Looking at Political Mythology 101

Over the weeks and months, we will look at the mythology and comedy which dominate politics in the USA. With the proliferation of the Internet, one would hope to relegate to the dustbin the political banter that sloshes on year after year, clouding the true decisions with partisan attempts at mass mind control.

The public response has been a remarkable lack of interest in the substance of politics. It is far more entertaining to concentrate on the theatre of it. In doing so of course, it loses any attempt at seriousness. Most people know that they are being lied to, that they are being manipulated, that they are being penned up in political thought by an empty press, but alas, it is easier to eschew all thought than to try and make sense of what we are fed in universities, the press and by the parties themselves

Democrat or Republican?

The Democrat party is as old as the country is. The GOP entered serious contention around 1856, with the introduction of its first presidential candidate. As with any living group, each has developed its ideology and mythology over time and has sought to build a coherent history out of it. Each has its revered stories, legends, and histories, the vast majority of which are vast exaggerations, tall tales, or outright fairy tales. But in order to understand politics we need to do more than just spout Mercutio's exclamation ("a plague o'er both your houses"), we must understand what each party brings to the table TODAY, and decide what, if anything, they each stand for TODAY.

Besides the mythology of "platform", personalities rule the theatre portion of politics. Where they fall in the spectrum, how intelligent they are or how rational has little to do with how much influence that they have and how seriously they can hurt YOU, the citizen and your family. Each party will build a mountain of personality out a molehill of a candidate, and the other will try to build an equally fictional Alfred E. Newman from the same person.

Our Job as Citizens

For some reason, the forefathers of this country, demigods and legal masters that they were, decided that everyone should be able have a say on how the government is run. At very least, people who are now allowed to participate should devote their free thought, unencumbered by silly slogans and truths that grow truer in the repetition, from the last party from whom it was heard.

Where Do I fall in the Spectrum

I am a political moderate, passionately devoted to moderation, religiously opposed to partisan considerations and rebelliously irreverent to the political "truths" of our day. Among the laughers that I have heard recently and frequently:

1) Republicans are the party of Lincoln.
2) Democrats have stood in the forefront of the fight against racism.
3) Bill Clinton is a village idiot.
4) George W. Bush is a village idiot.
5) Tax cuts will decrease the national coffers.
6) Tax cuts will help middle class Americans.
7) Tax cuts only help the rich.
8) Taxes should be paid by corporations, rather than individuals.
9) Minimum wage hikes help poor people.
10) Jimmy Carter is an integral man of peace, devoted to spreading goodness and democracy.
11) Ronald Reagan was a war monger., or he put fear of the US into its enemies.
12) President Bush's policies have created more enemies than they have eliminated.
13) Iraq was uninvolved in 9-11 and had no weapons of mass destruction.
14) Americans have grown more dependent and less personally responsible.
15) Universal government mandated healthcare programs or subsidies will protect healthcare for children and the elderly.
16) Privatizing Social Security will destroy its purpose.
17) Privatizing education will make it less attainable for the poor.
18) The press is controlled by liberals.
19) Most Americans support a "right" to have an abortion.
20) Abortion, homosexual marraige, and stem cell research are religious issues.

We could do this all day, but as you see, there are no party lines here. There are only platitudes, which, roughly defined, are farts of thought, productive only if fully developed and otherwise better left entirely unexpressed. Let's start truly analyzing these silly ideas in no particular order.