The Coming Storm
I have stayed relatively quiet here on the topic of the coming elections. I guess I figured there isn't much to add to the nationwide conversation. We are a polarized nation, and either you are going to vote for Obama, or you are going to vote for McCain, and nothing I have to say is going to change anyone's mind.
This is nothing new. I have friends who are staunch Obama supporters, and friends who are die-hard McCain fans. Truth becomes irrelevant when you are a zealot. If Obama decided part of his platform was to ban Jews from holding public office, a good friend of mine who is Jewish would find a way to reconcile that with himself, and continue to support Barack. Meanwhile, McCain continues to support corporate welfare, and supposed fiscal conservatives still rally by his side. To be fair, I do not think Obama's or McCain's supporters are bad or evil people, they have just been hoodwinked.
Its not about what your guy will do, its about hating the other guy more. And the candidates know this. Hell, this is how Washington has worked for many years now. Most of the politicians out there only care about one thing - getting re-elected. In 2006, the democrats united as one voice. They asked the American people to give them the power in congress and they will end the war in Iraq. Well, they got the power, and all they have done is grant additional money to continue the war.
I say this without any judgment on wether or not the war should end, but only to illustrate the complete lack of power the congress wields today as a direct result of the overwhelming aim of congresspersons - to get re-elected.
The flip side of that coin is the current administrations goal to get us to ignore the war. To pretend that is doesn't exist. "Don't worry about this war thing, go shopping. But remember to support the troops by putting a bumper sticker on your car." WTF. The office of the presidency today is like an elected emperor, granting almost no power to congress, and taking more and more from the courts as well. This will not change no matter who is the next president, until we replace congress with representatives who will stand up to that office.
Until then, will will have a President-King, and political parties with no goals other than to encourage you to hate the other guys in an effort to get themselves re-elected.
George Washington summed this up quite well in his farewell speech -
"I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally.
This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.
The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty.
Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind, (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight,) the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.
It serves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another."
So, what can we do about it? Stop focusing on the presidential election, and instead worry about your congressmen. I plan on voting against every incumbent I can, regardless of party. Party affiliation in this country doesn't mean anything anymore. I've already talked about the self-serving goals of political parties, and the way they maintain that is not only through inciting hatred, but also by getting us to ignore the problem. How do they do this? By enacting policies to ensure the supply of cheap consumer goods to americans. Both parties are guilty, they just go about it in different ways.
In his book, The Limits of Power, Andrew Bacevich states -
"The pursuit of freedom, as defined in an age of consumerism, has induced a condition of dependence on imported goods, on imported oil, and on credit. The chief desire of the American people is that nothing should disrupt their access to these goods, that oil, and that credit. The chief aim of the U.S. government is to satisfy that desire, which it does in part of through the distribution of largesse here at home, and in part through the pursuit of imperial ambitions abroad."
Guess what America? The credit has run out. No amount of government infused aid is going to save us. We need to come to terms with living within our means. Not everyone is going to be able to get that new hi-definition television, or that SUV.
Cheap consumer goods is not the American Dream. Life, Liberty, and the pursuit, not guarantee, of happiness is the American Dream. Working hard in an attempt make something for yourself without a man with a gun to your head is the American Dream. The sooner we remember this, the sooner those in power will realize the lies of cheap consumer goods and endless credit will not get them re-elected and they will begin to act in the self interest of a free nation. A nation that could become a producer again. Credit does not lead to wealth, but production does.
If we continue down the current path, our nation will bankrupt itself, and we will soon be ruled by global consensus. And in case you didn't notice, the consensus is that most of the world hates us and likes to see us suffer.
End rant.
Next up, I ignore my previous advice on forgetting about the presidential seat, and talk about why I'm writing in Ron Paul for president. And maybe some poker content, too.
