Oddball Update

I don’t often write about politics on this blog. Okay, to be more specific, I never do. One post does not a trend make, so I haven’t created a “Politics” category or anything, but this one post simply had to be written. And I’ll warn you upfront, it’s a long one.

For most of my life, I had absolutely no political aspirations or even opinions — it was a subject best left for others to discuss. It seemed to me that politics were created as a way to describe the inability of national leadership to agree on anything. To make matters worse, my paternal grandfather, who himself was so deeply invested in conservative politics that he kept a portrait of fatherly Ron Reagan at his bedside, drove the rest of my family so crazy with his rantings that I decided the subject matter could never be anything but a homewrecker and a hindrance to good family values.

Well, as I’m sure you know, with the march of time you get older, your priorities change and things that never affected you start playing important roles in your life. At the age of 28, now I find that the political game does affect me. Of course, it affects us all, whether we know it or not. And here, in what is perhaps the most monumentally overblown election cycle the United States has ever seen, we’re not just finding out who our presidential candidates are, we’re discovering how the American political system has both contributed to and resulted from the decline of our own society.

A bit provocative, eh? The mere idea that American society has declined would, no doubt, touch off an incendiary argument on any one of the various “World Shouting Entertainment” matches masquerading as television debate programs. It’s my opinion, though, that the moral, political and intellectual fabric of America has declined, in at least some fashion, over the last forty or fifty years. Whether this is a product of our increasingly controlling, increasingly wasteful and increasingly asinine elected officials, or whether they are a product of us, is an interesting question. Perhaps, in a perversely cyclical sort of way, both are true.

As we head into the summer, and the final few months before the United States’ monumental 2008 election, I have to wonder: Is there any one of the leading candidates for president who won’t contribute to the widening corruption, increasing monetary waste and full-blown stupidity of the federal government? Admittedly, there may not be any such thing as the “perfect candidate,” a person who has absolutely no vices, and who agrees with you on absolutely every point of policy. But I’ve never felt more put-off by such a large number of the policy viewpoints espoused by all three of the major players in this presidential election. And yes, for the sake of formality, I’m including Hillary Clinton — although by the numbers, her run for the Democratic candidacy is finished.

Let’s take a look at John McCain. He’s a distinguished and courageous war veteran, and the son of a top military commander, both commendable characteristics. He would also be the oldest man to ever be elected president, but honestly, that’s not even primary of my concerns. It looks like John McCain stands for a great many of the things that George W. Bush stands for. He’s not strong economically — in fact, by his own admission, he’s near clueless — which is not what we need when the U.S. is heading into a recession and facing harsh economic pressures. He’s not a strong leader in the fight to meaningfully reform America’s immigration policy in a way that won’t sell out our own citizens. He’s supportive of the war in Iraq, but has about as much clue what to do with it as George W. Bush. And he’s got his fair share of dubious deals in his past — the Keating Five come to mind — as it seems every politician must.

In short, John McCain is not who I think of what I envision the kind of leader America needs now. Worse, no matter what good things he would do as president, I feel certain that the rest of the world — as well as about half of our own citizens — would cite him as the reason why the United States continues to suck wind. Seriously, America’s international image has taken such a nosedive since George Bush took office that he may one day be credited with single-handedly instigating the next “Fall of Rome,” as it were. We need somebody to mend those fences, not keep ripping them up. No matter what good intentions McCain may have, it’s unfortunate that no one is going to listen because he is too similar to his predecessor.

A large part of McCain’s problem is that he’s a Republican. In 2008, simply being a Republican carries enough built-in damnation to practically render yourself unelectable. Whether or not George W. Bush deserves all of the credit for the downfall of his party — and in my opinion there have been plenty of other members who contributed to its destruction — he’s receiving it.

I find myself of mixed feelings about this. While I am socially liberal in many ways, I believe in several of the old-fashioned tenets of conservative fiscal policy — smaller government, reduced taxes, and the idea that the people should be masters of their own destiny, for better or for worse. The thing is, the Republican Party of 2008 doesn’t stand for any of those things anymore — despite what they may say, their actions consistently prove otherwise. And I want to roll my eyes every time the Republican legislators want to make a bigger deal out of stopping abortion and preventing homosexual unions than, say, reigning in immigration and cleaning up federal spending. Way to get your priorities in line, guys — to say nothing of the fact that too deeply legislating morality is a very dangerous thing.

