Post by username on Jun 17, 2009 17:44:26 GMT -8
Disclaimer: I know I've been pretty caustic in most political threads I've taken part in. This will not be one of those threads.
This thread is about politics and and the problem of power. More specifically, it's about how political solutions to society's problems will never, ever work. I'm not contended that political solutions can't work (that's an entire thread in and of itself;) just that they won't.
The problem with political solutions is that they are put forth by politicians. As everyone knows, a politician's primary drive is to attain and then maintain public office. If you are someone who believes that politicians are generally altruistic, you are entitled to your opinion. I cannot be held responsible for what people think of you after you admit that, however.
So, how does a politician attain and maintain public office in a democracy? The first answer that comes to mind is voting, although in the case of congress much of it has to do with Gerrymandering. Let's stick with the voting thing for now.
In order to get a large enough number of people to vote for you, you as a politician must either A)have ideas and ideals that resonate with your constituents or B)try and convince the voting public that your solution to their problems, the political solution, is the only one that will work.
A tiny minority of politicians follow plan A. I don't know how they do it. Being principled in Washington gets you labeled an extremist or worse. Dennis Kucinich, a man I disagree with on just about everything, is a good example of this phenomenon. He's labeled an extremist because he prefers to honestly state his views rather than try to slip them in through back-door riders stuck to thousand-page House appropriations bills. For that, I commend him.
Other than Kucinich and a few others, every politician in Washington is looking out for number one. You are not number one, in case you thought that's what that means.
Now, politicians have other options beyond just being re-elected to satisfy their desire for power, prestige, and wealth. After all, there are between two and six years (depending on who you are) where politicians tend to dial down the overt campaigning and focus on their other hobby: courting lobbyists. How do you think multi-million-dollar campaign war-chests are created? How do you think Ted Stevens, (R) AL, got a ten-thousand-dollar fish fountain for his front deck? If your answer was, "huge companies know that lobbying is the single-most effective way to get legal protection from competition, so they basically fellate politicians twenty-four-seven until they get what they want," congratulations. You're ahead of the curve.
Take a step back. Look at what is actually going on in the political world. Massive companies are conspiring with politicians to crush the little guy and preserve their wealth and prestige co-mutually. And, with the way we let politicians run our lives for us, can you blame big-(agra, pharma, guns, etc) for trying to exploit that? We opened the door for them by letting the government become the bloated monstrosity it is right now. If you were they, you'd do the exact same thing.
Here's a parable:
This is why the government must be smaller than it is now: because, at the heart of it, politicians don't care about you. They don't know you. They will not, in most cases, ever meet you. To say that what we need is better politicians and not fewer of them with less power is to close your eyes to the nature of politics: it's about power and power above everything else.
You know how to really change the world? Get to know your neighbors. Stick with your family. Invite people into your home, share a meal, and talk about how your lives are going. Give when you can, take when you must, and realize there will always be those with more and there will always be those with less. Above all, don't be political. Don't tack a D or an R on the end of your name and think that you've done your part. Don't buy into the idea that we can all be classified as either enemy or ally, and that these affiliations are all that important.
Yes, vote, but never for someone who is just the last alternative to what the other side has to offer. Read some books. Decide what your values are. Decide what your obligations to your community are and act on that, rather than passing the buck to somebody 2500 miles away who will inevitably screw it up. Get a job. Start a business (good luck). Start anything.
Paint. Draw. Sculpt. Write. Follow your passion, and appreciate people who do the same thing. Don't be too anxious about world affairs, but do pay attention.
Turn off your TV. Seriously. Do not watch the news; you have the internet. The only good thing on TV is the Weather Channel, and then only 25% of the time.
What I believe in is people. I don't believe in politicians. I think that you should be able to do whatever you want as long as you're not hurting anyone, because you know what? I trust you. I trust that you can make your own decisions about yourself and your life, and I believe that if we could just become a little more independent that we would learn in turn to become interdependent and that finally, we could maybe solve some of these problems that politics keeps inventing to campaign on come November.
People, don't you think it's time we moved on from this game? Don't you believe it's time we grew up? Daddy Government won't approve if we try, he'll try and get us scared of the big bad world, he'll try and tell us that if our gay neighbors get married that so will dogs and cats and that if Frank down the street smokes weed his children will grow arms out of their heads and all the other propagandists pap that has allowed them to take so much from us in the name of our safety and security. Don't ever, ever, ever trust a politician, unless he is distrusted by every other politician. Then it might be worth while to give him a chance.
