GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK

This will be the last thing I post on the 2008 presidential election. If only I could embrace the airbrushed narratives put forward by the candidates and follow them with unquestioning support. Being a writer prevents this from happening. The more the matter is researched, the more you discover the glaring disconnect between what is being purported, and what is actually realized. Such is the nature of the beast. The shadow that falls over the idea.

Much has been made over who said what on all sorts of subjects. A weird language has developed. A lexicon of assumptions. Whether “the surge” has worked is hardly ever questioned, because consensus has decided that it does. What kind of “foreign policy expert” is Senator Joseph Biden? No need to ask. He simply is one, like Senator McCain is a “genuine war hero”.

Senator Barack Obama has a special place in American political history. Win or lose, he has ushered in a new paradigm, simply by not being the same complexion. He has had to go through extraordinary hoops, in order to assure Caucasian voters that he is not scary, or all that much different than them. Of course Senator McCain must, despite all the mumble about honor, proceed to convince those very same voters that Senator Obama is their worst nightmare.

Research makes the disconnect from these candidates very tough. The pundits of television news tell me that Joe Biden has middle class values. Then I discover that the tough Senator with all the foreign policy gravitas, is in fact a head cheerleader for the MNBA corporation, the giant credit-card company, who successfully sought to change the bankruptcy laws, so as to extract even more cash from those who have suffered economic catastrophe… those common folks that Senator Biden claims to champion.

In fact, all the pancakes in this election claim to be championing the needs of the people. Obama/Biden claim to know where the right war is, in Afghanistan and the no-man’s land surrounding it. Supporters of this ticket, who think the junior Senator from Illinois is a peace candidate, should remember that Obama calls for more troops and more military spending, “to finish the job”, as they say with great hubris.
With McCain/Palin you have a ticket that believes American force is the best way to get the rascals to obey. The Governor of Alaska says: “a ship is safe in the harbor, but that’s not why a ship was built”. Both she and the Arizona senator believe fighting is necessary and inevitable, in a world becoming darker everyday. A reader of the “left behind” science-fiction-Christian books, Sarah Palin also believes that abortion is an abomination to God. Her fifth child, her second son, born with down syndrome; will be applauded by those who believe all fetuses should come to term. Her first son, enlisted in the infantry, September 11, 2007, will soon be proudly stationed in Iraq. And yes, I have been told to accept that other assumption that he is over there, “fighting for my freedom”.

If you then look at the alternatives to the Two Party candidates, it becomes a lesson on futility. Ralph Nader, a forthright advocate of speaking truth to power, only offers the possibility of a protest vote, which on the face of it, is quite ridiculous when you consider that those in power are not even listening. The 2006 mid-term election was a referendum on the Iraq occupation which the democratically elected congress refused to address. The Green and Libertarian parties, with Cynthia McKinney and Bob Barr as candidates, offers up little more than congressional retreads.

No one can really be serious about challenging established power because no one has the kind of money needed to get started. As Cecil Taylor once said: “the dry cell of money has locked the minds and cauterized hearts.” Every election cycle, the economic entrance becomes costlier. The Presidential Pageant Election is an indulgence of the very wealthy. The chosen candidates are their well groomed race horses, which the plebeian observers are suppose to care about. The “issues” which are said to be important, lose their significance once the voter makes their highly emotional decision. This decision can be prompted by a candidate’s appeal, or just as easily by an intense desire to vote against the other.

This is the political condition that this country finds itself in. It is not a very pretty sight. Some people will kid themselves into believing that they actually have some say. Others will throw up their hands and cry : what’s the use?
Whether you choose to participate in the pageant or not, one fact remains: the permanent government. It will continue. Good night and good luck.