Presidential Campaigns: The Modern Opiates

But nothing dumbs down the American people more than two-party politics – especially when it comes to their little game of presidential elections. And its only getting worse as the once-every-four-year event seems to be oozing into a nearly continuous affair. Ugh.

Currently, for example, the political landscape is full of landmines – a plethora of issues and outrageous happenings that should have a fully alert populace salivating for action. Just look at today’s headlines: war, torture, health care cuts for kids, mercenary madness, global warming denial by our government, economic malaise for most of us, and on and on it goes. Enough – one would think – to wake the sleepers. Not quite.

Instead of taking it to the streets, the increasingly shrinking percentage of the public who seem to care about any of this are themselves yawning. And when they’re not yawning, they’re telling you which candidate in the 2008 presidential campaign they’re thinking about supporting. You know, kind of like fretting about what to wear to your execution.

If you don’t believe me, just ask yourself when’s the last time you were inspired by political activism or – better yet – the successful actions of a politician. Even the mainstream media has been wondering of late where the anti-war activism has gone . Think about it, we’re a nation at war, polls show more than 70% of the public disapprove of the war, and the mainstream media is wondering why no one is protesting. This clearly ain’t the 1960’s, my friends.

And the answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind. The wind, that is, blowing from the lips of the presidential candidates and their many minions and true believers who have thrown a collective wet blanket on the world of political activism with these words of pure inertia: Wait until after the election and Bush is gone.

Stop the war? Wait. Stop the torture? Wait. Health care for kids? Wait. Stop the illegal wire-tapping? Wait. Yep, just wait until the election that’s still thirteen months away and the changing of the administration that’s nearly sixteen months away to deal with it all. And whatever you do: Do not wake the sleepers. Ah, the luxury of time…well, as long as you don’t mind all that blood on your hands.

Of course, the ultimate irony in this little game of “wait until after the election” and everything will be fine is that it rather perversely requires us all to not only stop thinking and acting in the name of democracy but also to stop remembering. For your political slumber to be really restful, for example, you have to forget that this little waiting game has never worked. Remember John Kerry? Al Gore? Michael Dukakis? Or, better yet, remember Bill Clinton? Yeah, he and his wife were going to give us all health care in – oh – 1992. But you don’t want to think about that, it might give you nightmares while you sleep.

So line up, America. Stick your tongues out and take the little pill from Hillary or Barack or Edwards or Rudy or Mitt. It’ll clear your mind. It’ll relieve that anxiety of having to think about ugly little things like genocide, torture, injustice, ecocide and the like. It’ll make you sleep. And the next thing you know, you’ll wake up in January 2009 and you’ll have that warm feeling of change around you. But it will probably be even better this time because you’ll be awaking to that familiar feeling of a Bush family member handing over the reins to a Clinton family member.