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OK folks, time to put up or shut up.
At the request of my best friend, I'm putting a challenge out to the boxers.
We have some very politically estute members here; some real political savvy. I love the fact that we have politically aware members who actually use some skull sweat and research the reasons behind their beliefs.
Here's my issue. I see the term "sheeple" tossed about in a very casual way, as if the folks who have enough to do to pay their bills, raise their families and live some semblance of normal lives are somehow relegating themselves to obscurity by not challenging the government in some way or investing a lot of time and effort into pointing out the inadequacies of the current administration. I look around at the "politically aware" and the "sheeple" and wonder, at the end of the day, what's the difference? Really.
We who employ our heads for something more than a hat rack like to tell ourselves that we're making some difference by citing examples of stupidity on behalf of Obama, Pelosi, et al, but what are we really doing?
This so-called two party system of ours is set up the way it is for a reason. It gets us on two sides of a blame game and blinds us to the reality of what our government is really doing.
Now, I'm not one of the conspiracy-theory crowd who thinks there is a star chamber somewhere manipulating the world governments to their own ends. Nor am I a subscriber to the theory that there is some insidious plot to bring us to socialism or communism or some other paranoid pogrom.
What I do think, is that the two party system is a sham. The right and left are the same. They SAY different things to keep us thinking there are two sides and we must choose one which fits our political belief structure, but both sides are taking money from the same corporations who, at the end of the day, are getting the votes they want to maximize their profits.
When Phizer, Lilly, BP and others can dump any amout they want into a politician's campaign fund and have lobbyists on behalf of said corporation gain immediate access to the politicians they bought, who gets the laws passed that they want? Us? Not by a long shot! Don't get me wrong; I'm not anti-capitolism and one of the "all corporations are evil" crowd. However, take a real good look at the MAJOR legislation and concomitant enforcement that really takes place.
The politicians and their backers know that there are about 20% of us that pay enough attention to the way things are that they make noises at campaign time about "campaign reform" and "getting rid of the lobbyists" in Washington and even state governments. Does it ever happen? Of course not. The system is set up the way it is for a reason; it works for the folks who keep it that way.
The politicians who make a career out of feeding at the public trough keep things going as they are because the people that pay for them want it to stay the same. Meanwhile, they yell and scream buzzwords like left and right, Tea party and socialism to keep us worked up over the sound bites while they keep doing business as usual, all the while knowing that the contacts that they make while in office will serve them when they or the interns that work for them go to work for the same lobbyists who work for the corporations that put them there in the first place; now with access to the next batch.
It's an ongoing circle that has worked for a long time as evidenced by some of the discussions I've seen here and elsewhere; and all the while we're putting down the "sheeple" that don't rant and rave about the Democrats or the Republicans.
Personally, since I don't see any change coming from all this "political awareness" that I see being so intellectually bandied about, I wonder if they don't have the right approach. "Screw what the government is doing, or BP or whoever..." Because, at the end of the day, what's being done about any of it? Yeah, we can vote out the incumbent and feel we've accomplished something significant when the power is swung from one side to the other, but what was really done? Our posts on The Box and facebook and elsewhere may inspire indignity, but what changes?
One of the most real statements I've seen in a long time is Sara Palin's, "So how's this hopey changey thing workin' out for ya?"
She evidently sees the humor in this whole ordeal.
So, we'll vote in a new batch of mindless politicians because the last batch didn't meet our expectations. Bravo... then what?
Until someone with a set of nuts goes into the system and executes some real change from within, nothing will be different. 20 years from now, us really old farts will be arguing the same BS while the "sheeple" go about their mundane lives... and at the end of the day, being happier because they didn't spend half of those lives stressing over something that we did nothing about.
So, the challenge to the politically aware is this: get your asses in the ring and do something about the crooked mess that the whole system has turned into, or shut the f_ck up and let the "sheeple" graze their lives away in happy oblivion.