Alright. I've said my piece. I even included a parable. Have at me.
This thread is about politics and and the problem of power. More specifically, it's about how political solutions to society's problems will never, ever work. I'm not contended that political solutions can't work (that's an entire thread in and of itself;) just that they won't.
The problem with political solutions is that they are put forth by politicians. As everyone knows, a politician's primary drive is to attain and then maintain public office. If you are someone who believes that politicians are generally altruistic, you are entitled to your opinion. I cannot be held responsible for what people think of you after you admit that, however.
So, how does a politician attain and maintain public office in a democracy? The first answer that comes to mind is voting, although in the case of congress much of it has to do with Gerrymandering. Let's stick with the voting thing for now.
In order to get a large enough number of people to vote for you, you as a politician must either A)have ideas and ideals that resonate with your constituents or B)try and convince the voting public that your solution to their problems, the political solution, is the only one that will work.
A tiny minority of politicians follow plan A. I don't know how they do it. Being principled in Washington gets you labeled an extremist or worse. Dennis Kucinich, a man I disagree with on just about everything, is a good example of this phenomenon. He's labeled an extremist because he prefers to honestly state his views rather than try to slip them in through back-door riders stuck to thousand-page House appropriations bills. For that, I commend him.
Other than Kucinich and a few others, every politician in Washington is looking out for number one. You are not number one, in case you thought that's what that means.
Now, politicians have other options beyond just being re-elected to satisfy their desire for power, prestige, and wealth. After all, there are between two and six years (depending on who you are) where politicians tend to dial down the overt campaigning and focus on their other hobby: courting lobbyists. How do you think multi-million-dollar campaign war-chests are created? How do you think Ted Stevens, (R) AL, got a ten-thousand-dollar fish fountain for his front deck? If your answer was, "huge companies know that lobbying is the single-most effective way to get legal protection from competition, so they basically fellate politicians twenty-four-seven until they get what they want," congratulations. You're ahead of the curve.
Take a step back. Look at what is actually going on in the political world. Massive companies are conspiring with politicians to crush the little guy and preserve their wealth and prestige co-mutually. And, with the way we let politicians run our lives for us, can you blame big-(agra, pharma, guns, etc) for trying to exploit that? We opened the door for them by letting the government become the bloated monstrosity it is right now. If you were they, you'd do the exact same thing.
Here's a parable:
One day, a scorpion looked around at the mountain where he lived and decided that he wanted a change. So he set out on a journey through the forests and hills. He climbed over rocks and under vines and kept going until he reached a river.
The river was wide and swift, and the scorpion stopped to reconsider the situation. He couldn't see any way across. So he ran upriver and then checked downriver, all the while thinking that he might have to turn back.
Suddenly, he saw a frog sitting in the rushes by the bank of the stream on the other side of the river. He decided to ask the frog for help getting across the stream.
"Hellooo Mr. Frog!" called the scorpion across the water, "Would you be so kind as to give me a ride on your back across the river?"
"Well now, Mr. Scorpion! How do I know that if I try to help you, you wont try to kill me?" asked the frog hesitantly.
"Because," the scorpion replied, "If I try to kill you, then I would die too, for you see I cannot swim!"
Now this seemed to make sense to the frog. But he asked. "What about when I get close to the bank? You could still try to kill me and get back to the shore!"
"This is true," agreed the scorpion, "But then I wouldn't be able to get to the other side of the river!"
"Alright then...how do I know you wont just wait till we get to the other side and THEN kill me?" said the frog.
"Ahh...," crooned the scorpion, "Because you see, once you've taken me to the other side of this river, I will be so grateful for your help, that it would hardly be fair to reward you with death, now would it?!"
So the frog agreed to take the scorpion across the river. He swam over to the bank and settled himself near the mud to pick up his passenger. The scorpion crawled onto the frog's back, his sharp claws prickling into the frog's soft hide, and the frog slid into the river. The muddy water swirled around them, but the frog stayed near the surface so the scorpion would not drown. He kicked strongly through the first half of the stream, his flippers paddling wildly against the current.
Halfway across the river, the frog suddenly felt a sharp sting in his back and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the scorpion remove his stinger from the frog's back. A deadening numbness began to creep into his limbs.
