Political Abyss

I get more irritated and depressed every 4 years when the election cycle climaxes. Politics and politicians and watching what they do to get elected makes me sick.

Who gets elected? The person with the most money. Who gets the most money? The candidate that convinces the corporate bigwigs to donate the most money. How do you shake the corporate money tree? That's the question. Everyone says that they wouldn't be throwing that much money around if they weren't getting something for it.

How do you spend this money to maximum effect? Lies and smear seem to always work pretty well. When you're in the primaries, you veer to the far extreme of your party and you pick up the hard core issue voters that are involved in voting only because they are overzealous about their own pet issue. Then, in the general election, you veer toward the center and try to pick up the barely interested people that were leaning toward the other party.

Advisers tell the candidate what to say, which often times has nothing to do with what they actually intend to do once elected. "Third parties", supposedly not connected to, or under the control of a candidate, dig up dirt or manufacture stories to prove that only a mental deficient or a someone that was totally deluding themselves would ever consider voting for that scumbag on the other side.

The average concerned citizen holds their nose and picks the lesser of two evils and prays that the country doesn't go down the tubes. Over half the eligible voters stay home and the pretty looking, pretty talking, moderately intelligent candidate that is only talented at pandering wins! Yea! The country is saddled by yet another unimaginative politician for the next 2 or 4 or 6 years, foisted on us by less than a quarter of the populous by a system that is rigged to virtually guarantee that anyone with real talent or integrity will not be holding any office.

Once elected, they spend most of their time raising more money to get re-elected next time. Decisions are often made for political reasons. What can I do now that I can later point to during the next election to show that I am good and those other guys are bad? Of course, real problems just keep getting swept under the carpet, and false issues, like immigration or gay marriage, are thrown out to make the restless masses get upset and start throwing mud at each other. Meanwhile, the ship of state cruises onward toward the iceberg while the captain is reading polls about how the passengers feel about him and planning the next day's gala ball in such a way to make the passengers love him more.

It doesn't show any sign of getting better any time soon. God help us.