Exploring The Common Denominator
(*) Notes
The Politician.
What just is a politician? If we look this term up in a dictionary we will see that a politician is one who is a āmember of a governing body that decides public policy or influences public opinion.ā Another definition is āa seeker or holder of public office, who is more concerned about winning favor or retaining power than about maintaining principles.ā
Then we have the āUrban dictionary which defines the politician rather colorfully, if not with regretful accuracy.
- A person who practices politics. “Politics” is derived from the words “poly” meaning “many”, and “tics” meaning “blood-sucking parasites.”
- One who has perfected the art of lying.
- A highly paid yes-man.
Sound familiar? What we have here is a group of people, mostly lawyers that are going to decide what is best for all of us. In the course of their duties these folks go about day after day trying to work out the best deal for their constituents and/or themselves. They will spend your money on the most inept concepts, useless pet projects and use the same old tired cliches about family, education and safer streets. Lest we forget, manipulative psychological techniques over honest discussion.
But it has not always been this way. There was a time when these animals in office served for the betterment of the nation. A time when the course of a nation and its people was decided on using the principle and ethics that represented the majority of the populous. Tantamount was the goal of preserving individual liberty and the advance of the general welfare of the people that they represented. To the discerning, it seems those days are the bygone of a time long since past.
In the course of a lifetime all of us have encountered various figures, both public and private that have their hand out trying to convince you that they have something you āneedā or āmust haveā presenting you with a sales pitch that tries to convince you to buy into a product, a service, or a philosophy. Walk down the main street of Las Vegas and the panhandlers hand you sex cards trying to entice you to rent a whore. Turn on the TV and you have so called preachers trying to prostitute Jesus to you for a price. Vote for a politician and he will betray you for the benefit of some lobbyist as he hikes up your taxes once again.
In politics, if you chose to participate by voting or by running for office, you will have a front row in observing the unbridled greed and uninhibited excesses that run throughout the human genome. The nefarious, obdurate and simplistic politicians intend to keep us, the constituent, blissfully ignorant of the facts. Their mouths teem with useless and distorted information, their undertakings and grandiose plans are inefficient and doomed for failure. The people are pawns to be used and manipulated. If you listen to the politicians sing-song, chances are you won’t even notice his hand as it goes into your pocket. Only later, after you realize you’ve been robbed, will you truly understand that life isn’t fair. But support them we will. We must keep the āfaith!ā
Yes faith! Faith in the politician with his ānewā ideas that will make your life better and solve all the social injustices in the world! Lets call this the American version of hegemony cultural change. *(The term was coined by the Italian philosopher and communist, Antonio Gramsci.) The eventual dominance (war of position) of one social group over another where the ruling class has come to be seen as the norm within the society as a whole. The hard reality is that these ruling class whores are experts at manipulating, dividing (totalitarian world view) and fleecing (debt) their constituents. They claim to represent the āpeopleā but serve the needs of themselves and/or the special interest groups.
The Politician..
1. …tells you he is not going to raise taxes on the middle class. Instead, he’s going to raise corporate income taxes as means to get rich corporations to pay their rightful share of government. *(What really happens? The corporation raises the price of its products, lower dividends and lays off its workers.) Who pays the price for this deception? We do. Politicians of this ilk are intellectually and morally deficient. In defending their ideas, they promote injustice, poverty, and grinding despair. The chance for further prosperity is now foregone, unrealized and concealed.
2. …never responds to a problem by letting go of his power.
3. …controls the media in order to control the information the masses ingest.
4. …creates an atmosphere of fear where the masses surrender their freedom for security.
5. …creates illusions. *(They cite the sins of foreign rulers, and then ask us to join in killing their downtrodden subjects. The federal government was formed to protect Americans (defensive posture) and not foreign rulers and their subjects. Today we have a strong national offense, but a very weak national defense. America is surrounded by two oceans that protects the nation from invasion. What is needed is a missile defense that will repel a nuclear attack, and a border patrol that will protect us from those foreigners when they make their mad dash across the border.)
