Quotable Quotes

" Those who want the Government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination." - Harry S Truman

I saw this over at my friend Steve's blog today and it seems so appropriate to describe much of the nonsense coming into politics today. It makes you wonder how many great or much needed political leaders never even consider running for public office because of the rhetoric and idiocy that seems to come with public service. Would Harry Truman even run for dog catcher today knowing that no matter what you do in that office, you are the enemy and loathed?

CANDIDATE FATIGUE

BY MICHAEL LINN JONES



When I first learned of the term "semantic fatigue" I brought myself to a level of mental fugue after repeating the same word over and over until it had no meaning. It had become just a sound, like "Blah blah blah blah blah, etc." Take any word and try it: you'll be left a little dizzy with the feeling that you've swallowed a pillow or something.

Or......you can follow the presidential go-kart race as closely as you can.

Having just finished David McCollough's TRUMAN, I was hit full-force by the inanities of this so-called race. In fact, in his later years Truman expressed a lot of skepticism about presidential primaries, and more importantly, the effect television would have on future races. Also, he observed that if the Democratic Party ever became the mouthpiece for millionaires only it would be a sad day.

And it IS depressing when you read about Harry Truman while aware of the current plethora of people wanting to be President of the United States. "To err is Truman" someone said during his presidency, and that was a fact. He made blunders, mistakes, you name it.....but overall he did very well. He had, like many people did then, and many do NOW, an internal compass that guided him on most things. Polls he abhored, and ignored.

Today, polls are everything. Candidates are so aware of the camera, and the pseudo-message it sends, that they are not what they appear to be. So we seek the real person, the one who would be president, and come up short-handed. Those with that "internal compass" don't seem to bother to run.

Too many people bank heavily on what are referred to as "policies" of the candidates. Policy positions are nothing more than vague promises, totally useless if the core character of the candidate is not known. We are sold packages of images, which is a far cry from what we get AFTER an election.

This may be an old refrain, but it does not serve the republic well when the greater good of the nation is forsaken in order to provide relief for numerous complaints. Said complaints having been institutionalized through organizations whose focus is extremely narrow. And in many cases damaging to the republic, and what is stands for. Or used to, anyway.

Back in the days when Lyndon Johnson promised that he would not send "our boys ten thousand miles to do the fighting that Asian boys should be doing".....back when American boys were dying doing exactly THAT....the nightly news itself became semantic fatigue. If memory serves correctly, every Thursday evening Walter Cronkite would list the number of helicopters shot down that week. And of course the numbers of men killed.

After several years of this people lost sight of any real goals; they just wanted it to end. I mustn't forget the thousands of young men at the time who were all for the war but just couldn't get around to enlisting because of deferments of various sorts. Such types are always in favor of war....it's the image they cherish of hardbitten warriors bound helplessly to a chair somewhere.

Indeed, President Bush is passing on a mess to his successor. In 2008 any candidate running against Bush is a total waste of a vote. We all KNOW what Bush is leaving us; we need to see clarity in direction, not a re-arranging of chairs at the exclusive "club of rulers."

Having done away with the "evil" of old-timed "city bosses" who controlled conventions and greatly influenced elections, the election system has devolved into a contest for the attention of those with the advertising money. Nothing beats that "image thing."

The number of people who actually call the shots in presidential elections can be fit into the end zone seats of a small high school stadium, with room to spare. The candidates are not debating each other, but rather jumping for the attention of that end zone.

All us peons are asked to do is crown the king/queen on election day.

It's quite fatiguing.
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Cross-posted at Michaellinnjones.com

IN THE QUEST TO BE FIRST, ARE WE WINDING UP WITH SECOND BEST?

Picture courtesy of the White House

By Michael Linn Jones

There is that old story about a Texan braggart on a tour of New York City. His guide is a native New Yorker, and he tells the Texan that their next stop is the Empire State Building.

Looking up at the skyscraper from the sidewalk, the Texan exclaims, "Why hell, we have outhouses in Texas bigger than that."

The New Yorker replies, "Yeah, and you need 'em, too."

Being Americans, we have this affinity....no, a need to be superlative in things. Best, biggest,longest, highest....and first. First on the moon; first in flight; first in production, and so on. And now....first in the nomination process for the office of the President of the United States.

Conventions used to produce the candidates. In those "smoke-filled rooms" so pilloried by those who demanded a change. Power to the people and all that.

For the Democrats, 1968 was the last year of the party bosses deciding who got what. The primary system was beefed up and then inevitably manipulated. It was supposed to be (and to a great extent was) a winnowing process that took place over months. Numerous states had their primary elections in a loose order; one that allowed that most precious commodity in elections...time. Time is needed to take a second or even third look at a candidate.

But no more. It was odd how in 2004 the Democrats had their nominee decided so soon. It was a bogus "winner take all" event that finally vindicated Harry Truman's opinion that primaries were bunk.

But, in for a penny; in for a pound. This time around numerous states are advancing their primary dates sooner and sooner, so as to be......first. What the 2008 Democratic primary election is now resembling is the Thunderdome from Mad Max. "Eight candidates enter; one candidate leaves." I wouldn't be shocked if they had Tina Turner sing the theme song at the convention next year. It would be appropriate.

Every pollster is aware of the 1948 gaffe when "Dewey Defeats Truman" was used as crow for journalists to eat after the truth came out. The "experts" stop listening to the people and only listened to each other. In a nutshell, that's how they missed the mark so badly in 1948.

But not to worry. The system is being manipulated so that "the people" will be herded into only one corral, and very quickly at that. Options will disappear long before there is any truly close examination of the candidates. The experts can finally be afforded the luxury of listening only to each other.

So now, in September 2007 we are being given the clear choice for the Democratic Party: Hillary Clinton. That inevitability mantra is one of the things that annoys me about her candidacy.

More and more it appears to be an enthronment rather than an electoral process. It will take place not in a smoke-filled room, but rather in a smoke-free room. In fact, a low cholesterol, high fiber, flatulence (and hence Co2) free room.

As a Democrat, I don't feel like I've got any choice, but more an instruction from the Democratic National Committee. The wheel seems to have turned full circle from the American Revolution. Mel Gibson's character Benjamin Martin makes a comment in the film THE PATRIOT: "Why trade one tyrant 3,000 miles away for 3,000 tyrants 1 mile away?"

It's a good question. Tryanny with a smile is tyranny just the same. If Senator Clinton is as intelligent as she is supposed to be, might she not ask herself if in reaching her ultimate goal she will cast aside any claim to historical relevance?

In the end, the 2008 campaign will be the dirtiest yet.

And so will the governing that follows.

Kind of makes one nostalgic for those smoke-filled rooms sometimes.

Michael Linn Jones

Cross Posted at Michael Linn Jones and the Gun Toting Liberal