My Politics

As this site is ultimately dedicated to exploring the Enlightened Caveman concept in the context of current affairs, it makes sense at this point to articulate my political leanings.

Let me begin by saying that, if I must be labeled, I come closest to being a libertarian. This simply means that, philosophically speaking, I am socially liberal and economically conservative. More importantly, I believe that the state should play a VERY limited role in the lives of the people. This, unfortunately, is far from what we have today...and there is a very serious (and sad) reason for it.

We are at a point in this country where the dominant skill of all successful elected officials is the ability to get elected. By giving a politician our vote, we are choosing to have them represent us in matters of public policy. I don't think people really get this. If someone is going to represent me, I want them to be steeped in economic and political philosophy. I want them to have clearly articulated positions on these matters, and I want to be sure that their beliefs are well thought out. Most importantly, I want to know that they will fight for those beliefs even when they are unpopular. Apparently, that is too much to ask.

The reality is that those who run for public office are rarely the kind of people we would want at our dinner tables. To them, truth is a matter of convenience, to be invoked when it poses no risk to their electibability. More often, the truth is distorted opportunistically to achieve whatever means necessary to obtain and retain political power. This is quite contrary to my ethics, which means that I have very little admiration for politicians, regardless of their party affiliations.

George Bush comes from a family of career politicians. They are bred to win elections. I don't think for a moment that W is the good, upstanding, moral guy that his supporters say he is. They cite his commitment to the war on terror as evidence of this. I disagree. I'm not saying he doesn't care about national security. I believe he does, and I believe he truly believes that our current efforts are the way to ensure it. However, I think it is much more likely that his success (he will be reelected, you can count on it) is nothing more than a calculated risk. He knows that there are more people out there who want to see action against those who attacked us than there are people who want to leave it to the UN or do nothing at all. So, though they say he has staked his presidency on Iraq, I don't think he sees it as that much of a risk, especially when you consider all of the other things he has done to garner votes.

The Medicare presription drug benefit is absolutely contrary to the idea of smaller government, which is supposed to be a main component of the Republican platform. Yet, Bush supported it. Why? Cause he cares about grandma? Doubtful. He did it for votes. Amnesty for illegal aliens? Same thing. It is a fact that government spending during his first three years in office has grown at the highest rate in history. Is that his idea of smaller government? Not a chance. It's what you can call hedging your bets. And this is the guy with core values? Sure.

And Kerry? This guy is a walking definition of political opportunism. Now he wants to raise the minimum wage, and he is so transparent that he comes right out and says it will benefit single mothers the most. Translation - I'm buying your votes, single moms. And his values? It's clear that he values one thing - getting elected. He campaigned during the primaries as a far left winger. He had no choice - Dean set the agenda early on and made it clear that getting the democratic nomination would entail singing some variety of his tune. But now that Kerry has it, he is moving ever so cleverly to the center. This is because getting a majority of democrats to vote for you is one thing - getting a majority of Americans to vote for you is another thing altogether.

The point of all this is to establish a theme in my future posts. ENOUGH OF THE LEFT VERSUS RIGHT CRAP. This is the caveman team mentality writ large. Take a moment to see beyond taking sides and realize that if you must choose a side, the teams you have to choose from are not Republicans versus Democrats. It is us, the people of this country, against the losers who running it. It doesn't matter if they're Republicans or Democrats. They want the same thing - power - and they'll do anything and say anything to get it. That means we have to hold them accountable in a different way. We have to demand honesty and integrity. We have to demand that they state what they believe and why, and that they stick to their guns. If they lose an election because the majority doesn't agree with them, so be it. Those kinds of people are called statesmen. I want to be represented by a statesman. You should, too.