Truth and the American political system

[Soup Bean]

George Bernard Shaw once said something to the effect of "If you're going to tell someone the truth, you'd better make them laugh". Jon Stewart is a living example of the only way to get a message out today.

The recent Republican Presidential Debate had me wondering about Truth and politics. Representative Ron Paul basically gave the American People a definition of "blowback". The visceral reaction of Mayor Giuliani and pundits such as Sean Hannity to his statements show a real distaste for understanding the root causes of situations.

This phenomenon is by no means confined to presidential politics. In local government situations, it's very hard to tell people the root causes of problems without being despised or attacked. Everything from law enforcement needs, such as adequate prisoner housing, to the conditions of the local water systems is met with complete denial of the problems, and often results in "blaming the messenger". No one wants to raise rates or taxes to solve critical issues, and everyone runs on a platform of "not raising taxes", no matter the political persuasion.

The people seem to take for granted such services as public drinking water. A $10.00 per month increase in cable fees or cell phone charges go unnoticed, and rarely does anyone ever complain. However, if you raise water bills or property taxes for something essential, the community goes ballistic. Everyone lines up around the block to buy lottery tickets, regardless of his/her personal income. But for an essential service, everyone thinks you're a crook if you try to clean up 40 years worth of problems that have been created by politicians unwilling to make the hard choices.

Politicians get credit for never raising fees or taxes, and that seems to be what people want. However, if proper maintenance had been undertaken, and rates had gradually been raised over time, such high rate increases would not have been necessary.

I submit that not telling the truth about anything winds up costing you more in the long run. Whether it's our foreign policiy of cheap oil and what it takes to keep it, or the local electric company and power transfer stations that need maintenance. Putting off the problem for future generations to take care of is the easy way out, and hurts more when the piper needs paying.

George Herbert Walker Bush said that the "American lifestyle is non-negotiable". I think that our way of life is not sustainable, and hard choices are going to have to be made. Can an American politician be elected by telling the truth about our situation, or will we continue to run off everyone that doesn't tell us exactly what we need to hear? The word "sacrifice" has been completely banned from our political lexicon, and I think it's going to hurt really hard when the blowback comes.

What do you think?

[Wapsie B]

1. I loved it when Walter Mondale came out an came clean

saying that taxes would have to be raised. But with the ever dumbing-down of the American electorate that point of view doesn't fly. To a realist it's better to be honest with people. To a media campaign consultant it's whatever appeals to the masses. Guess who wins out?

[Soup Bean]

2. The media/marketing consultant.

And that's what's BAD. People take for granted all the services they have now, and they don't even realize that such services are a privilege, and come with a cost. When those services go away, people squeal and cry. But they don't want to pay for upgrading and maintaining said services. The Rush Limbaugh's have painted government services such an ugly color that people don't realize that government is all they really have going for them. Privatization is always lauded as the solution to what ails, but then you get Enron.

Public service works, but only when you have quality people. The innate distrust of government that is so indelibly ingraved in the consciousness of the American People is making it almost impossible to provide for those same people. No one of substance wants to run for office for fear of the wrath of the people, and the quality has declined because of this fear.

Do you think the people can be educated as to this situation? Do you think that they'll eventually embrace truth, or do you have to continuously distort to get any action done? No one is moved in this country unless there's a crisis, and even then the window of opportunity for a good fix is very narrow, and disappears overnight.

How can we continue to function as a civilized society if this continues? What would it take to get past the lack of reason?

[Wapsie B]

3. Problem is that with their distrust of government

many do not stop and realize that large corporations control the government. My dad is a rwing conservative farmer. When I suggested to him that companies like Monsanto and DuPont could give a rat's ass about small farmers like him it just did not compute. People like him do not understand that it's the corporations acting through their control of the government putting him out of business.

How will we turn this around? If I'd know I'd be a wealthy man.

[warren pease]

4. I've always liked this cautionary tale re privatization and personal consequences...

There are some things, say air traffic control, that are too important to be left to a cost-cutting, chiseling, downsizing, profits uber alles model of capitalism run amok. Or would you prefer to be suspended seven miles in the air when the captain comes on the intercom and tells you that Glutco Air Traffic Solutions, LLC., has just laid off 40 percent of its workforce, including most of the people who staffed the air traffic control operation at the airport you're heading to.

See if that gets his attention next time your dad talks about his support of the corporate point of view.


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