6. …offers the solution for problems he created.
7. …exploits situations such as a disaster for a photo-op and speech.
8. …most valuable skill is the ability to lie convincingly.
9. …panders to those who can help him, such as special interest groups.
10. …is always in campaign mode.
11. …is not what he says he is. One example would be a spendthrift liberal running as a fiscal conservative.
12. …comes into office with modest means and leaves office a millionaire.
In any case, I cannot believe how many actual, physical, breathing, thinking citizenry have fallen for the politicians subterfuge. Because of them, we are now observing the change in our society’s philosophy and values from freedom and justice to corruption, decay, cynicism, and injustice. All of these “values” are artistically incorporated within American politics.
Next post: The Priest.
I would add one more trait to the politician. The belief that perceptions are everything – that perceptions are reality and the only reality that matters.
I voted for Obama, but I had to shake my head watching him on the Daily Show this week. Jon Stewart challenged him on how his policies have been less than “audicious” and that we see very little “change”.
The first words out of his mouth were “I disagree with this notion that’s out there…”. Last time I heard those words Joe Tkach Jr was denying the WCG doctrines were changing, denying they were going to lay off ministers etc, etc, etc…
Politicians surround themselves with people who offer adulation, they are in that office because they love adulation, so when someone challenges their never-land world – they believe everyone else has a false notion of what is going on. It can’t be they have over-rated sense of themselves and are missing the big picture.
I am deeply disappointed in Obama.
“The belief that perceptions are everything ā that perceptions are reality and the only reality that matters.”
The perception of reality is always blurred in the mind of the narcissist, and reality begins when someone knows their skills, limits and acts accordingly to this reality.
Before you get too disappointed in Obama, take a look at the congress of “No.” He has been stymied at every turn by the likes of Boehner. Every time I see or hear Boehner, I have to turn off the TV or leave the room because my anger is so great it’s a danger to me at my age. I’m wearing out the mute button on my TV remote just to shut up the Rethug lies.
The way to look at this post “Politicians, Priests and Pornographers” is the social pathologies caused by this ilk. The social, economic and psychological problems that undermine societies well-being.
Al, to address your comment above, consider that the majority of both houses at this writing are held by the democratic party. If you find yourself getting upset with the party of “no” consider that they hold no power at this time. Until Tuesday anyway. No longer will Obama be able to ignore compromise and focus solely on his personal agenda.
I thought I posted a reply, but I don’t see it. Anyway, I pointed out that the power has been with the Republicans for two years because they can block anything, even things they originally promoted just to frustrate the American people and worm their way back into full power. people are so stupid that they fall for it.
For thirty years, the Republicans have promoted a return to the days of the robber barons and we’ve become more and more a nation controlled by the super rich for the benefit of the super rich, just like Czarist Russia. All the controls and programs designed and meant to prevent that have been systematically destroyed and watered down.
Beginning with the savings and loan crisis under Reagan, it’s been a steady slide downhill, but gradual enough so the average person has no clue what is really going on. Eventually, I fear that our great democratic experiment is doomed to failure and probably to revolutionary violence.
Just to be clear, I think that, overall, your blog post was very good and insightful. I’m looking forward to the next one.
I also want to admit that I too, again as I was a fool for Armstrong, I was a fool for the conservative bullshit and supported them blindly up until 2008. I fell for their lies while they cut taxes for the rich and prosecuted wars that drove us into the economic abyss and systematically made war on the middle class while demolising common sense controls on stock market gambling, etc.
Now, I know why my grandfather hated the Republican party so much. He went from one of the most prosperous citizens of Kidder County, North Dakota to bankruptcy and what amounted to a pauper over night and was never able to recover. What he had to say about Herbert Hoover wouldn’t be printable anywhere. I thought he was extreme, but now I think exactly like him. There’s no fool like an old fool, and I was an old fool as well as a young one.