On the Democrat side, we don’t even have a nominee yet — Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are still going at it tooth-and-nail, although at this point I’ve pretty much written off Hillary as a contender. She just doesn’t have the numbers, nor the popular support, to get it done. Which is fine, I suppose, because when I think of the absolute epitome of corrupt, pandering career politicans who do a continual disservice to the oxygen they consume, Hillary comes directly to mind.

Hillary Clinton could promise each and every American resident a solid gold bar, and I would still vote for somebody — anybody — else. The irony is, if she realistically thought it would get her elected, I have little doubt that she would promise us gold bars. Because Hillary is the kind of person who will say anything, do anything, to win over whoever can do her the biggest favor at any given moment. If that means she has to say something completely opposite the next day, when speaking in front of a different crowd, then that’s what’s going to happen. Mrs. Clinton’s alleged ties to corruption and scandal throughout her career — dating back to the 1970s — makes McCain’s involvement in the Keating Five look like a goddamn trip to the beach. She is, perhaps, the most untrustworthy person in American politics today — and that’s saying something. She’s a leader in wasteful pork-barrel spending, a supporter of social programs that would promote just as much abuse and corruption as they would provide help, and someone who clearly has a vindictive streak about as wide as Interstate 95 through West Palm Beach. If this country wants a president they can finally be proud of, they’d do well to look somewhere else.

The sad part about the inevitable downfall of Hillary Clinton’s candidacy for president is that there is going to be a faction of people who will claim she was ousted because she’s a woman. These are the same ignorant people who were prepared to vote for Hillary for absolutely no other reason than her gender. That, to me, is on the same level as my potentially saying, “I should vote for John McCain because he’s a white guy, and I’m a white guy. Up with white guys!” I mean, come on. Would it be a great thing for a woman to be elected president? Sure! I don’t see anything wrong with that. There are female world leaders in power this very day, not the least of whom is Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel. But I am absolutely convinced that there are far brighter, far less corrupt women all throughout America who would do a greater service for this country than Hillary Clinton.

Sitting opposite Hillary at the Democratic table is Barack Obama, an inspiring young man who seemingly came from nowhere to take the country by storm during this long and drawn-out primary season. Of the three major players in this election, Obama is the one with the most charisma, the most hope-inspiring words, the greatest chance of being a leader the American people can really feel proud of. Assuming he doesn’t bankrupt us all first.

While I think Obama means well, I simply don’t feel as though he is the right man for the United States right now. We’re in a particularly deep bottom-end of a cyclical economic cycle. We’re at a trade disadvantage to several up-and-coming superpowers, and our financial markets are so hopelessly broken that they’ve contributed to a global surge in prices for necessary commodities like food and energy. In my opinion, what we need right now is not a leader who will vastly increase government spending, raise taxes and institute tough new environmental rules that will put a financial strain on every American citizen.

Are Obama’s goals as laudable as they are lofty? Yes. Let’s take health care, for example. I’m in Thailand right now, and I can tell you first-hand that — at least in some circumstances — government health care does work. Here, for example, my wife was recently able to have open surgey for a mere 350 U.S. dollars — and she was cared for excellently throughout. To the clueless conservative zealots on talk radio who insist that no one has a health care system as great as the United States: For fuck’s sake, guys, take off your nationalist caps for just one blessed minute and go see the world (no, posh island resorts and five-star hotels don’t count) — I promise it’ll be an eye-opening experience.

Of course, liberal zealots like Michael Moore make an equally egregious error of assumption when they try to convince us all that government health care is free. Nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, the biggest problem with government health care is that it costs an absolute fortune — a fortune that every single American is going to pay in new taxes, guaranteed. Taxes that, once again, the nearly 12 millions undocumented workers in the U.S. who use our health care system will not pay because the government doesn’t know they exist.

