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Presidential Candidates Focus On The Wrong Issue
Author : Scott F Paradis
Submitted : 2011-12-18 01:06:57 Word Count : 686 Popularity: 0
Tags: concentration of power, collective mental illness, focus on the economy, broken promises, promises used as currency, national malaise, republic to survive, reclaim their power, the wrong issue, patronize the electorate
With tens of millions unemployed or underemployed, with debt building, and prosperity for most citizens receding attention is riveted on the economy as the central issue of the 2012 presidential campaign. The presidential candidates for their part, in the time-honored tradition of patronizing the electorate, address symptoms instead of causes of a deep and debilitating malaise. The economy is a symptom of what might most accurately be termed a collective mental illness. The candidates, reinforced by entrenched interests, those vested in the status quo (financial, political and media elite), persist in focusing on the wrong issue.
We have created a system that is impressive in its ability to take from the middle classes to placate the poor and ingratiate the rich. Through politics and finance we have fashioned a cage hard-working Americans seem incapable of escaping from. Our current economic and political system is a soaring tribute to greed and corruption and the best we get from supposed and aspiring leaders alike are delusions of change.
Promises have become a type of currency used to buy trust and in turn secure the ultimate prize: power. Once power is assured promises fade away: casualties of a reality the electorate should have foreseen, or revealed as elements of deliberate lies intended only as means to an end.
Stalwart supporters of political parties clearly understand neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are the least bit interested in what is good for the nation or best for the people. The only thing of consequence is power. Denying this fact makes it no less true. The people have ceded power to a central authority. The candidates for the presidency (incumbent included) each claim to be the one who can actually handle that power and employ it for the collective good - a preposterous notion.
The single cause of our national malaise, our collective mental illness, is concentration of power. Over the two-and-a-third centuries of existence the United States has increasingly concentrated power, and in turn wealth, into the hands of a privileged few. This centralization worked its magic as it always has: power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Our system is in disarray. We should not be surprised.
For, what was rationalized at the time as, good reason the people surrendered personal power (gladly shedding personal responsibility) to establish and maintain a cult of kings. Always very good at what we set our minds to, we created a sophisticated system which systematically and automatically moves wealth from an unsuspecting industrious middle class to an oligarchic elite.
Those fortunate few who command the concentrated power are convinced they are truly deserving of the privilege. For they are brighter, more eager and more cunning then people of principle. They will not willingly relinquish what they have become convinced is their birthright.
The onus is on the people to change the system. If the American republic is to survive citizens must reclaim their power. Americans must be willing to exercise their inherent authority while simultaneously assuming the attendant burden of responsibility, as power and responsibility are two sides of the same coin. This is a painful but necessary prerequisite to substantive change.
In debate after debate the Republican contenders advance their mantra of how to rejuvenate the economy: lower taxes, reduce the impact of government, regulate less. They claim these measures, when enacted by a new chief executive, will usher in an era of unprecedented innovation spurring job growth and improving national security. Quite an enticing fantasy, but a fantasy none the less.
Presidential candidates may carry on with their fantasies, but the people must cease to be blind to the truth. We have mistakenly concentrated power and we are paying a dear price. By focusing on the correct issue, power, we can find a way to revitalize our republic. It is time to confront the brutal facts and set things right.
Author's Resource Box
Scott F. Paradis, author of Promise and Potential: A Life of Wisdom, Courage, Strength and Will http://www.promiseandpotential.com publishes Insights available for free at http://www.c-achieve.com
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