Watching from the sidelines the US presidential elections one could be compelled to think that the elections held so much for the nation, for its prosperity, for it’s freedom, for it’s bountiful abilities to continue allowing the American individual and by extension the world the American dream, but sadly that was just a very well manufactured facade.
The media generally likes to remind us as do the politicians that they coddle that government is the pivot arm of a great nation, the reformer, the enabler and the facilitator of good deeds, and yet this too is a convenient and well orchestrated mirage.
Sadly since the late 1980’s US politics has been increasingly controlled by polarized interests who call the shots, who with their behind the scenes lobbying and influence demand and cajole ultimatums to politicians who are elected not to serve the public but to really serve them, and yet the relenting idea is that government is here to serve the common man. Don’t believe me, look at all the wars America has gone on to fight (yes for freedom), the relaxing of regulations which has emboldened industry that has allowed the establishment to retain more power and wealth all the while whilst America experiences the greatest degree of extremes in social polarity and income distribution in recent times. Third world nations aren’t overseas, sadly they’re down the street…or even in your living room.
With a political system that is controlled by the amount of money a political party can get its hands on, ultimately one can only despair that at the end of the day the real interests being served aren’t those of the average person but rather that of the plutocrat who somehow is able to convince most Americans his needs are really yours as well, and of course most of you fall for it hook line and sink. Of course your local media pundit will ignore this and will be back on your airwaves towing the preferred consensus.
From the decimation of healthcare, the ever increasing limitations on our liberty and individual movements (to protect us from the bogeyman we are so often told), the increasing bastardization of laws meant to protect us from bankers (anyone remember the mortgage crises which impaled many Americans which led to many banks being bailed out and soon boasting of record profits whilst you despaired on running unemployment benefits?) , industrialists who continue to abuse environmental laws, health care codes, and never mind your rights as an employee, today’s system of government is nothing short of a farce and yet so many of us still believe in it.
Then there’s President Barack Obama‘s record of the last 4 years where more corporate leverage has been given, more freedoms devolved, more wars invested and continued (change that you can of course can not count on despite Mr Obama’s promises back in 2008) and interestingly the heightened division between the affluent and elite in society and the rest of society. But that’s fine too because anyone who lives in America believes in their impending mobility, resuscitation, resurrection and ability to live the glamorous celebrity life photoshopped over and over and over…
Yet this didn’t stop so many Americans voting for Barack Obama who it was deemed by so many was the lesser of two evils. An emblem of a political party that once cared about the common man, the worker, the disillusioned, disenfranchised, the disadvantaged, the unemployed who nevertheless still cared about gays, minorities, religious freedom, a government without the weight of religion on its back door (think abortion and other absurd lines of thoughts that an outdated Republican party still cling to) and who if pressed by its die hard constituency would remember to occasionally remember to look out for the 47% that Mitt Romney openly admitted he didn’t have the time or inclination to watch out for.
Offered President Barack Obama after winning the elections:
“But that common bond is where we must begin. Our economy is recovering. A decade of war is ending. A long campaign is now over, and whether I earned your vote or not, I have listened to you, I have learned from you and you have made me a better president.”
Of course the question on everyone’s lips is can we really believe him when his record actually tells the complete reverse?
And what of Mitt Romney? The man who consistently flip flopped on so many points of views as was politically expedient, that one couldn’t legitimately say they knew what he really stood for? Then again a regard of Mr Romney’s past would reveal that he is a calculated robber baron who is nimble when it comes to pilfering industry and turning a massive profit at the expense of others. Did anyone really expect his time in the Presidential office would be anything different? And yet then who in their right mind would want such an individual supposedly representing their interests when even Mr Romney himself already made it clear that he had no time for your interests unless of course they were carefully aligned to his and his select core constituency?
In the end the Republican party refused to yield on their idealogical stance, betting all their chips that enough disenfranchized individuals would vote the president out (thankfully the economy stabilized enough in 2012 to give Obama a running chance once again) never once conciliating anything remotely center that would appeal to youthful voters who are increasingly taken on liberal tendencies.
What though is sad is how someone like Mr Romney even stood a chance in the first place. A conservative politician whose affiliates and connections cratered on a select minority , whose vision for the nation were at best a flip flop endeavor to mask his real agenda of further enriching the establishment (something Mr Obama will continue to do anyway) and possibly return us to some kind of dark ages with constricted moral points of views and dogmas.
And yet to think that this man was at one stage neck and neck with Mr Obama (according to constant bell weather media polls ) says a lot about the complexity of the nation, its unease at what it doesn’t understand and its ardent belief that blaming those less fortunate and different from them are the reasons for the current demise of the nation when it really comes down to the pilfering and abuse of individual rights, social safety nets that once existed, (never mind the increasing social welfare corporates are receiving at breaking speed) courtesy of the establishment. An establishment who can go back to bed knowing full well that their interests will once again be secured and served whilst yours and mine will be put back to the test and encroached upon.
A shame that those who serve the establishment, the legal system, journalists, educators, scientists, bankers, the medical field, even celebrities just continue playing lip service to something so phony and foul, and refuse to entertain other voices, thoughts and belief systems because of fear that they too might find themselves falling in between the cracks or worse being pushed off the cliff.
So much for freedom and democracy you may wonder….
