You Lie, Cheat, and Steal
Maybe you have heard about the mud of politics, how it’s all about “getting in the front lines” and “fighting” without actually going to war.
This is not a fight about strength, it is one of endurance. A political candidacy that starts as an open, pure debate between clashing intellectual minds with opposing views ends up deteriorating into mud slinging, intimidation, and constant defense against lies and manipulation. It’s being ambushed with facts and figures that need checked constantly after the fact in order to even provide an opposing view. It’s a game of name recognition and slinging blame to those who cannot defend themselves in order for the politicians to absolve their own skins.
I saw one of the best in the business engage in political trickery and machinery the other day. From orchestrating where his people sit after studying the acoustics of the forum in order to maximize the chances of applause becoming contagious, to talking 70% of the time (thereby leaving 30% for other candidates), to assigning someone to monopolize the time of the competing candidate after the forum so others are unable to conversate with the candidate.
It’s become a game. It’s something involving life vs. death, or job security vs. layoff, or corruption vs. honesty, or good-ole-boy network vs. wiping a dirty slate clean – it all gets tarnished by the desire to be re-elected. It makes one wonder what poison awaits the newly elected candidate that grabs ahold of them, takes over them, and tarnishes them in the eyes of the people afterward. What line is being crossed? In some ways, it’s almost similar to the line of thought that could occur when one ponders losing their virginity – sex can be one of the most beautiful acts of the world in the right situations, yet can cause utter pain at the worst of times. It’s responsibility vs. irresponsibility. It’s crossing a line that can’t be undone once the decision to crossing the line is made. Is getting elected that much like crossing over to some sort of a parallel universe, not unlike the one that was crossed in horror movie Silent Hill?
Corruption finds a home in politics because the ones who are willing to lie, cheat, and steal are the ones that get to go in, for the most part. The dishonesty puts the corrupt at an advantage over the honest, who are unwilling to go the extra dirty mile for the privilege of being the one selected to be deserving of the public trust. Is this much unlike a lions den for the honest and faithful?
An informed public is the only way to defeat this. At the national and state levels, organized Tea Parties using Facebook seems to be the most effective way of distributing information quickly to one another. It’s so effective that I stopped reading traditional news outlets, since all have been tarnished by political biases that credibility and trust have deteriorated over time, and make them not worth reading anymore. The only reason to read them online is to get a general idea of how people respond on the “Comments” portion of articles.
As for a local level, that remains to be seen. I think people are starting to utilize the tools that have been handed to them, and more are willing to try. For the intellectually honest, the new media is a great way to form your own opinions and have them challenged constantly. For the intellectually lazy, it’s just another way to be lazy and vote with their ignorance.
Since it’s easier for good men to do nothing, and let evil progress, does this mean that evil will always outvote the good, because the ignorant and lazy unintentionally align themselves with the evil? Does corruption win nearly every time since the corrupt know the tricks of the trade, instead of calmly demonstrating their record and daring others to challenge them? After being elected and re-elected repeatedly, why is there a need to play political tricks in the first place? Maybe this is why habitual incumbency is nothing short of a disease, and demonstrates why term limits are sorely needed.
We cannot sleep. The evil and corrupt are always moving.