Politics

Politics is the one domain where self serving idiots outnumber common sensical, moral, smart, compassionate and humorous human beeings. It’s also the arena that attracts devious, power-hungry, egocentric aspirants, mostly ex-lawyers and real estate agents who use politics as a way to improve their self esteem, win new and important friends, line their pockets and secure themselves a future with a fat pension and possible seats at boardroom tables. Politics also carries the elusive promise of historical significance and the dangerous but tantalizing possibility of shaping and changing the world for good. In most cases this ambiton results in the exact opposite. Very seldom do people enter politics for the common good or because they want to improve the lifes of other, ordinary people. Althoug everyone pays lipservice to those noble causes most enter the political arena to nurture and foster the rich elite of society. The socialist view of shared resources, decent labour laws and fair division of capital is not a popular platform these days when even liberalism is circumspect and cowers behind euphemisms. It remains a paradox that social democrats are generally regarded with suspicion and a certain degree of derision like they want to take away something when in fact they’re the only ones that have managed to add to the common person’s lot. I feel like an idiot when I voice my support for the socialist underdogs who argue the position of ordinary citizens who want nothing more then security at home, at school, at work and in the hospital.The kind of security that comes from benevolent policies that entrench rights and choices - not the kind of security that is enforcesd with uniforms, guns and barbed wire fences. Is it so hard to see the difference ? Am I a total idiot to believe in the security that springs from a well educated, fairly regulated and equally opportune society which also includes the right to make money, earn profits, invest and get rich. To quote Klare, my no frills, donw to earth wife: “A society that cannot look after its old, sick and poorin a dignified fashion is not a modern civilisation.” A society that does not tolerate diversion and division does not deserve to be supported by modern, thinking people. I’m not asking for utopia or nirvana, but simply the only cause worth entering politics for. That said I do feel like an idiot because I find myself fairly alone, slogging through the political wilderness, ducking snipers from the tax department, avoiding booby traps set up by Internal Security Agencies, ignoring sugery promises of more for less and in general trying to make sence of orwellian doublespeak, the preferred language of modern politics. I consider myself reasonably well read, adequately educated and I do feel compassion and pity for the less lucky and less priviledged then myself. I also have some fairly strong ideas about how a just and fair society should be structured and governed, nothing too radical but a long ways from the present domestic free enterprise thinks tanks that write the rules from Victoria to Ottowa. I’m not even talking about the war-economy driven gang of thugs in Washington D.C. who claim to get their modus operandi directly from the Almighty. Stupidity, Fear and Greed seems to be the three headed serpant ruling the world from Washinton D.C. with the help of the mainstream media. This kind of government makes idiots of us all. Yes, democracy is the best political system with all it’s faults and downfalls. It’s better then a monarchy or a dictaroship but I feel like we have been duped and bamboozled. The fact is that we live under the yoke of a plutocracy, a rule of wealthy elitist who somehow cleverly managed to buy themselves their position. Only millionaires are able to buy the propoganda and managment machinery that enables them to run for office. These are the days when movie stars and sports personalities have the best chance to get elected. It’s all about recognition. Superficiality over substance. I fear a return to the dark ages, a sort of byzantine empire ruled by electronic profiling and computerized governments run by evil men in windowless rooms. Maybe I should take a happy pill or read the comics more often. Maybe I should step into politics myself but I’d be in a brawl within the first five minutes. I think politicians should all be forced to study Plato, John Adams and John Maynard Keynes and then write an exam before they are allowed to take office. Most of them seem to have heard of Machiavelli. No, he is not one of the Soprano’s. Klare thinks the world would be better off if run by women: “At least the wars would be faught with words rather then bombs and motherhood issues like social justice, fairness and equal opportunies would be the norm rather then an utopian concept.” I happen to agree with Klare. We should let Mrs. Bush, Mrs. Campell and Mrs. Harper sort it all out and send their husbands on a yoga retreat, a place warm and privat enough to exist naked on a diet of raw fruit. More cryptically: Enlightenment always starts in the dark. Where else could you see the flicker of a candle ? Certainly not in the glare of media lights. Or: Intelligent, feel-good, neo-liberal radicalism as opposed to old fashioned, god-fearing conservative, reactionary imperialism. Or such gobbledock or blabbermush. What does anything mean anymore anywhere ? Positivism cloaked in possiblilism ? or is pissibilism ? Confusion as modern epitaph. Who gives a shit as an afterthought ? Please tell me it isn’t so. Please let me be the idiot who dosn’t get it. It would feel warm and fuzzy but so does pissing oneself at a cynic’s convention.

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