ABC is about to unleash a potent tonic for the popular consciousness of America. “The Path to 9/11″ is billed by ABC as a “dramatization” of the events that led to the horrendous attacks on New York.

Problem is, things like 9/11 don’t need to be dramatized. They are dramatic enough already. Dramatizing such an event smacks of fascism. There is a public record on 9/11 called the 9/11 Commission Report. We don’t need ABC to help “clarify” things.

It begs the question of why anyone would want to go in and push those still raw buttons. Exploitation for profit is one reason. The viewership should be huge. However, I am no longer skeptical when someone suggests bald-faced manipulation of popular consciousness. It happens all the time. It happens in many ways, including the trumping up of reasons to go to war.

From early reports, it will serve the Republicans well, putting blame for 9/11 at the feet of Clinton and Clinton administration officials. This is a travesty. With flagging support on all fronts, the GOP needs help badly, and 9/11 has always been their go-to meme.

So the current American Leni Riefenstahl - the Walt Disney Company - is brought in to the mix to set right the popular consciousness. And we have all heard the rumors about Walt.

The German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, whose documentaries in the mid-30s had helped to glorify the Nazis, claimed that “after Kristallnacht [1938], she approached every studio in Hollywood looking for work. No studio head would even screen her movies except Walt Disney. He told her he admired her work but if it became known that he was considering hiring her, it would damage his reputation.”

More people will see and talk about this series than any political debate or policy pamphlet. TV is what drives America. TV is how America works. TV is grafted into the substructure of the American Mind. It is the steering wheel. The control panel. And ABC and firends are about to take the helm for a bit.