Foreign Hordes
Looks like xenophobia will play an important part in the Presidential election "drama." (Apologies for the following geeky, strained analogy).

Capital, or if you like, the elite who gather annually at the World Economic Forum in Davos, scours the globe for cheap labor like Sauron's red, searchlight Eye in Lord of the Rings.

America's economy, a besieged fortress like Helm's Deep or Minas Tirith, frantically attempts to ward off wave attacks of Orc-like darkies, i.e. Latino immigrants and white collar job-stealing Indians.

And, a stretch I know, when told the dusky Iraqis desperately need help shedding tyranny and building anew, many Americans give the same answer a bitter, war-weary King Theoden spits at Aragorn after his plea that Gondor urgently needs Rohan's assistance, "They need our help?! What have they ever done for us?!"

Meanwhile, the Naz-ghoul-like Al Qaeda circle overhead.

Rick Perlstein, author of Before the Storm (which you should read if you haven't), gets into the weeds to write about the X-factor of the political season, outsourcing.

I'm not sure of this, but I believe J.R.R. Tolkein used South Africa as a model for his Middle Earth. Elves were a stand-in for the British, Humans for the less-cultivated Boer/Afrikaners, and Orcs, of course, for the surrounding sea of African natives. The wizard Sauramon, perhaps, was a stand-in for "Uncle Joe" Slovo and the Commie provocateurs.

In our world, obviously, the Orcs were victorious; shed tyranny and oppression; and now work to build anew in a South Africa where politics, as in Iraq, has returned for good. (No doubt, smarty-pantses will point to the recent violence in Iraq as evidence of the absence of politics. My rejoinder: "In a split between U.S.-picked Iraqi leaders and American administrators, the Governing Council demanded an immediate cease-fire across the country Friday and a halt to military operations that punish civilians." And a cease-fire was declared.)

Jennifer Abrahamson writes in Slate about how the Orcs and Goblins are faring 10 years after overthrowing apartheid:

Rapping Against the ANC

Truth and Reconciliation on Robben Island

From the Frontline to the Bottom Line

Saving Grace

This Land is Our Land