Monday, July 8th, 1996
Source: The Sun newspaper
by William Langley. Dateline Washington DC.
In Cinemas all over America audiences are rising to their feet and cheering as an alien spaceship's death ray zaps the White House.
Their reaction demonstrates that most Americans would consider rule from outer space a preferable alternative to what they are getting.
Government has become such a dirty word that not even politicians are using it.
The only dirtier word that I can think of is "Washington" which can now barely be uttered on TV before 10pm.
Ecstatic
Meanwhile President Bill Clinton is still insisting "People are starting to feel good about the Country again."
You can't blame him for trying to put the best spin on things, but the truth is very different.
This years election campaign is essentially being fought on the bizarre issue of which candidate least wants to be there.
The country has just celebrated Independence Day. Usually it is an occasion to hang out flags, let off fireworks and contrast the unhappiness of the rest of the world with the sheer, inexpressible joy of being an American. But this year the most contented faces I saw were among the crowds pouring out of the blockbuster new movie called Independence Day - a sci-fi epic about an attack on the earth by aliens.
On this occasion film critics have been pushed aside by political pundits intrigued at the ecstatic reaction of audiences to a scene in which the extra-terrestrials pulverise the White House.
The invaders have already flattened New York and Los Angeles. Then our guys begin a fightback by nuking an alien craft over Houston. Soon they have the audience on their side.
But when a giant enemy spacecruiser hovers menacingly over Washington the audience in the cinema where I saw it started crying "Yeah!" and "Go for it!"
A spectacular direct hit on the White House brings the biggest cheer of the night.
"Once a beloved and beautiful symbol of the nation, the White House has come to signify a remote and corrupt government," lamented one columnist.
"What else would explain why audiences across the country exulted as it vaporised?"
Not long ago the same pundits were writing off the wave of anti-government sentiment as a passing fad, stirred up by a handful of right-wing cranks and gun nuts.
Dislike
Anyone who complained that Washington was out of control was deemed to believe in screwball conspiracy theories about the U.S. being softened up for takeover by foreign powers and the forces of Satan.
Now the dislike of the establishment is so pervasive that even the government is running scared of the government!
This years presidential candidates are spending fortunes convincing the voters that Washington is the last place they want to do business.
Except perhaps where the aliens come from.
All rights reserved to WUFOC and NÄRKONTAKT. If you reprint or quote any part of the content, you must give credit to: WUFOC, the free UFO-alternative on the Internet, http://www.tripnet.se/home/west/ufocentr.htm