"Politicians are interested in people. Not that this is a virtue, fleas are interested in dogs."
- P. J. O'Rourke
It's getting to be that time again. You know, when we get to vote for the man or woman of our choice, the one who will lead us out of the swamp into a bright and prosperous future.
I get so amused watching the candidates on television, reading about them in the newspaper and magazines, and checking them out on the internet. What they all say is pretty predictable.
For starters, whoever they're running against is the most incompetent, uncaring, fiscally and socially irresponsible, out-of-touch with the common man politician that ever came down the pike. Whatever their opponent has done during his incumbency has taken the country down a dark path from which only a fresh face like theirs can rescue us.
It doesn't matter which party is in power or which one is out. Almost all address their opponents in the same manner. Often, to make their point, candidates will revert to personal attacks as well. Since there are no perfect human beings that I know of, anyone brave enough to run for public office subjects not only himself, but his family to such aspersions.
Don't you get tired of it? I believe the majority of Americans do. On the news the other day, they were covering the recent Democratic Party debate before a live audience and about 80% of the observers couldn't identify any of the candidates by name. How could that be unless they're simply tuning them out and refusing to listen to their respective pitches? I think they are, and that is truly sad.
3 comments:
The quotation immediately above is an ancient Roman expression that is used in a political context which refers to what is really necessary to keep the populace content and to win votes.
My opinion differs from yours in that you believe people are "tuning them out". On the contrary, I think that the majority, unlike yourself, don't really care. As long as people are fed and entertained (bread and circuses) they're content, regardless of the political system or its injustices.
"Long since, because we can sell our votes to no one. We have thrown off our cares; those who once bestowed Rule, the fasces, legions, everything, now refrain, And hunger for only two things:
Bread and circuses."
Juvenal, "Tenth Satire," li. 78-82
By the time a man is nomonated for the Presidency of the United States, he is no longer worthy of the nomination - Adlai Stevenson
Facts are the enemy of truth - Don Quixote
Figures lie - Liars figure - Axiom used most often at arbitration h
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