Friday, October 27, 2006
Leaders? They're lemmings!
Our leaders: The problem is simple, they no longer lead. Imagine a real leader. This is what I envision when I picture my ideal leadership figure: he or she is dignified, dedicated, respectful of integrity, aware of tradition, charismatic, courageous, energized, and strong willed. Now think of our major political and social figures. Anyone fit that bill? No one that I can think of. In fact, no one even comes close. George W Bush? You must be shitting me. Dick Cheney? No fucking way. Hillary Clinton? Not in this life. Barack Obama? I’ll admit, he has been making a lot of noise lately, but he is still very much an unproven entity. I like what he has to say, but the fact remains that he hasn’t done much to back up the rhetoric. The rest of the Democratic party is a farce, at best, and the Republicans have proven themselves to be the hypocrites and liars most non-Republicans expected them to be.
Local leadership isn’t any better. Just last night, I heard the account of a local business lobbying the Hillsborough County Commission to pump sewage into the Hillsborough River that is being spun as “river augmentation”. Pumping sewage into a river we use for drinking water…”augmentation”. Why aren’t these people being shot?
And our social leaders…the people who steer political and social movements are on the same basic level. TV’s talking heads and their books seem to be setting the tone, and in many cases the direction, of political discourse in this country. People like Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, and Rush Limbaugh steer the right wing ship, while Michael Moore, Al Franken, Arianna Huffington, and a host of celebrities keep trying to assert themselves as the voice of the left. None of these people have enough courage to become elected officials, and actually put action where their big mouths are. Huffington ran in California's last gubernatorial race, but was soundly beaten by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Do Californians still qualify as people? Anyway, people seem to think that these men and women have some knowledge of politics, and accept what they say as something worth paying attention to. In reality, they and their opinions are as effective in making social change as Rick Wagoner’s (CEO of GM) strategy for achieving automotive excellence. Ironically, Sean Hannity is pimping American SUVs these days. An obsolete, ignorant mouthpiece peddling obsolete, insignificant vehicles…how fitting. Anyone who does not realize that the objective of people like Coulter, Hannity, O’Reilly and their ilk is to sell books, get eyes on ad spots, and push egomaniacal, personal agendas, has to be a fool. That goes for the those on the so called right, as well as those who would claim to be left.
In reality, the truth is somewhere in the middle. Most intelligent people in America know this, but very few politicians or social figures are brave enough to acknowledge it. Somewhere in our recent history, the powers that be got the idea that polarizing a nation is the best way to go about leading it forward. What they are really doing is using the divide and conquer methodology to prolong their own longevity. Whether they be TV personalities or politicians, they are wrong. They have no reason to unify the people, because they have no desire to truly serve the interests of the people. Instead, they bow to the will of corporate sponsors, give in to the bribes of corporate lobbyists (hi Jack Abramoff!), and continually sell the country out from beneath an apathetic, cynical, willfully ignorant public.
The people who are making a difference are the unheard, unseen, increasingly rare minority of Americans who still care enough to be informed, active, and involved. They volunteer in their communities, vote their conscience, stand up for what they believe in, and understand the importance of good in countering the world's many evils. Sadly, they are far and few between.
Which brings me to the real source of 90% of our problems…the proles. Tune in next time when I rant into the endless nether regions of the internet about my peers, who are, in many ways, the source of everything that is wrong with America today, as well as the potential solution! Dun, dun, dunnnnnnnnn...
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Well said
I wonder what side of the political spectrum my grandfather would support in this day and age. My guess is he would have turned independent.
http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19601024,00.html
http://www.elhistory.org/Bagwell.htm