I hate election years. It wouldn’t be so bad if when all the dust cleared we could simply say “Well, our guy didn’t win but congratulations to the victor and let’s get on with the business at hand.” Sadly, however, the polarization of American politics has evolved to the point where victory or loss may mean the slow and suffocating death of our nation. So, in 2008, we no longer have merely a matter of difference of opinion, party, or even gender. Today, politics means much more than just elements of political science and the implications are literally generational. Consider the war in Iraq; undoubtedly, the results of this November’s election will determine whether we announce to the world “Hey, you might not like us here and we sure as hell don’t want to be here but we’re going to stay for as long as it takes for us to emerge victorious and our terrorist enemies to know that we don’t give up as easily as the bickering Muslims would like for us to” or we’ll simply cut and run and before long Detroit, Los Angeles, or Chicago will look like Baghdad did before the Surge. That’s the significance of what elections have become.Myself, I don’t necessarily blame the politicians. Eh, you get what you pay for. However, I will perhaps break with popular opinion and shower the blame solely upon us voters. We are the ones who have screwed up this great nation of ours and not the pathetic bureaucrats that we elevate into office. If we, the voting eligible of the three hundred million people who make up this great nation of ours were decisive in anything we could, for instance, obliterate the terrorists, vaporize the mullahs in Iran, pick off that pervert despot in Pyongyang, and give both Russia and China something to think about before they proceed with their own nationalistic ambitions. Sadly, we don’t have such unity within our country. Hell, we don’t even have that much patriotism – no matter from what side of the aisle you hail. Those imbeciles in Washington who can’t secure our borders, deport our own “insurgents”, or even acknowledge that we are at war with radical Islamists and not revolutionary Maoists, aren’t our problem. We are. We the voters of the “Great American Experiment”, who hold an extraordinary treasure envied by the rest of the planet, shortchange ourselves completely when it comes to responsibility. Where our right to vote represents an unfathomable power, we ourselves remain absolute mush. Why is this?
Inflation, in its most basic definition, represents the government printing more money to meet its obligations. It must be nice. Long gone are the days of the Gold Standard during which each Greenback had to be shored with gold bullion. Today, when Congress needs to make their payments on “Bridges to Nowhere” they’ll simply crank up the Mint and expect us citizens to foot the bill at some point in the future. On the other hand, should we honest working stiffs fall behind in our monthly obligations, we cannot simply begin printing out more paychecks else the guys from Treasury will come and employ us in making license plates (probably for some jerk that doesn’t even belong in this country’s Lexus). There is a strong parallel to this phenomenon within election cycles.
When politicians seek office, their campaign staffs scrutinize the electorate and more often than not they come to a startling conclusion – those voters who actually do their homework and critique the condition of the country, its heritage, and its security as well as the education, experience, and patriotism of the candidates do not represent a large enough portion of the population to place any one particular candidate into office. Ergo, to succeed they must come up with more votes. In other words, these same politicians who print out more money to pay for their excesses ‘manufacture’ more votes to suit their needs. They do this through any number of vehicles but, again, where they can get away with their actions and we cannot is that every American citizen above eighteen has a fundamental right to vote. Where the politicians get away with their heist is that we simply allow them to.
An informed, calculated, and judicial vote is the most powerful adversary of any politician. All of their sound bites, tirades, and hysterics cannot defeat a rational and responsible voter. To counter this challenge, they simply outwit us by focusing their energies upon nitwits – those voters who cast their lot without thinking, without considering the implications of their actions, even without wondering whether the candidate they endorse is really in line with their own personal beliefs. These are the culprits at the helm of our country as we steam towards the iceberg of politics that threatens to sink our national will. They are the ones who quip “Hey, I have the power to vote but I spend more time coming up with lottery numbers than chosen candidates!”
Part of this problem, admittedly, rests with the election process itself. When our personal action encompasses no more than a few minutes generally every four years, we simply do not devote more time than that to the effort. Most of us, I am quite certain, pick out our candidate because only one fits our mold – we just don’t have much to choose from. Our primaries assure us that our nation will never be subject to coalition governments that bewitch most other democracies. We narrow our selections down to the two most suitable and then collectively choose the best available one. Normally.
Lately, we’ve chosen to drift away from selecting the most experienced and qualified candidates to cast our lot with the most ‘appealing’, ‘invigorating’, or most ‘anti-Whomever’ in our choice of leaders. Basically, we get stuck with managers – people who function according to stereotypical platforms based upon ‘textbook’ solutions to perplexing problems. We just no longer have an individual who can stand up in front of our nation and say “You’ve elected me to be in charge and this is what I’m going to do for you and our nation”. Conversely, we get someone who stands up in front of the world and says “Now, that my nation has voted me into office this is what I’m going to do for you and the rest of the planet.” The difference being, of course, is that we never allow ourselves to elect someone who represents us. We choose image (whether for our benefit or the world’s) over substance.
