The Balkanization of America Part 1 - Wednesday, July 22, 2009
by: John Hamilton
I was sitting out on the back porch this morning chilling out, trying to work up the energy to begin show prep...thinking about how nice it is to be away from government and politics for awhile. After a quick moment, however, I realised that was just wishful thinking.
Enjoying the morning coffee alone involved a great amount of government and politics; in the taxes paid during the manufacturing and selling of the coffee, the mug, the sugar and the creamer. The cigarette I was smoking could only be had by paying extortion to both the state and the feds. The back porch addition to the house was only possible thanks to greasing the palms of Orange County government. It began to occur to me that America's government had become just like the Mob; do what they want and fork over your cash and no one gets hurt.
This had turned into a serious buzz-kill of biblical proportions.
You know, it wouldn't take long to round up plenty of folks who would be happy to inform me that it's all for my own good, and that I should get over it. And it would be at that exact moment when, if there were a God in heaven, a wormhole would open up; the entire crowd sucked into some other dimension where Pat Robertson and Dennis Rodman are same-sex partners and Richard Nixon was a street tough who used to run bolita in south Florida with Bebe Rebozo.
Excuse me -- I had to check that one out for a few moments. The possibilities are endless.
Government has become a massive, festering sore -- and the recipient of more airtime, ink and pixels than any other subject you can name. We're immersed in it constantly, and many of us have been compelled to form competing cheer-leading squads for our chosen team...if for no other reason than to make sure one's particular group or agenda is positioned to lap up some of that wonderful Government Gravy. And why? Shouldn't our thoughts about government be little more than afterthoughts? Shouldn't government pretty much run on auto-pilot, insuring only that our individual rights are protected from not only the con men and criminals of the world, but from government itself?
I understand why when it comes to politicians; they fancy themselves as some sort of twenty-first century gladiators, fighting the tough battles and saving the day. And to insure they can hold onto that pitiable fantasy for as long as possible, they'll say and do anything. And their favorite strategy is "divide and conquer." Not our enemies so much, mind you -- but they have made an artform of pitting us (you know, you and me, American citizens) against one another. The said part is that many of us lap it up like hound dogs hitting the watering trough, just back from a cattle drive across the desert.
All of this is important because it is usually economics which government uses to insure that their power-lust is continually fulfilled. Both of our so-called major political parties are guilty (and adept) when it comes to playing this game; anyone who claims that their team is above that sort of lunacy is either a liar, a fool, or a politician-in-waiting.
While anyone with half-a-brain should be able to figure out that there should be a seperation of state and economy, politicians have convinced the majority of Americans that laissez-faire capitalism is wrong, foolish and probably just a little bit evil. And guess who is ready, willing and able to save us from thie carnage of a free market....
Both parties have insinuated themselves so thoroughly in our economy that many Americans think it's normal. They've had to do this, of course, to maintain their power; after all, why should you cheer for one party over the other if they couldn't compete with one another in a little vote buying every couple of years?
Sure! Toss a few bucks towards both your base and the fence-sitters, sit back and watch the ballots flood in for Your Guy or Gal. An entire industry has sprung up around it; focus groups, handlers, consultants and media gurus offer their services to make sure that politio's cash offers are buying the right amount of votes.
This all might be workable, if it wasn't for one little thing -- the cash they use to buy our votes is our cash to begin with; extorted from us just for this purpose.
And still, Americans hoot and cheer for Their Team, jabbering like idiots about how Their Group is so much better, more righteous and more deserving of More Power than the Other Team.
Meh.... How long, O Lord, how long?
In Part 2 I'll discuss how this ignorant game-playing has croaked our economy and how the only way to rebuild it is to take away the one thing these nitwits crave above all else.
Comments: 5
You've hit the nail square on the head. One of these days people will learn that following around political parties like lemmings to the sea will be the end of this country.
And I hope they learn it before that happens........
Looking forward to Part 2. I think more of us are getting pissed off about this crap every day. My worry is that it's probably too late to do anything about it. The major parties have everything rigged in their favor.
It may be time for another revolution. Thomas Jefferson once said there should be one every ten years or so, just to keep these thugs we call politicians honest.
I have the solution..
Want change ?
Re-elect no one in 2010 or 2012.
Waiting for part 2!
Good article John and very true and it doesn't seem to make any difference who's elected on the change mantra,things stay the same. keep up the good work.
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