Mark
At the request of my best friend, I'm putting a challenge out to the boxers.
We have some very politically estute members here; some real political savvy. I love the fact that we have politically aware members who actually use some skull sweat and research the reasons behind their beliefs.
Here's my issue. I see the term "sheeple" tossed about in a very casual way, as if the folks who have enough to do to pay their bills, raise their families and live some semblance of normal lives are somehow relegating themselves to obscurity by not challenging the government in some way or investing a lot of time and effort into pointing out the inadequacies of the current administration. I look around at the "politically aware" and the "sheeple" and wonder, at the end of the day, what's the difference? Really.
We who employ our heads for something more than a hat rack like to tell ourselves that we're making some difference by citing examples of stupidity on behalf of Obama, Pelosi, et al, but what are we really doing?
This so-called two party system of ours is set up the way it is for a reason. It gets us on two sides of a blame game and blinds us to the reality of what our government is really doing.
Now, I'm not one of the conspiracy-theory crowd who thinks there is a star chamber somewhere manipulating the world governments to their own ends. Nor am I a subscriber to the theory that there is some insidious plot to bring us to socialism or communism or some other paranoid pogrom.
What I do think, is that the two party system is a sham. The right and left are the same. They SAY different things to keep us thinking there are two sides and we must choose one which fits our political belief structure, but both sides are taking money from the same corporations who, at the end of the day, are getting the votes they want to maximize their profits.
When Phizer, Lilly, BP and others can dump any amout they want into a politician's campaign fund and have lobbyists on behalf of said corporation gain immediate access to the politicians they bought, who gets the laws passed that they want? Us? Not by a long shot! Don't get me wrong; I'm not anti-capitolism and one of the "all corporations are evil" crowd. However, take a real good look at the MAJOR legislation and concomitant enforcement that really takes place.
The politicians and their backers know that there are about 20% of us that pay enough attention to the way things are that they make noises at campaign time about "campaign reform" and "getting rid of the lobbyists" in Washington and even state governments. Does it ever happen? Of course not. The system is set up the way it is for a reason; it works for the folks who keep it that way.
The politicians who make a career out of feeding at the public trough keep things going as they are because the people that pay for them want it to stay the same. Meanwhile, they yell and scream buzzwords like left and right, Tea party and socialism to keep us worked up over the sound bites while they keep doing business as usual, all the while knowing that the contacts that they make while in office will serve them when they or the interns that work for them go to work for the same lobbyists who work for the corporations that put them there in the first place; now with access to the next batch.
It's an ongoing circle that has worked for a long time as evidenced by some of the discussions I've seen here and elsewhere; and all the while we're putting down the "sheeple" that don't rant and rave about the Democrats or the Republicans.
Personally, since I don't see any change coming from all this "political awareness" that I see being so intellectually bandied about, I wonder if they don't have the right approach. "Screw what the government is doing, or BP or whoever..." Because, at the end of the day, what's being done about any of it? Yeah, we can vote out the incumbent and feel we've accomplished something significant when the power is swung from one side to the other, but what was really done? Our posts on The Box and facebook and elsewhere may inspire indignity, but what changes?
One of the most real statements I've seen in a long time is Sara Palin's, "So how's this hopey changey thing workin' out for ya?"
She evidently sees the humor in this whole ordeal.
So, we'll vote in a new batch of mindless politicians because the last batch didn't meet our expectations. Bravo... then what?
Until someone with a set of nuts goes into the system and executes some real change from within, nothing will be different. 20 years from now, us really old farts will be arguing the same BS while the "sheeple" go about their mundane lives... and at the end of the day, being happier because they didn't spend half of those lives stressing over something that we did nothing about.
So, the challenge to the politically aware is this: get your asses in the ring and do something about the crooked mess that the whole system has turned into, or shut the f_ck up and let the "sheeple" graze their lives away in happy oblivion.
Mark
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