Monday, September 15, 2008

Allen L. Roland's Radio Weblog: Obama's Greatest Obstacle is Voter Apathy and the Culture of War--Salon.com

Sometimes you just have to include a quote from the article, especially when it is so right on the money...

"Gary Kamiya, Salon, comments on the re-emergence of the divisive Republican tactic of the culture war ~ " Bush was the great divider, masterfully playing on Americans' fear, resentment and patriotism. First Al Gore, then John Kerry were painted as out-of-touch elitists, mandarins and eggheads. It worked: Bush rode the red-state side of the culture wars to victory twice (with a little help from the Supreme Court the first time around).

It's terrifying that so many Americans are so driven by resentment that they will vote against more qualified candidates simply because they seem "different" from them. For what this means is that anyone with expertise, unusual intelligence, mastery, special knowledge, is likely to be rejected by voters who are resentful of "elites... "

It's almost incomprehensible that any American could take a McBush / Palin ticket seriously but the fact that polls show
the possibility of a close election ~ suggests that the following observations made by H.L Mencken contain some real truth.

Mencken understood and predicted the dumbing down of America, as witness by the election of George W Bush, long ago when he wrote " When a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental ~ men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand."

Mencken goes on to correctly say " So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack or be lost... All the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre ~ the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum.' The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."


So...this has already happened, and yet here we are poised to do it again...

Dear Lord, if you can find it in your heart, please let this year be different. Thank you, your most humble servant, prin.

2 comments:

  1. If Obama gets elected this year will be no different than ever...EVER. Dems & Reps alike have always been bullshit artists saying what they need to get elected, then after their 4-8 year term there is rarely any big improvemet to speak of.

    I'm 47yrs old. This is the first time in my voting life I have heard two candidates, McCain/Palin that have made me believe they MEAN what they Say. Their not saying it to JUST promote themselves. Oh YES, of course they have to say what they HAVE TO SAY to get elected, because they sure can't do the job with another person in office. But that other Person, I know in my heart, will NOT improve this country.

    Look up the facts. Look at the people he worked with in Chicago, the men that supported him and aided him in moving up the ladder. They are crooked people. Obama got where he is because others suffered. That isn't an Opinion, it is recorded facts. No matter what kind of business, I could never give my approval of a crook becoming my boss, if I were asked. Only in an election do we have the chance of giving our opinion. I Advise against allowing a non-honest person be our President. He very well could be one of the best Presidents ever, solely because of his race, which by the way I support. BUT, the fact is, he isn't deserving of it because of his poor political ethics.

    Dear Lord, I KNOW you have it in your heart pray the Right thing happens here. But I won't be made at you if the wrong one gets in, bad things happen every day, none of them your fault but are the results of peoples bad choices, usually because of being uninformed.

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  2. I know you didn't just say I was uninformed! As much as I have posted on this blog to help my readers and myself stay informed. I believe what you meant to say was that I was not informed to your preference. If you think crooks are not backing McCain or did not back McCain on his way to the top then I suggest you go do some more digging. The thing about the media is that you can find anything to support your own personal way of looking at life, that's what free speech is all about. I will continue to say what I think on this blog, it's mine and yes, if someone needed it more than me I would probably give it to them, despite all the work I've put in. Sorry, that was in reference to a comparison between democrats and republicans I read somewhere...

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