...shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
I wonder if anyone remembers the Charles Schultz comic strip Peanuts. In a frequently recurring situation the strip’s main protagonist Charlie Brown would be asked by schoolmate Lucy Van Pelt to punt a football while she holds it in place. Charlie Brown would remember that the last time this happened Lucy pulled the football away at the last second and he would kick into the empty air landing hard on his back. Lucy would then persuade Charlie Brown to try again with repeated assurances that this time will be different. Charlie Brown would then agree to kick the ball and Lucy would once again pull the ball away at the last second. For some incomprehensible reason the Charlie Brown character would be repeatedly duped into this situation without ever learning his lesson. I fear the same is also true of most American voters.
As the mid-term elections approach, the Republican Party is gaining some traction in the polls largely due to the anti-incumbency sentiment among most of the voting public. Currently most of these incumbent candidates are affiliated with the Democratic party. After the TARP bailouts and the $800 trillion stimulus boondoggle, it has become clear to anyone paying attention that our elected representatives in Washington do not represent the interests of their constituencies but rather the interests of their corporate sponsors and other special interest lobbies who were the beneficiaries of these windfall government spending programs. It was from this obvious fleecing of the American taxpayer that the Tea Party movement was born. This gave the Republican party an opportunity to once again pretend to be something they are not. They’re pretending to be small-government conservatives.
Humorist P.J. O’Rourke once wrote “The Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work and then they get elected and prove it.” This is exactly what happened during the 1980 Presidential election. As much as I hate to bash the Great Communicator Ronald Reagan, he was a prime example of the point I’m making. During the campaign, Reagan presented some of the tastiest libertarian rhetoric I have ever had the pleasure to hear. He was eloquent, charming, and presented the case for smaller government and lower taxes with greater skill than any of his contemporaries. He was the best spokesperson these ideas have had in a very long time. However, once the election was over his administration proceeded to increase the size and role of the Federal Government on almost every level. Federal spending increased, deficits skyrocketed, and the Federal government usurped even more power. The one and only thing that salvaged the stagnant economy was the tax cuts implemented during those years. But one cannot simply cut taxes while spending more. That’s a bit like cutting your salary in half while spending twice as much.
George W. Bush is another example of what has become the classic Republican bait-and-switch. During his campaign, Bush advocated for a more modest and fiscally responsible foreign policy. During his debate with Vice President Albert Gore Jr. he was critical of the Clinton administrations nation-building efforts abroad citing the expense as well as the overall lack of effectiveness in bolstering our national security. Once he was elected however, U.S. foreign policy had become even more bellicose accompanied by increases in military spending. This was partly in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but this trend continued to escalate as nation-building went from being something to avoid to becoming the bread and butter of our foreign policy.
It seems the American voters are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Both of the two major parties are only interested in increasing the size and power of the government to serve their corporate masters. Candidates from both parties will play the charade of being a “voice for the people” all the way up to election day. Once the votes are in, it’s politics as usual. These candidates will feel no remorse over betraying their constituencies because they feel the election gave them a mandate to do so. We the voters gave them our consent to screw us. As the old saying goes “Don’t vote, it only encourages them.” One could avoid offering this consent by abstaining from voting or casting a vote for a 3rd party candidate who has a snowball’s chance in hell of winning, but in the end that will not matter. Either a Democrat or a Republican will be likely to win.
The fault is not with the Republican candidates who lie and then go back on their word. The fault lies with those who casually cast their votes for them without subsequently holding them accountable to their campaign promises. Politicians are like toddlers. They require constant supervision or they will inevitably misbehave. Whether we like it or not, our government is supposed to be of, by, and for the people. That would be us. We are ultimately responsible for the direction of this nation. Voting is not enough. It is mere political wankery which ultimately changes nothing at all. Both houses of Congress, the White House, and our local and state governments are supposed to be working for us. No employer simply hires someone and leaves that person to his or her own devices for 4 years and then either re-hires them or replaces them. That would be insanity. With most jobs a newly hired employee is watched carefully and supervised by those who gave that person the job. That is the responsibility of the employer. Voting may be a right, but as with every right we enjoy in a free society it is accompanied by responsibility and that responsibility is to hold those we elect accountable.