans is much higher than the Teamster bailout.

The political circus too is expensive.  The cost of the 2020 presidential election was pegged at $6.5B.  The whole dog and pony show is a phenomenal waste of time and money.  We have political “entertainers” who are anything but entertaining and whose only talent is making promises for which no one holds them accountable.  It is like watching a high wire act where the cable is on the ground and nobody cares if they fall.  Telling listeners that they will do something that is beyond their control is the height of comic theatre.  When the circus leaves town and the elections are behind us the only thing that remains is the elephant dung and deflated balloons.

You would think that America, The Greatest Show on Earth, could come up with a better system for filling the most important job in the world.  So, we will continue to spend billions of dollars, listen to empty nonsense, and cast our vote for whoever pisses us off the least.  For now, the clown car is still circling the ring and the only mystery that remains is how many clowns are inside.  

It can be noted that the original PT Barnum circus toured in 1871 on two different trains, a Red Tour and a Blue Tour with each featuring different full three-ring productions.  Each train traveled on a two-year tour taking December off.  Sounds like a political campaign, just on a tighter schedule.

The Giant of Cardiff

“There’s a sucker born every minute.”  Ask most people who said that and PT Barnum’s name will be a common answer.  Like much of history and politics, this is probably BS.  Closer to the truth is that it was said OF PT Barnum and not by him.  You see, there was a famous hoax called the Cardiff Giant.  The “giant” was actually a ten-foot-long block of gypsum that had been sculpted to resemble a petrified American goliath.  It was buried and then “discovered” by “accident” and then promoted as the Giant of Cardiff.  When PT Barnum tried unsuccessfully to buy the hoax for his sideshow he then created his own fake of the fake giant.  The owner of the “real” giant when told that Barnum was showcasing his own giant he proclaimed, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

Politics and the circus, the parallels are endless.  Perhaps the politicians of today would be wise to heed the advice of PT Barnum who really said, 

"It is of no advantage to advertise unless you intend to honestly fulfill the promises made in this manner."