“Political language… is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” – George Orwell
The results from the election are in. All major networks carried it: a live action drama with running commentary – as the blue team and the red team did their best to fill in a large graphic which represented states, and indirectly, millions of people.
This election was like a carnival, complete with side shows, opening acts, and rowdy crowds being entertained by dancing animals. It was also part pro-wrestling, with almost no substance to speak of.
Ultimately, this election has been a contest of sound bytes and images. It was not about politics at all. There were debates on which candidate LOOKED like a presidents. Since when is one’s appearance a deciding factor in making rational decisions and governing a nation?
Indeed, one can argue that elections have rarely been about issues for the better part of the past century. Throughout this campaign, McCain and Obama have gone to lengths to avoid issues and principles. They talk about Patriotism and Honor and Equality and Opportunity and Change – as if they are positions one can take and not facets of an image that is crafted and propagated.
Ultimately, these winds of change people think they are feeling will likely be exposed as just that – moving air that will dissipate into stagnation.
The next four years will change history, to be sure, but I doubt it will be for the better. I hope that Atlas shrugs, and the John Galts, Dagny Taggarts, and Hank Reardens will retreat to the gulch. Socialism shows that their contributions of innovation, their hard work, and their businesses are no longer looked upon as virtues but as resources that can be exploited by taxation and legislation.
What we need is a drastic retooling of our democratic system. We need more liberty and less democracy. We should not be voting on bailing out failed businesses. We should not be voting on restricting firearms. These fall outside the authority of government. They should not be left to the whims of a majority. Particularly since the majority supports government handouts and looks to images – and not principles.
The two party system panders to the uneducated and only supports its own power. Unethical ballot access laws and propaganda [oh, I’m sorry – I mean “media coverage”] have replaced freedom of choice and sound information to base voting decisions.
All politicians make great promises and give good speeches. There’s a change in party and a change in name, but will there be a change on a fundamental level? Will there be a shift towards returning powers to the individual?
That, in my mind, is the crux of the matter – the outcome of the election is irrelevant if the outcome is simply more government, more spending, and more control from above.
With a democratic majority in congress, Obama can do serious damage if he actually implements his policies to redistribute wealth ["simple fairness", of course]. In an age of speedball lawmaking and 400 pages of pork masquerading as a financial solution, failure will continue to be bailed out and opportunity will be replaced with superficial equality and precedents that will limit both economic growth and individual liberties.
The founders of this country would never believe that we would ultimately be thanking the federal government for handouts. Freedom is losing to soft fascism and the landslide, by nature, consumes both believers and dissidents alike. Such is the tyranny of the majority.
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