« Sound like anything we've seen lately? | "Hey, where all the directin' women at?" »
August 31, 2004Sheep people make me mad...
Everybody's always grousing about how politicians lie. About how they're two-faced. About how they'll say whatever they think they need to say to get elected and stay elected.
You know what, folks? That old saying about people getting the politicians they deserve is as true now as ever it was. We have nobody to blame for their behavior but ourselves.
Last Monday, during an appearance on the "Today" show, Dubya was asked whether the war on terror would ever be won, to which he replied, "I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world."
A good answer, I think. Accurate, qualified, honest without being pessimistic—Dubya operated under the assumption that he was speaking to a nation of rational adults. Admittedly, this was not the sort of thing I would have ever expected Dubya to say. Well, I won't worry my pretty little head about it, because he'll never be that honest again. Everybody jumped on him over his comment, including John Kerry, who used Dubya's rare candor as a chance to score a few points in the war of the soundbytes.
The very next day, Dubya revises his answer to the much more popular: "In this different kind of war, we may never sit down at a peace table. But make no mistake about it, we are winning, and we will win."
And the crowd goes wild.
Politicians lie and distort the truth because we demand it of them. We don't ask them to do what's best for us. We passively plead for them to take the reins and lead us wherever they'd like, so long as we can remain in our anesthetized daydreams. And no unpleasant truths—which, for America, means any situation (financial, moral, military, etc.) in which we're not guaranteed absolute, uncontested and painless victory. Just ask Walter Mondale, who sealed the coffin of his own presidential aspirations in 1984 when he said the following in his debate with Reagan: "Let's tell the truth. Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did."
Mondale's electoral votes, come Election Day: 13.
Reagan’s electoral votes: 525.
Posted by patrick at August 31, 2004 10:28 PM
CommentsThe problem with "Wars on (Nouns)" is that they can never be won, because you cannot battle an abstract concept into submission.
Every single war on (noun) ever started is still being fought -- the War on Poverty. The War on (some) Drugs. The War on Terra. The root problem is the same. You don't eliminate an abstract by attacking the abstract. You have to attack the causes, and that's something these Orwellian Forever Wars never do.
Want to end poverty? You have to attack the root causes -- lack of education and outsourcing. Want to end the drug problem? You can't do it by arresting the users. You can only do it by legalizing the things and providing them cheaply from government labs. (Side benefit -- increased employment. Put those meth lab guys to work.)
War on Terra? You have to look at the root causes which, in this current go-round happen to be American troops in Saudi Arabia. Pull those troops out, war over. In the larger scheme of things, of course, the only way to end this endless crusade is to stop the fiction that America is a Christian nation. It isn't and never was. There's no reason at all we should be fighting the demented battles started by a braindead pope a millenia ago... but we're trying to.
And that's why the War on Terra... and all those other "Wars On" will never end.
When, oh when, will the people of this country wise up and realize that the government works for them, and not the other way around?
Look, kids, it's like this. The President is our employee, not our master. If you don't like what he's doing, it's your duty to fire his ass in November.
Posted by: Jon Bastian at September 1, 2004 01:37 AM
Well said, Jon. Now update your damn blog already--your friend's blog, I mean--so we can make sure Dubya'll be unemployed come next February!
Posted by: Patrick Seitz at September 1, 2004 01:59 AM
Oh, how I wish I was mentally cognizant enough to remember exactly what he said, but it was Ben Franklin who told us if the people felt the Govenment unjust, then it was the responsibility of the people to change the government. I mention this on occasion to those around me, and remind them of the whole "By the people, of the people and for the people" concept thet President Halliburton hopes we'll forget.
Posted by: Mad Monarch Voards at September 1, 2004 12:53 PM
Post a comment