What to Make of America

I'm not sure what to make of America anymore. It's still the greatest country in the world - but why? Is it because of what should be - ideals - or is it just because we have more money than anyone else?

What has me in this funk is the 2008 presidential election. Not because of the way it's going, but because of WHY it's going the way it is. Hatred. Division. And not a bridge in sight. People on the left - who used to be reasonable, olive-branch-carrying folks, are now just sullen and mean and out to punish those on the right. They seem to want revenge over what they feel is a personal sleight over Bush II winning in 2 elections.

So the left moves forward to elect it's candidate, but Obama is not someone who would even be considered third rate 20 years ago. He has too much baggage. Not the skin color - being a minority has been a plus for the left. It's his associations - including his wife, who's said many disparaging things about America in her adult lifetime, as well as even during the campaign.

But in the past, even those on the left were patriots, envisioning a different society yet still embracing the ideals that made America great. No more. The left's selection - Obama - has made a choice of personal associations that means he has very different core view of America - a view that changes the fundamentals of America - where tolerance, individuality, and hard work that means rewards for the one who worked (the protestant work ethic) are revered and protected. It's been our history since Plymouth and the Pilgrims. It's a place where the government feared the people, not the other way around.

The left seems poised against this. They're certainly not tolerant, they like the "collective" more than the individual (except where it suits them), and rewards for individual effort should be redistributed to those who accomplished less. Further, the left looks to demonize folks who do well, in much that same manner as was done by the National Socialists in Germany in the 1930s. The left finds an ally in folks who - for whatever reason, be it bad luck, lack of intelligence or laziness - have done poorly for themselves. The class struggle outlined by Karl Marx gets recast to the benefit of the American left; however, make no doubt, Marxist it is.

Everyone wants success, but should success be guaranteed? It is a question of equality: America has tried to ensure an equality of opportunity. But the left wants to ensure an equality of outcome.

How do they do this? The left likes class warfare; it benefits them by giving them power. Through politics, the kind of massive social shift they envision won't be done as it should be - over long periods of time through the natural development of a society. Doing it faster has us calling it "social engineering," but whatever we call it, people have lost control of their own lives. It's a coup d’état.

But there is a very basic disconnect: what the people want, versus what they get. And here we go with politicians.

Politicians have, since forever, gotten a bad rap. Rightly so, because the modern politician does what he must to get into elected office. But the disconnect is complete when the people who put them there fail to monitor their progress and performance. How else could the multitudes of corrupt lawmakers remain where they are? I'd like to say people are stupid, but I think it's more laziness. Whatever the reason, there is a complete breakage between the people who make up American society and the lawmakers elected to do the people's business.

I can't stress this enough, because I think this is the core problem. Let me put it a different way: there is now the Political Class, and the Rest of Us. Politics is basically nonsense; human-generated compromises to "problems" that could be easily resolved by leaving things alone. It was Clinton's success with the economy - he stayed out of the way.

It's different in the 2000's. Politicians get involved in things, with all manner of unintended consequences that they could not foresee because, honestly, they're just too dumb. Most everyday people could figure out what to do just fine, but the politician - he's not so interested in results, unless it involves pleasing everyone and getting reelected. There's the rub: with self-interest at heart, the politician is incapable of commanding a solution.

So it is with political people: They're more interested in pleasing their own interests, whether it be their misguided conscience, or their fat wallet.

And then there's the Rest of Us.

What can be done? You tell me. I have called for voting every incumbent out, no matter what. And now I think that politicians should be voted out every term - fresh blood and new ideas coming in every election. Political entrenchment is a bad thing. It leads to the very status quo against which the left always rails. But given the way they vote, they seem to want it as badly as the right does. Example: Ted Kennedy; name a more entrenched politician than he.

Please leave comments. I'm really at a loss as to how to fix this, if no one in the rank and file will get on board and actually DO something.

Should we all just shut our pieholes and eat what we're being fed?