Our political system is a fucking joke. No, no porn video this time. But close: I was watching some congress people grill Fuld on CSPAN… UUUGH… Let me save you the trouble of this embarrassing facade for our democratic leaders:
Congressperson (left/right/green/whatever – paraphrasing of course): It’s bad when bad people take advantage of good people. So it was all your fault, wasn’t it? Yes or No? Give me an answer! Yes or no!
Fuld: No. Here is what happened. <carefully worded, well-thought-out explanation begins here>
Congressperson interrupts: Give me a yes or no answer.
Fuld: It’s not that simple. <proceeds to calmly systematically explain>
Congressperson <red in the face>: YES OR NO?!
Rinse, lather, repeat until Fuld finally gets to explain… sort-of… until the next congressperson engages in the same shit: start out with posturing and vilification and end with treating Fuld, the CEO and Chairman, clearly a smart man in deep shit, like a five year old with disdain to boot. All this while the country is in a major economic crisis, they go on a transparent political point-scoring spree? And this is our system, these are our lawmakers? You gotta be fucking kidding me!
Or the present Hilary, Obama, Palin, Biden, McCain BS? Why the hell do we need to go to www.factcheck.org after every single debate?!?! What, you can’t get your facts straight and engage in analysis of the situation rather than go splitting hairs over Kissenger’s crystal clear position, which amounts to “we should have high-level talks with Iran, but not on the presidential level”? How old are we? Maybe involve some pros instead of trying to make each other look like extremists while you all know that you are pots painting kettles black and all of you are a decent lot?!
So perhaps online there is some reason? Like hell: Digg users and such who are essentially killing democracy and any chance of analysis through what amounts to nothing short of mob rule – even more pathetic than the politicians. Instead of saying “screw politics – let’s analyze the issues” you attempt to push the other side no matter what the subject or the cost. I don’t recall reading a single positive story about McCain or Palin on Digg – what, they are children of Satan?
And the general public is worse yet. How many times have I had to say “No, Obama is not leading us towards socialism.” and “No, Palin didn’t enstate a policy where women pay for their rape kits“. GO DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE YOU MAKE STATEMENTS! REALITY CHECK: NEITHER SIDE IS EVIL. Both Obama and Palin are young and ambitious and both are pretty sharp to have gotten to where they are now. Obama ran one of the tightest campaigns in US history and is a great orator, as is Biden, who has also been around for quite a while. Plain is a savvy woman who is well liked and respected in her state and has done some very good things, and McCain has a hell of a history in congress. But none of that shit matters. Why? BECAUSE THEY ARE JUST TIPS OF THE ICEBERG! Because they work with larger teams, with advisers, with thinktanks, and, ultimately, both sides want what’s best for US and the world as a whole and go on the same information and will most likely (hopefully) make the same or similar conclusions once they have sufficient information playing a tight balancing act.
So what is the difference between the two? Simple. Obama and the left lean more towards government control and distributed social responsibility while McCain errs more towards the market and personal responsibility. Stop. No, this does not mean Obama is a socialist nor that McCain wants to screw poor people. It just means they have their preferences as do their supporters, but the difference is not that extreme. Significant, but not extreme.
Just look at the tax breakdown:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/06/09/ST2008060900950.html
This is the difference. Obama wants to increase taxes on the rich (11% for the very top) and reduce for the poor. McCain wants to reduce taxes for the rich so that people make decisions rather than the government thinking that people will be more efficient than the government. BOTH MAKE SENSE and are more of a fundamental preference.
So is lowering taxes a good idea? Is raising taxes a good idea? That depends on what you are looking to achieve and whether your goals are short or long-term. For those who jump on the “we need money” bandwagon to increase taxes, consider this article that talks about some tax realities:
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pdupont/?id=110010798
Under Bush, the tax rates went down, yet the tax revenue went up. And consider this:
http://www.ntu.org/main/page.php?PageID=6
Top 25% pay 86% of taxes in 2006! Top 10% pay 70%!
So, given this, you might think I am going to say that Obama sucks and McCain rocks?! WRONG! I don’t have a fucking clue. Do I know what the balance is between corporate and individual taxes? Do I know what even the present taxation rate is for the so-called rich? Do I know how the uber-rich spend their money? Do they keep it in banks so the banks re-invest or do they invest directly? Do I know this? NO, I DO NOT! And, chances are, NEITHER DO YOU. So how the hell can you sit there with a straight face and say to an Obama supporter that Obama wants to kill capitalism or that McCain wants to kill babies?
Point being: the nice thing about porn is that people care about the essence of the thing. The issues: the sex, the love, the primal urge, the process, the skill, the beauty of the female and male form that we idolize. Yet, with politics it’s as if we are only interested in patting ourselves on our collective back creating a platform of ignorance supported by talking points fed us by our politicians who seek to score points. It is LAME!
So, people: Let politics be more like porn!
How? Start focusing on issues! Research some subject so that you know enough to make conclusions. Don’t just read the talking points, don’t trust the chain mail you got – look into specialists, write it up, analyze, but most importantly, THINK! Sudan should not be a “controversial issue”. Iraqi and Iranian civillians should always be taken int account when you think about foreign policy as well as the rest of the ecosystem. If you talk about economics, familiarize yourself with various indicators. Same with healthcare and taxation. And, most importantly:
Always be skeptical of your own position.
We should not have such low level of political discourse. Politicians are only mirrors of the people they represent and what we support will have very serious consequences – not because of who wins, but because of how we support them and how much we understand. THINK!
OK, I am out. Hopefully in the next post, I’ll return to porn…
