“In the land of the geldings, the cryptorchid is king.” That seems to be the best way to describe American politics since Reagan or Truman. But we get what we deserve.
Politics by nature is divisive, susceptible to corruption and injurious to the participant. Government bureaucracy is the pre-eminent example of Peter’s Principle, which says as long as one achieves at a position he is in, he will be promoted. When he finally reaches a position he is not good in, he remains at that level. Mediocrity is the expectation.
The appointed jobs after elections often go to big campaign donors or cronies. Cabinet members and judicial positions are only as good as the judgment of the president himself. Then stop and remember how presidents are chosen.
By the time they reach that level, they are fully gelded politicians. To paraphrase William Buckley: “I would rather be governed by the first 400 people in the St. Jo phone book than by the hapless Congress and administration in Washington, D.C.”
We are governed by the lowest common denominator.
I don’t know which is more unintelligibly obtuse: a politician being interviewed by a reporter or an NFL lineman being questioned about his poor performance.
When they pontificate from the podium that “everybody counts or nobody counts; we are all in this together,” ask yourself why every senator, representative, administration member and their sycophants are exempt from the force-fed debacles they create and we, the victims, are gagging on.
We resent CEOs in business who wreck a company, get fired and walk away with millions of dollars. Our own elected government potentates in Washington wreak their own havoc but have protected themselves with a “golden parachute” that would make Donald Trump blush.
I must admit after making these comments, I have little hope that it will ever change. Even the terms of Presidents Washington, Adams and Jefferson were beset with connivery, slander and sabotage. “Lack of character” did not begin with Nixon or end with Clinton. The most we can expect from our leaders is “not to make it worse.”
On a lighter note, once you get over the indignation, disgust and urge to protest, try this: While watching them squawk politico-media blather on television with their talk show accomplices, turn the sound down. Then imagine they are actors on a reality show discussing hemorrhoid medications. At least it would be more believable. PD