And of course, the more eligible residents you have using national health care, the more expensive it gets. America’s medical infrastructure is already strained to the breaking point because there aren’t enough doctors, nurses and facilities, there are millions of illegal immigrants using medical services with no way of paying for them, and the insurance and legal industries have conspired to cripple America’s formerly very high standard of care. The free market doesn’t seem to be working, and a government health program, if done right, could help — but so many people are wary of this because the U.S. government has a proven track record of bungling everything it touches. I’m not so sure I want them managing my health care, either!

Then there are Obama’s environmental initiatives. Like Clinton and McCain, he is in favor of a “carbon credit” system whereby businesses who don’t clean up their act will be forced to pay for carbon credits to offset their environmental impact. (A new tax, by any other name.) The money used to buy those credits will go to certain environmental organizations that supposedly use it to finance environmentally beneficial projects, which would ostensibly offset the impact the delinquent business made on our planet. In reality, those monies might simply go to businesses run by Al Gore and his elitist ilk, so that they can continue to pour fuel into their private jets and eat exotic seafood on the dime of American businesses and consumers.

Even if you could convince me that the “carbon credits” concept isn’t an utter and complete sham, which I seriously doubt you can, I don’t get the impression that Obama really cares very much about the impact this is going to have on the American economy. It’s going to be big, and it’s not going to be easy. Should we be striving to reach that goal? Yes, but right now everybody is already hurting. Let’s make sure we don’t create an even wider gap between this nation’s poor and wealthy classes by rushing to institute new taxes, rules and inconveniences that will hurt no one but the hardest-working people in our country — the very people whom I thought Obama was supposed to represent, if you take him at his word. And that’s unfortunate, because when I first started to learn about Obama, I was really impressed. Even now, I still really want to like the guy.

But my biggest problem with Obama — and Hillary, for that matter, and the Democrat party as a whole — is that they’re in the business of legislating behavior. Don’t get me wrong, the Republicans like to do that too — you know, abortion, gay marriage, the “fear everything” mentality, et al. But somehow, none of that rubs me quite so wrong as the Democrat mentality that wants to force us all — through legislation or taxation — to be shiny, happy people according to the all-knowing federal government’s standards.

This is where we come to the crux of my problem with American politics, the state of our nation today, and the American people themselves. You’ve listened to me bitch about how I just can’t whole-heartedly get behind any of the three major contenders for president — McCain, Clinton or Obama. So who would I get behind? Well, call me a nutter, but of all the people in contention for their party’s nomination, I would put my money behind Ron Paul. Every time the man voices an opinion about some matter, I find it’s right in line with my own feelings. I don’t agree with absolutely everything he says — in some areas, he’s got this wacky reactionary streak giong on that could be a bit frightening — but he’s got a strangely appealing mix of Libertarianism and old-school conservatism going on, and I find that appealing.

If I had to choose a party, I’d probably side with the Libertarians. As someone who was brought up believing that his life is what he makes of it, and that we each live or die by our own choices and the circumstances we create for ourselves, I find myself attracted to a political mindset that makes people responsible for their own actions. I also support the proposed Fair Tax system that would levy a single tax on consumption and not on income — a tax that everyone, even illegal aliens, would pay. In some cases, the official Libertarian position takes things a bit too far — like their push to legalize drugs, for example — but you can see where it all leads back to. The point is, we have too many laws and regulations, and the Libertarian movement would scale that back and make government less intrusive. It would then leave the American people free to scrap for their own success, knowing that they are the only ones keeping themselves in the black. It compels people to make sound financial decisions, to work hard and work smart, and to be responsible citizens. I’m a responsible person. This is my kind of political party.

Unfortunately, I’m at a bit of an impasse. Because I don’t think the Libertarian philosophy is going to work in America — not the America of today. To put it bluntly, too large a segment of the American population is just too undisciplined, too lazy, too selfish and too ignorant to make Libertarianism work. I’m not even convinced that this segment is a majority. But it’s large enough to ensure that if we were to trust people to be responsible for themselves, a huge number of people just plain wouldn’t. They’d then proceed to blame the government for not preventing them from making asses of themselves, or for not stopping them from eating too much and suffering congestive heart failure, or for not stepping in before they spent too much money and got into debt. Because in modern America, that’s never your fault, it’s always someone else’s — most popularly, the government’s. Those people would cause unmitigated chaos.

