Example 091312

There is an old adage, “Do as I say, not as I do.’  For most of the 20th century the United States has been selling the world on the self-deceptive virtues of the “American” way.

The United States points to its electoral freedom of choice as proof that its five percent has a divine right to dictate to the other 95 percent of the world’s peoples. Late 20th century US elections began to expose the fallacy of its virtuous claims. Campaign 2012 may not be America’s dirtiest, but its dirt is more exposed. 

The people no longer have to wait a 100 years for historians to vacuum up campaign dirt politicians swept under the rug. Communication revolutions facilitate political dirty tricks but also provide the world with an immediate view of assaults on democracy.  A popular TV show coined “everyone lies,” for good TV, but the slogan overstates reality. A more accurate statement is that all political candidates lie, even to themselves, most of the time. 

What Campaign 2012 has demonstrated is that some candidates lie more often than others.  They now hire political consultants to generate ever-greater deceptions.  The same social networks that spread political manure now generate fake facts to deceive.

While the major national campaign only occurs ever four years, Campaign America is really continuous with local elections, by-elections, pre and post campaigns all focused on preventing free choice.  Party partisan legislatures pass discriminatory laws for political advantage and prevent opposition influence.  The courts may eventually overturn these laws but not before they have unfairly impacted the next election.  Legislation for Campaign 2012 demonstrates attempts to carry American politics back to the worst abuses of the 19th century where minorities can’t vote, unions are forbidden and robber barons can still buy the best legislation they can afford.  State legislatures are targeting groups and individuals expected to vote in opposition or even speak with dissenting voices.  They are making the Constitution a tattered rag.

The world is watching Campaign Theater that entertains with dis-information.  Campaign conventions pander to extremist ideologies, which demonize religions, emigrants, the poor and powerless.  The worldview is a country on the brink of bankruptcy spending campaign billions for the privilege of driving the car of state off the cliff.

Electioneering has never been an ethical affair in the United States.  Even that free press philosopher, guru Thomas Jefferson, as a politician, attempted to silence the press.  Political corruption now feeds on a media that has abandoned pretense of being free or objective.  The rich and powerful have built an oligarchy on the bare bones of a democracy.

The world rejects American false idealism but embraces its real example of corrupting elections by importing experienced American political consultants to deceive their own populations.  In politics, the enemy is always a honest, free, informed voter.