The quality of recent US presidents leaves much to be desired. Why do Americans keep electing such rotten presidents? Even worse, why do they keep reelecting them? by Joel S. Hirschhorn
(libertarian)
Friday, September 3, 2010
For years I muttered mentally to myself about the insanity of Americans electing George W. Bush president. Now I go through the same agony about the craziness of the nation electing Barack Obama president. As much as I thought Bush was a manipulated second-rate politician that carried out the terribly destructive policies pushed by Cheney and other conservative corporate shills, now I feel equally angry that so many voters fell for the slick rhetoric and lies of Obama. Disgust produces public thirst for change and Obama was wickedly brilliant at selling change. When voters are so easily victimized what does democracy amount to?
All this tells me that any nation that can elect such inept people president can also elect other people that appear to have no right or chance to be president of the United States just as Bush and Obama once appeared before they were sold to the public. That is what is so frightening about the future of this nation. The two-party plutocracy with its stranglehold on the American political system has the power to elect presidents that are an insult to the great ones that once served the nation with pride and competence.
I keep searching for explanations why millions of American voters make such bad electoral decisions. Are they just so stupid, uninformed and distracted that they fall for endless political lies? Have Americans become so easily manipulated and fooled by advertising and brilliant political campaigns that they can be sold terrible presidents as easily as unneeded, low quality and unhealthy products?
Yes, all this seems too true. Delusional voters have produced our delusional democracy which strongly favors corporate, wealthy and elitist interests over ordinary Americans. This explains frightening economic inequality and the demise of the middle class. In the late 1970s, the richest 1 percent of American families took in about 9 percent of the nation's total income; by 2007, the top 1 percent took in 23.5 percent of total income (less than 5 million people). Two-thirds of the nation's total income gains from 2002 to 2007 flowed to this sliver of households, which saw a rise of 62 percent, compared to 4 percent for the bottom 90 percent of households. Today, the median male worker earns less, adjusted for inflation, than he did 30 years ago. A corrupt bipartisan system gave us this. Is this the change you were waiting for?
Considering Bush and Obama from a right-left perspective misses their several critical commonalities. Both have wasted the nation's wealth and lives on two ludicrous, unnecessary wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both turned out to be pretty good communicators during their presidential campaigns but quite lousy after they became president. The more intelligent and articulate Obama is particularly striking in being totally lackluster when it comes to addressing major issues and crises and building public support for his policies, which now explains his very low approval ratings.
Both pursued public policies and government programs that preferentially benefit corporate and other special interests, especially the financial sector. This is no surprise because both depended on huge amounts of corporate money to get elected. They both have responsibility for the economic meltdown that still exists for a large fraction of the nation. A large majority of Americans correctly see the nation on the wrong track, but more importantly it is hurtling down the wrong track, which President Obama ignores, because he lacks solutions.
What may turn out to be the most disturbing similarity is that Obama may get elected for a second term just like Bush accomplished despite uninspiring performance. If there is anything more disturbing than electing awful politicians with no real record of accomplishments it is reelecting them for a second term! More than anything else this demonstrates the absence of true, effective political competition and the ability to brainwash and manipulate voters.
For years I hoped that some third party presidential candidate would emerge, capture public confidence and offer a true reform program to repair our nation. But sadly the political system has been so corrupted that no third party presidential candidate stands a chance against the two-party plutocracy. The biggest nonsense is that the US is the greatest democracy on Earth. There are many other democracies where multiple political parties give citizens far more choices than Americans have. It pays to remember that no nation ever copied the government structure of the US. Instead, other democracies where citizens also have freedom use parliamentary structures with far more political choices and even the ability to more easily get rid of rotten leaders. Here we suffer with disappointing presidents for far too many years.
The most fascinating aspect of our constitutional republic is that one constitutional path to get true, deep reforms of our government and political system has never been used. This proves how powerful, entrenched interests on the right and left have maintained a corrupt, dysfunctional and costly system. Very, very few Americans know anything about the option in Article V of the Constitution for a convention of state delegates that could propose constitutional amendments. You can learn the facts at the Friends of the Article V Convention website. The one and only requirement for a convention has long been met but Congress refuses to obey the Constitution. They fear it. We need it more than ever.
A constitutional scholar such as President Obama could make history by openly demanding that Congress convene the first Article V convention. But that would require dropping the constitutional hypocrisy that he and so many others have. The rule of law is a farce when an important part of the beloved Constitution is ignored.
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Posted By: Whimsy1
Date: September 3, 2010 04:59:26 PM
Actually, the biggest problem is that Americans keep electing such corporate owned senators and representatives. And I do use the term representatives sarcastically. I belong to neither of the two big political parties as I like to think for myself and research issues rather than listen to corporate talking heads that really have the destruction of the middle class as their ultimate goal.
