William K. Wolfrum Chronicles

One of the great things I’ve learned being in a South American country is this - the liberal, or more socialist political party always has the advantage. The more poor the country, the more true this seems to be.

In Brazil, Lula will run away with his second term as president by pandering to the poor. The same is true in regards to Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales and the other leftist leaders down these parts.

Now, in these countries, the general populace is extremely poor. So really, whenever a politician does something for them, they will gladly give them their vote. In the U.S., people aren’t as poor, but I truly believe democrats have a natural advantage as people always want something for nothing. The margin of error is closer, however, therefore, if the more conservative party can come up with a solid schtick, they can even the odds.

In the U.S., that schtick is obviously fear. That it works so well is truly amazing. How many of us know people that are educated and erudite, yet seem to have a deep belief that we are in a great “War of Civilizations” and that if we do not go on a constant attack, give up civil rights and our national soul, then everyone in the U.S. will be forced to bow to Mecca and speak Arabic?

That it makes no sense whatsoever is of no concern to them. They truly believe that some nation-less groups, without armies, and for the most part with divergent goals, are going to come to the U.S., defeat the country and take over.

And for those that think that way, the fact that many of us know that this is a ludicrous thought does not mean we want to lay down all arms and warmly allow crazed religous types to come take over. Not everything is black and white, you see. But the fact is, Israel, surrounded by nations that despise it and would love to see them removed from the Earth, still stands. They are vigilant, but they are not insane.

Yet, an ocean removed, many in the U.S. have gone insane. Because a political party has made them that way.

In the end, that’s all it is. We have given our basic common sense over to politicians, and they have run with it. And here’s the thing:

Politicians don’t care about you. Not even a little bit. They just want to remain in, or achieve power. If that means giving you some meal vouchers, fine. If it means terrifying you with boogie men and sending your sons to their deaths in meaningless wars, fine. Whatever it takes. Left and right meet in the middle when it comes to achieving and/or maintaing power.

A country is made up of its people. A nation is not its government and the people that run it. And until people start demanding their government work for them, then they will continue to be abused by politicans and others whose only concerns is their own power.

There are no politicans out there to save us. That is our job.

–WKW

This entry was posted on Monday, September 25th, 2006 at 4:56 pm and is filed under Politics, Essays. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.