Political Cynicism – Part III – The System
In order to maintain a readable length for this subject, I will be covering the topic in three parts. Be sure to read “Part I – The Voter” and “Part II – The Politicians” posted previously.
The System
As shown above, even the best candidates, who hold the highest of ideals and moral character, will be entering a system that is inherently flawed. Getting elected is no easy task. But “playing ball” in Congress will make any campaign look like a walk through the garden. There is a hierarchy to all of our political divisions. There are House leaders, committee chairmen, party leaders, senior politicians, and all manner of positions innate to any control of power. Our newly elected visionaries will be entering a system in which they have no power. But they want to make a change. They need to get their legislation and progressive ideas passed into law. How does a junior politician get anything done in Congress? The way it has always been done. They compromise their beliefs by selling their support to legislation that undermines their constituents’ needs in return for support of their own agenda. They seek the favor of committee chairs and senior party officials and leaders by giving their vote as a gift. No, it is not what we would have hoped would happen when they got there with our vote. It is not even what they may have wanted once they got in office. But those wishes do not diminish the fact that this is the way the political game is played. Read any tome on Presidential or Congressional history, regardless of the author’s political affirmation or personal agenda, and you will find that this is the way the game has always been played. If you build a machine that saws lumber, you can replace every nut and bolt of that machine and, in the end, it will still only be able to cut lumber. Replacing politicians in a flawed political system serves no purpose. Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome”. By extrapolation then, we are all insane. We continue to elect politicians and place them in a flawed system, then sit back and scratch our collective heads wondering why nothing is different. How silly we as people have become. We have politicians lying to us, stealing from us, pushing their own personal agenda in search of wealth and power, while avoiding the repercussions the rest of us would face if we chose to lead our own personal or business lives down the same road of degradation. A politician can strike and kill a pedestrian with his state vehicle, attempt to cover up the incident, lie about what happened, and his punishment is house arrest in his $1.1 million home with all the time in the world to count the money he has accumulated during his political career. We have to see that this doesn’t work. How we have become so blind or indifferent as a country and a society? Maybe high unemployment during an economical down turn is the best thing that can happen. Those who spent careers accumulating their wealth and material things, those with the new cars, nice homes, and best education for their children will feel the plight of those less fortunate. Maybe their own “hard” times will help us to become more concerned about others. No, with plenty of citizens homeless and hungry in America, we will extend unemployment benefits to ninety-nine weeks and possibly beyond. We do not want those who vote to go hungry or do without. We are still the best country in the world, but that will not remain the case if we cannot fix the worst system we have. On a positive note, you still have the right to vote. Good luck with that!
© 2012 Commonsensibly Speaking ~ Brad Osborne
commonsensiblyspeaking 