"You fool!" croaked the frog, "Now we shall both die! Why on earth did you do that?"
The scorpion shrugged, and did a little jig on the drownings frog's back.
"I could not help myself. It is my nature."
Then they both sank into the muddy waters of the swiftly flowing river.
The river was wide and swift, and the scorpion stopped to reconsider the situation. He couldn't see any way across. So he ran upriver and then checked downriver, all the while thinking that he might have to turn back.
Suddenly, he saw a frog sitting in the rushes by the bank of the stream on the other side of the river. He decided to ask the frog for help getting across the stream.
"Hellooo Mr. Frog!" called the scorpion across the water, "Would you be so kind as to give me a ride on your back across the river?"
"Well now, Mr. Scorpion! How do I know that if I try to help you, you wont try to kill me?" asked the frog hesitantly.
"Because," the scorpion replied, "If I try to kill you, then I would die too, for you see I cannot swim!"
Now this seemed to make sense to the frog. But he asked. "What about when I get close to the bank? You could still try to kill me and get back to the shore!"
"This is true," agreed the scorpion, "But then I wouldn't be able to get to the other side of the river!"
"Alright then...how do I know you wont just wait till we get to the other side and THEN kill me?" said the frog.
"Ahh...," crooned the scorpion, "Because you see, once you've taken me to the other side of this river, I will be so grateful for your help, that it would hardly be fair to reward you with death, now would it?!"
So the frog agreed to take the scorpion across the river. He swam over to the bank and settled himself near the mud to pick up his passenger. The scorpion crawled onto the frog's back, his sharp claws prickling into the frog's soft hide, and the frog slid into the river. The muddy water swirled around them, but the frog stayed near the surface so the scorpion would not drown. He kicked strongly through the first half of the stream, his flippers paddling wildly against the current.
Halfway across the river, the frog suddenly felt a sharp sting in his back and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the scorpion remove his stinger from the frog's back. A deadening numbness began to creep into his limbs.
"You fool!" croaked the frog, "Now we shall both die! Why on earth did you do that?"
The scorpion shrugged, and did a little jig on the drownings frog's back.
"I could not help myself. It is my nature."
Then they both sank into the muddy waters of the swiftly flowing river.
This is why the government must be smaller than it is now: because, at the heart of it, politicians don't care about you. They don't know you. They will not, in most cases, ever meet you. To say that what we need is better politicians and not fewer of them with less power is to close your eyes to the nature of politics: it's about power and power above everything else.
You know how to really change the world? Get to know your neighbors. Stick with your family. Invite people into your home, share a meal, and talk about how your lives are going. Give when you can, take when you must, and realize there will always be those with more and there will always be those with less. Above all, don't be political. Don't tack a D or an R on the end of your name and think that you've done your part. Don't buy into the idea that we can all be classified as either enemy or ally, and that these affiliations are all that important.
Yes, vote, but never for someone who is just the last alternative to what the other side has to offer. Read some books. Decide what your values are. Decide what your obligations to your community are and act on that, rather than passing the buck to somebody 2500 miles away who will inevitably screw it up. Get a job. Start a business (good luck). Start anything.
Paint. Draw. Sculpt. Write. Follow your passion, and appreciate people who do the same thing. Don't be too anxious about world affairs, but do pay attention.
Turn off your TV. Seriously. Do not watch the news; you have the internet. The only good thing on TV is the Weather Channel, and then only 25% of the time.
What I believe in is people. I don't believe in politicians. I think that you should be able to do whatever you want as long as you're not hurting anyone, because you know what? I trust you. I trust that you can make your own decisions about yourself and your life, and I believe that if we could just become a little more independent that we would learn in turn to become interdependent and that finally, we could maybe solve some of these problems that politics keeps inventing to campaign on come November.
People, don't you think it's time we moved on from this game? Don't you believe it's time we grew up? Daddy Government won't approve if we try, he'll try and get us scared of the big bad world, he'll try and tell us that if our gay neighbors get married that so will dogs and cats and that if Frank down the street smokes weed his children will grow arms out of their heads and all the other propagandists pap that has allowed them to take so much from us in the name of our safety and security. Don't ever, ever, ever trust a politician, unless he is distrusted by every other politician. Then it might be worth while to give him a chance.
Alright. I've said my piece. I even included a parable. Have at me.