The Eve of Deconstruction

I have to admit it -- I enjoy voting... the way I enjoy filling out my tax return.  It must have something to do with Asperger's Syndrome.  But with voting, one has to remember that it's all make-believe, like playing Monopoly or playing with a toy cash register.  Every four years, the electorate is whipped into a frenzy and driven, like a vast herd of sheep, to the polls to vote for one of two indistinguishable candidates (or, alternatively, for one who can't possibly win).  (In Arkansas this time, for example, you can vote for the Socialism and Liberation Party candidates for president and vice president.)

The main thing to remember, as always, is that nothing of any significance is going to change no matter who gets elected.  Foreign policy, for example, has been a non-issue in this campaign simply because the two major candidates' positions are, for all intents and purposes, identical -- and never mind the carping about Benghazi.  Obama is a war president and has every intention of staying that way... and Romney wants, more than anything else in the world, to be a war president.  The only conceivable difference would be the precise date on which we start the next war, i.e. the one with Iran.  Otherwise -- no difference.

On the domestic side -- sure, there might be some trivial differences when it comes to taxes... Romney would keep most, if not all, of ObamaCare... abortion would march on unimpeded (what's a "pro-life" candidate supposed to do about it?)... and mainly, all of the most intractable problems would remain intractable.  Race... entitlements... government "waste"... pollution... the deficit... balance of trade... borrowing from other countries... the national debt... these are not going to go away, no matter what.  And this is just on the surface.  The "deep agenda", which is to turn the U.S. into, basically, a servant of the European banking powers, will proceed without the slightest hesitation.  Both candidates have bought into this agenda, are already serving it, and will continue to do so.  In addition (and not unrelated) they have each pledged undying loyalty to Israel and to Zionism.  In other words, all of the real "drivers" of our economic, social, and political well-being are in place, and our politicians are merely servants of a much larger agenda.

So what does this mean as far as elections are concerned?  Basically, voting is a fetish -- a ritual that we engage in for some psychological reason, not because it has any real relevance or impact.  And one clue to this is the obsessive behavior exhibited by the media -- that voting, and elections, are all "historic", all "the most important of our lifetime", etc. when in fact they are anything but.  You can tell when reason and common sense have left the building and hysteria has taken over by the way the candidates, their supporters, and the media talk.  The less meaningful the process becomes, the more meaning is ascribed to it.  This is because nearly everyone in the system is in deep denial.  No one with any vested interest wants to admit that it's just a hoax, like professional wrestling.  So they get all steamed up and waste all kinds of adrenaline.  Probably the most honest part of any campaign is when the opposing candidates get together for some reason and, in an unguarded moment, start slapping each other on the shoulder and sharing secret jokes.  That's when you realize that it's all a game, with no real winners or losers - just actors strutting on a stage, who have plenty of back-up plans in case this particular scam doesn't work out.

And I suppose this is what strikes me, more than anything else, as the difference between us and the Europeans, say.  They have elections, they vote, but they also have a healthy dose of cynicism and skepticism.  And when their politicians start acting like woefully fallen creatures, they shrug and say, well, what can you expect?  We, on the other hand, are wide-eyed and idealistic... panting for the approval of any demagogue who crosses our path.  We are politically fickle, but not so fickle as to see through the curtain of politics, and acknowledge the reality behind it, the way real adults would.  We are still clinging, not so much to the Bible and guns as to ideas -- ideas which have, over time, turned into propaganda, memes, and secular litanies.  Politicians get us hooked with words, phrases, expressions, and ideas that they don't believe in themselves -- it's just bait with which to snare the unwary and gullible voter/citizen.  And yet -- human nature being what it is -- the more things diverge from our alleged founding principles, the more we cling to what pathetically little is left.  And our leaders and their media servants know full well how to take advantage of this.  I doubt if there has ever been a people any more easy to rule, and manipulate, by false ideas promoted by hypocritical leaders.  The media like to pretend that it's all about economics, or jobs, or whatever... but really, it's primarily about ideas, and our self-image as a nation.  But only "the people" believe in any of that any longer; and this is our fatal weakness as a society.  There have been nations in the past with wrong ideas, but at least those ideas were shared by rulers and ruled alike; the same cannot be said in this case.  

So hey, sit back and enjoy the show -- if you can stay awake that long.  Great will be the rejoicing in one camp or the other, and great will be the rending of garments among the defeated.  And true, some of them can be counted as victims because they have bought into the myth.  But more typically, they will retire, like members of a defeated sports team, to come back and fight another day, knowing that, in the meantime, things remain completely under control.