Cynical politicians, cynical voters: Will America survive
Are Americans who are critical of politicians really cynics? Can politicians, whose stock-in-trade is the pedaling of hypocrisy, effectively run our governments? Will the American model of democracy survive? Or has hypocrisy so eroded our republic that we are now destine to experience the fate of homes built too close to a stormy ocean?
A hypocrite according to Webster is “a person who pretends to be what he or she is not; one who pretends to be better than is really so, or to be pious, virtuous, etc. without really being so.” Given the hypocrisy of politics and politicians these days, isn’t it inappropriate to label as cynical those who are critical of politicians and their gamesmanship?
Hypocrisy thrives at all levels of the American political system. Politicians of all stripes lack virtue, lack sincerity, lack honesty, act from a sense of selfishness, and all the while, present the façade of being a representative of the people. The hypocrisy involved in politics permeates our country from tiny towns like Green Park, MO to our nation’s capital. Tinhorn politicians in Green Park campaign for office on a platform of fiscal responsibility and community betterment, but once in office, brazenly continue the destructive idiocy of their predecessors. Our federal politicians are quick to urge international sanctions on North Korea for testing a rocket, but irresponsibly defend as righteous the blatant war crimes and human rights violations committed by Israel.
Realistically, valid criticism is an element of good government. Gamesmanship does nothing in furtherance of molding better lives for Americans or creating a better America.
So stable government cannot be either achieved or maintained based on facades constructed with hypocritical gamesmanship and a toxic mix of concocted virtues.
Will America survive its current fit of hypocrisy? Are there enough cynical Americans to exert the pressure necessary to make politicians changes their errant ways? Or, when confronted with the problems obstructing honest government, will Americans continue to sign, “Oh, well.” and plop themselves in front of their televisions to watch the latest mind-numbing presentation Rupert Murdock pedals as entertainment?
Michael K. Broughton
Green Park
Magnum,
Great point. Even Washington realized that we shouldn’t be professioanl career politicians. Would love the term limit. I don’t think it would hinder the people’s choice as at the end of the term limit, the people would have to vote for an eligible candidate of their choice.
bean and dr-dedbunk
I have accepted the idea of name calling. After all we can get heated, in the end I doubt we mean half the name calling.
I have not read all your postings in this thread.
However, are we not going to far when we start talking about violence toward each other?
I do not know who started it or who escalated it. However, nothing said here should suggest that violence is a reasonable next step.
BOB…I agree. Its called sarcasm or humor, something you would understand if you read all the posts you will understand…but thank you for your insight and remark.
Broughton, you make many valid points. Those who are fed up with the system and the ones elected are in the severe minority. The groundswell that moved Obama into the whitehouse was as much about dissatisfaction and frustration with that political party and its leaders. (I’m not defending either side either way, put you have to admit Democrats were definitely helped by missteps of the GOP in the last round elections.)
Dissatisfaction on a level that large is the only way change happens…but then how much has really changed? Other then a handful of social issues, as the Who once sang…”Look at the new boss. Same as the old boss.”
It’s really the system that needs to be hauled in and revamped, but the only folks who can do that are the ones we elect…and they’re all just happy with the way things are.
Let’s look at Harry Reid; depending on your POV you like him or hate him. Consider this, if 75% of the country dilike him and his policies, that doesn’t mean anything unless the voters of Nevada keep electing him. It’s a case of, my guy is great, it’s your guy who stinks. New Yorkers like Schumer, non-new yorkers don’t. Pennsylvania folks like Rick Santorum…until they realized he was part of Washington folks who only cared about the GOP and not the country, so the good folks of PA voted him out. But folks in KS and Utah probably love the guy.
The biggest things I would change is to get rid of all lobbyists…period. That is where the system is greatly corrupted. The money lobbyists throw around is mind numbing. Second, I would install term limits. It’s the entrenched folks that consider it their right to be in government instead of a privelege. Third, I would make all political contributions transparent and the people behind them have to fess up to them. Period. These front groups that pop up each 4 years in a storefront in Beaumont, TX only to funnel millions upon millions into an election…I think the folks have a right to know who those people are. Its when folks are allowed to operate in the dark, without oversight when the biggest travesties occur.
dr-debunk
Sorry for taking it the wrong way. I should have read all. It did not sound like you to want to throw down, so just from that I should have known.
Philip Q
You make a valid point about no matter what we think of Ried if Nevada likes him he will continue going back to the Senate.
However, ones Point of View also depends on who they talk to. For instance back in the 1980’s I worked with a conservative woman. Her mother was from Massachusetts. According to the woman I worked with, her mother told her how everybody in the state hates the Kennedy’s. I made the comment if the state hates him so much then maybe they should stop electing Ted to office.
So if you only hang with certain POV’s you have the tendency to believe that is the prevailing view and that goes no matter what their affiliation is.
The war in Iraq is almost up to $694 BILLION. 4274 American soldiers dead. Bush is a war criminal.