Consider 2008. Would I like to see a black President of the United States? Yes. Would I like to see a woman President of the United States? Sure. Would I like to see either Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Hussein Obama as President of the United States? Most emphatically not. I want neither a “rock star” nor a “White House Wife” as my president. I want someone who can dismiss the rhetoric of the campaign and say “you voted me in” as opposed to “I got me elected.” To understand this, permit me to incorporate the pattern of the papal elections at the Vatican. When the Cardinals of the Catholic Church gather to elect a new pontiff, they reflect upon the foundations of the Church, its history, and its function. Each meditates upon their choice before casting their secretive ballot. Usually, several votes are required before the world learns of their final selection. Hereinafter lays the truly astounding facet of the whole process – the newly elected Pope selects a new identity to go with his mission. It’s how a Cardinal Karol Wojtyla becomes Pope John Paul II or a Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger becomes a Pope Benedict XVI They, in a sense, distance themselves from their personal past and become a new leader of their people.
This is the kind of action that we desperately need from our elected officials. Whether the president of the nation, the governor of a state or the mayor of a city, we need people who can break bonds with their past and focus exclusively upon the demands of the country. Our simple “two minute vote” has broad implications for the future. To paraphrase the Bible, if we vote unwisely, then our succeeding generations will be screwed up for decades to come. On the other hand, if we vote wisely, then our future will be made secure through centuries of responsible citizens. It all depends upon whether we choose to cast our vote as a spur of the moment decision, or we spend the intervening years scrutinizing our prospects, analyzing our history, and determining whether the United States or the United Nations best serves our needs.
As the battle for office escalates, the most advantageous device for any politician is a stolen vote and only the clueless are subject to theft. The clueless are those who can be duped into voting for the most “attractive” or “cultured” individual. Only the brainless can be kowtowed into voting for those who bribe with courteous services such as rides to the polling places or promises of extraordinary entitlements. Voters without conscience or care will gladly toss their right into the wind or refrain from making a selection at all believing quite erroneously that said right is optional. What makes these actions so horrendous is that they represent one of the very few decisions that human beings can actually make that affect others more so than themselves. Nearly every other form of supreme negligence on our part – such as drunk driving – affects comparatively few other individuals. We simply attribute the level of the crime to that which most captures our attention at the present. Yet, “political manslaughter” can occur if there are a significant number of perpetrators and, for all practical purposes, the vast majority of American voters fall into this group.
If politicians were generally concerned about this oversight, then they would be far more accommodating with their records, their actions, and their qualifications. Instead, they respond through deceit, package marketing, and carefully orchestrated interviews. The campaign season is, perhaps, the only true battle that our politicians seek to win at any and all costs. They do not care about collateral damage anymore than they care about taking prisoners. Every privilege that they thrust upon our national enemies they revoke for their political adversaries – we, the informed voter. Their wars are waged through the proliferation of the vote – the widespread dissimilation of our responsibility as an informed and interested citizenry. We’re accomplices through our ignorance and distraction. It’s time to change this practice on our part – politicians must earn both our “hearts and minds” if they want our vote.
NEXT: AN ARMED POPULATION IS A FREE POPULATION(The above article is the 5th in a series by R. J. Godlewski, exclusively for Right Truth. A new installment will be published each Monday. Please leave your comments or questions for Mr. Godlewski here in the comments section and he will respond.)
This is the 5th article in the series, THE BASIS FOR A STRONG NATION. Read the previous articles: Chapter One in the series, "A Return to American basics" ... Chapter Two, "What is an American?" ... Chapter Three, "One Nation Without God?" ... Chapter 4 "Duty and the Responsibility of Citizenship"
Be sure to check out Mr. R.J. Godlewski's website here and the Independent Counterterrorist Training Program written by Mr. Godlewski for Right Truth.
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Trackposted to Stuck On Stupid, The Pink Flamingo, Rosemary's Thoughts, Democrat = Socialist, The Beauty Stop, Stageleft, and The World According to Carl, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
Mr. Godlewski, do you believe this country is or is not in need of major political redirection?
Posted by: KAK | March 31, 2008 at 02:46 PM
"Mr. Godlewski, do you believe this country is or is not in need of major political redirection?
Posted by: KAK "
Not at all. Our fundamental problem is that we voters are so ignorant of what's going on around us that we often vote on impulse or tend to not vote at all leaving the doors open to those who strategically plan their political ambitions. In a sense, we're spoiled. "Major political redirection" sounds like an overthrow of an existing system. Ours is the best -- bar none -- and we only need to reacquaint ourselves with being American which is what the Basis For a Strong Nation is all about. R.J.
Posted by: Debbie | April 01, 2008 at 12:41 PM