Our political system is a divisive, distorted mess with government at all levels out of control. Social and religious ideologues have kidnapped both parties and while both call for return to the Constitution, most people, including those running for federal, state and local office, know nothing but the 1st, 2nd and 14th amendments, if that.
We must get government out of the control of the wealthy 2% and away from the extremist religious of any bent and take back our country from greed and lack of integrity. We must elect those (if any can be found) who speak and act with a voice of reason.... not extremism.
Joel, I don't know why we let ourselves be distracted by gay marriage, mosques and abortion when big business is poisoning our oceans, our water and our air, we can't keep our food supply safe, tax cuts for the wealthy have not created jobs for the past decade, we send our sons and daughters to fight and die in unnecessary wars and people are dying because of health care costs.
But hey, let's grab a beer, watch some mindless t.v. and let radio talking heads tell us what to do.
Posted By: Roy Ellis
Date: September 4, 2010 02:09:44 PM
Joel and Whimsy1, yet more tautology as to our political history. I suggest you back up a notch and take a broader view of our history. All the way back to when oil corporations were formed and began the eternal wars for profit using the federal government as the corporate puppet. While people and government representatives are short lived corporations are eternal. After some 200 years corporations are able to greatly influence much of the political and electoral process. We are now ruled by Corpocracy rather than a democratic republic.
Starting with Woodrow Wilson, later with Truman and Eisenhower and ramping up with the Regan and succeeding administrations/congress’ have pushed for globalization. The politicians use foreign trade as a banner for world peace while the big corporations use globalization as a way to monopolize/conglomerize around the world. Yet, history shows that every attempt at globalization has landed us right where we are today.
Previous administrations have paid lip service to the voting public while pushing their globalization agenda. The closest thing to a public debate on globalization happened in 1992, on the Larry King show between Al Gore and Ross Perot with Perot suggesting there would be a ‘great sucking sound’ as jobs left the US for Mexico because of NAFTA. Recall that Hillary and Obama, in their presidential bid, said they would renegotiate NAFTA but silence since the election. Recall that immigration was not broached in the presidential debates until sometime after Obama and McCain were selected as the D&R presidential candidates.
Briefly, people live and die, administrations come and go, but corporations live on through data bases and corporate lawyers. Corporations have had a couple of hundred years to stack the deck against the working middle class. In other words there is no legislation can make it into law that doesn’t have embedded the big footprint of the corpocracy.
Therefore, the ONLY solution for the voting public is to fight fire with fire through a new third party with a different political attitude. Admittedly, we don’t need just another 3rd party. But, we do need a party founded in rules to prevent co-option by the money influence. A party where membership provides oversight for elected/appointed officials. A party where, if sufficient complaints about an elected member are registered an up/down vote is mandated and failing to garner a 66% favorable vote would be reason to reject the incumbent from the party. The Republic Sentry Party represents such a party and would support the call for Article V Convention. www.republicsentry.com
I agree that AVC, a long denied constitutional right, would provide a pathway to reform government, albeit slow and single threaded. I support AVC and the anti-incumbency movement, Vote Out Incumbents Democracy (VOID). Otherwise, pass me a cold one and turn the tv on.
Posted By: Seeker
Date: September 5, 2010 08:55:31 PM
I have always felt, with only 1 or 2 exceptions, that most presidential elections offered a choice between the lesser of two evils. George Bush, John Kerry, John McCain and Barack Obama offered the same choice except that in 2008 McCain was distinctively the lesser of two evils. In general I have always viewed Democrats, especially since the 60's as more dangerous to the country than Republicans. That aside, however, I have always been amazed that in a great country like ours we cannot attract people with strong character, principles and visions to run for President. I voted for Bush just so Kerry would not win. Hardly the best basis for voting. Bush turned out to be a big disappointment but at least he didn't terrify me like Obama does. Bush's main legacy will be Obama. Obama could not have won without George Bush even though he ironically keeps blaming Bush for all his problems.
Nonetheless, in my lifetime only Ronald Regan demonstrated courage, determination, leadership, vision, character and anything worthy of admiration. All other presidents have been mediocre, uninspiring, and ineffectual, if not outright dangerous. Clinton's legacy for example, in my mind willl be 911 as Bush's was Obama.
That neither political party can offer a candidate who can lead and inspire perhaps suggests that politicians are nothing more than incarnated talking points and drones programmed to respond to polls and surveys and MSM editorials. Often there is very little to differentiate a Republican from a Democrat, a process made more difficult since neither is willing to deal with 'controversial' issues, or 'divisive' issues, or 'ethical' issues. They prefer to stick to the blandest and safest topics available to them and to avoid antagonizing and burning bridges. Such is not the stuff leaders are made of. Yet this is the fare we are offered every 4 years - McDonalds or Burger King.
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