[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]PLUS CA CHANGE PLUS C’EST LA MEME CHOSE…
(…the more things change…the more they remain the same…)

Here we are in this 2016 presidential election cycle, and the very same issues and concerns we had nearly a decade ago…are still with us. As they say in French…Plus ca change plus c’est la meme chose (the more things change…the more they remain the same…).

We’re still mired in foreign military missions of one kind or another in various parts of the world; our economic machinery is still not really cranked up and turning over on all cylinders as we would like it to be; our Congress is still stalled in its obstructionist mode, unable and unwilling to conduct the people’s business; and all of us are still just as nervous and full of anxieties about what might happen next as we were back then…no matter how sweetly anyone today might be singing…Tomorrow…Tomorrow…I love ya Tomorrow… ’cause you’re a brand new day!

Well, most of us are not Little Orphan Annie types, which may explain why most of us are so cranky and acting out our frustrations by refusing to follow or accept their usual party lines, or, ready to support any goofus that acts and sounds like a rabble rouser able to rock the political boat, and never mind the consequences of that. In short, as the old cliché puts it…we’re ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

So we thought it would be worthwhile to show how “normal” today’s situation is…by re-printing some pertinent issues from the past. As you’ll see, these blasts from the past are just as valid today…as they were back then. If there’s a moral to that, we haven’t figured it out yet…so we’ll have to get back to you about it. Meanwhile, we’ll just call these following series of reprints from our originally published collection…yesterday’s insights for today’s insecurities.

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REPRINT FROM Vol. II Issue No. 50 – Oct 2007.

ARE WE STILL WAITING FOR GODOT
(…or just hoping to see a Great Pumpkin?)

It may almost be Halloween, but the 2009 Presidential cycle is already moving into high gear, with every state in the union maneuvering to shift its primaries for an earlier starting date, presumably to gain some kind of electoral advantage. Meanwhile, the Democrats and the Republicans are trotting out their respective3 gaggles of candidates for that high office for our inspection.

It should be understood by all of us that, at this stage of our American democratic process, none of that has anything to do with discussing any issues having any significance. That’s not its purpose. Rather, its purpose is to allow both parties to test which of their presidential wannabe’s has the best combination of charisma and gravitas to make them…electable. Character, integrity, and principled views on issues are irrelevant. At this point we voters are being used as …focus groups…to help party hierarchs narrow their field of search fofr the one that best fits the bill…even if that individual isn’t the brightest bulb in the pack.

By its very nature democracy is based upon…emotion…not on rational, considered judgement, or any capacity for critical analysis. Throughout history it has always operated by and with raw emotion, hence the terms such as…demagogue…and…demagoguery…the extreme forms of which are called…rabble rousing. Something which the founding fathers of this great republic understood only too well, and to be equally as dangerous to personal freedom as any…tyranny.

Unfortunately, present day politicos seem to have forgotten that. We only have to listen to any of their responses to any hard questions posed to them to see the truth of it. In almost every instance they always answer such questions with words designed to trigger our emotions, not our reason. Words such as…fairness…compassion…helping the poor…curbing the rich and powerful…a brighter future…keep our country strong…and…family values, etc.. Which is why democracy is, indeed, one of the messiest political systems ever designed by man, and, one of the most difficult ones to maintain on an even keel to avoid extremes of one kind or another, so as not to become just another tyranny itself.

Thus, all these recently televised “debates” are nothing more than carefully contrived demagoguery to showcase their stables of candidates. It’s not about having serious pro-con exchanges about issues of concern. Right now these are simply aimed at enticing folks to “window shop” to see what might appeal to them…or not. So it won’t be until after next year’s conventions before we might see a glimmer of serious debates…about anything…so we can begin to decide which party-chosen candidate will be the one to which we’ll care to entrust with the mantle of leadership of our country for the nest four years.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world will be put on hold until we’ve done so. That’s the American way of …democracy.

In some respects the whole process is similar to the marketing style of Amsterdam’s working girls on its famed Reeperbahn (or ill-famed, depending on one’s viewpoint),where they display their “wares” through picture windows, with each one presenting her own stage setting to compliment her provocative poses, hoping thereby to lure more customers for herself than for any of her neighbors. If this seems a somewhat extreme comparison, we shouldn’t ignore it, because career politicians and such working girls are very much alike. That is, they’ll both take your money…and screw you in a New York minute. The big difference between them, however, is that working girls are more honest and up front about taking your money, and, reportedly…do it better!

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