And so, we come full circle, and we get exactly the government we deserve. We have Democrats who have moved so far to the left that they’ve alienated all but their most rabid fans, and frighteningly, they no longer even have to keep it a secret that they want to control every aspect of your life.

For example, Hillary wants to forcibly opt you into her government health care plan, with fines and other punishments — possibly even wage garnishing — to follow if you don’t comply. This is so idiotic, I can barely keep my last meal down. Why would you not allow independently wealthy people to select their own private health insurance provider, much as they do today? That takes strain off (and cost out of) the government system. Australia has this exact same kind of scheme already in place — and there, the government encourages people to buy their own insurance if they are able.

Obama, meanwhile, wants to legislate (or taxibly force) responsible behavior. At a rally today, he said, “‘We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times… and then just expect that other countries are going to say ‘okay’.” Get set, folks, because when Obama takes office, what you do in your home and what car you drive is going to become the rest of the world’s business. I keep my inefficient sports car as a toy and put maybe 200 miles on it each month. We keep our home thermostat set at 79 degrees — and we live in Florida. But other Americans aren’t so thoughtful. And I have no illusions that if the government wanted to force me to be responsible, there wouldn’t be all sorts of things they could take from me. Annual trips to Thailand to visit my wife’s family? Nope, no more of those — too much carbon being expelled by those jet planes. You own an 8-cylinder coupe? Okay then, we’ll charge you a $2,000 consumption tax on your registration every year — even if you never drive it. And on, and on, and on.

On the Republican side, things aren’t any better. The Republicans want to legislate behavior, too. McCain has already stated that he buys into the whole carbon credits thing, although he’s probably just saying that to try to win some Democrat support, without which he has no chance in hell of winning the general election. Like the Democrats, the Republicans have so fundamentally changed the purpose and direction of their party that they’ve lost all of their core constituents. They’re soft on wasteful spending, singularly fixated on the neverending war on terror and big on slapping us with further and further restrictions and hoops to jump through, all in the name of “security.” All the while, every single Republican seems oblivious to the fact that they are turning America into exactly the kind of place Usama bin Laden wanted it to become: A police-state, gridlocked with fear, bankrupt from spending all of its money on proverbial bars for the windows, firearms to hide under every pillow, and ever-evolving draconian rules that change every time you visit an airport.

And so, as the Democrats and Republicans have morphed into these strange new extremist groups so as to better spar with each other in a battle of wits, they seem to have missed the fact that they’ve so totally alienated so much of mainstream America that no one knows who to vote for anymore. You’ve probably caught a glimpse of America’s shock and disgust on those various TV interviews. People always talk about who they’ve going to vote against, not who they’re going to vote for. They bitch and moan that none of the candidates are right for the job. Old-school conservatives feel alienated from the GOP. Old-school liberals feel alienated from the Democrat party. As a result, you’ve got these extreme ends of each side using increasingly dirty tactics to soil the other, while the remaining 80% of us just sit and watch, numb with dismay at what’s happened to our country. That’s contributed to the fact that the votes have been so close throughout this primary season. Obama or Clinton — which will you choose? Who cares; on the issues they’re practically the same damn person. Is it any wonder that this contest has gone on so long?

When it comes time for me to step into the voting booth in November and make my choice for president, I’m fairly certain that it isn’t going to be Obama, Hillary (not that she’ll be on the ballot anyway) or McCain. I may vote for the Libertarian candidate, Bob Barr — although I need to read more about him, and honestly, the Libertarian party has a history of choosing incredibly poor candidates every season. Or, I might really pull a “take that” and write in Ron Paul. I know it will have no practical effect whatsoever, but you’ve got to remember: The reason why a third-party vote never counts is because everyone else thinks that it won’t, either. If we could just get people to vote for what they really believe, even if it’s a third party — and not cast a strategic vote to try to prevent the “enemy” from winning, or some such thing — we might actually get a government that works.

And in such a case, I think we’ll finally deserve it.

Tagged as politics, Thailand + Categorized as Rants