Primary Insanity by Dwight C Douglas

Primary Insanity
By Dwight C Douglas

Why do we have primary elections and caucuses? I have been under the illusion that each primary was a way for people to tell their party who they wanted. But as we roll through this political-drama from caucus to Carolina, I have shifted my viewpoint that it is just a media event. A fabrication seasoned with so-called facts and egotistical fantasies that CNN can use to propel ratings.

When I hear the pundits say that if Romney wins South Carolina, this thing is over. Really? What about all those other states and voters? They don’t count? Have we handed our electoral process, as flawed as it is, over to a statistical model where candidate markers are moved around on a wacky Ouija board for number-nerds to predict the future? The Supreme Court has already out-sourced political propaganda to rich, zealous casino owners and cigar-smoking, venture capitalists so we the people, are no longer in control of our own minds.

The rules that were put into place to make sure the guy with the biggest wad of cash couldn’t just buy his way into power have been thrown by the wayside like a grade-school poem about democracy. We all believe that the First Amendment is all important, but if individuals with devilish bank accounts can reshape the viewpoint of the masses are we really that far from Citizen Kane? And the modern John Foster Kane’s are quick to declare what they expect from their Super PACs; the audacity of power.

The Republican Party has painted itself into a corner. And while we all wait for the paint to dry to see who will be able to get out of the room first, the dissonance from the debates and diatribes from political operatives picking up their AFTRA fees for appearing on TV drone on in self-importance. The partisan dogma shoveled into the American living-room each night is not so much enlightening as it is a feeble attempt to appear fair and balanced.

Rick Santorum used the term “the final four” the other night and it stuck. This is just a tournament of negative nabobs who all have more money than the “average Joe”, while claiming to really understand middle-class. And when Newt Gingrich launches his vitriol toward the press for asking him a question about the sorted parts of his numerous episodes of drifting, we are reminded of Spiro Agnew as Nixon’s bully. Newt says he didn’t ask for an open marriage. Why would he need to ask for one, his actions speak louder than permission? He lived in one-sided open marriage for six years. Who needs permission when you are all powerful?

Mitt Romney is a rich guy. He plays the part pretty darn good. He should embrace it. He should be proud of all his financial successes and just get his Super PAC to buy more commercials. That would certainly help the economy of all the radio and TV sales people who get a % of what they sell. And of course, he should release his tax return and help educate the American public about how the game works. He paid 15% and we all pay around 30%. Even Newt Gingrich paid 30% and he made $3.2 million last year. Mitt made lots of money from smart investments. Rich people run for President because they want more power.

Ron Paul, the Texas libertarian ‘tis a puzzlement. He starts talking and he makes lots of sense, and then he takes a side-street and pop, he starts to sound crazy. His desire to stop giving money to developing nations and aiding politically dangerous lands would help crazy people do harm to humans. The US waited too long to get to Hitler and lots of people died. We cannot just pull out everywhere and expect the world to behave. Their track record to date would prove otherwise.

Rick Santorum, the devout Catholic boy from Butler, PA, might be a bit more convincing if he was the Pope’s press secretary. Most people in power get out of touch with the common man because of power. With Rick, he is out of touch with reality because of his religious convictions. Reality in this case, is the fact that Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Christians, Mormons, Atheists and, yes, even Scientologists pay taxes and are also citizens of these United States. And when you force your views on people because you are so right about the “creator” and what he wants for our country, you fail to serve the real spirit of liberty this country was based on. Who gave you the right to determine what a woman does with her body? Will you repeal Roe V. Wade and then move on to outlaw tattoos and piercings?

Right to life vs. Freedom of Choice has always been a touchy subject in our family. It is always perplexing to me that the far right wants to crack down on immigration to decrease the population, but also wants to outlaw abortion because they see it as immoral. Starving children in America is also immoral. Back alley doctors damaging or killing women is immoral. But in the end, if the reason you desire to be president is to execute a morality course correction for a nation, you might want to start your own church. The advantages of no taxes on your property could really pay off. Just think Rick, if the Catholic Church was to pay taxes on all the land they owned in America how that would help balance the budget. But, it would be wrong.

What a motley crew of misfits. With their desire to please the vocal minority of their party, they have failed to present solutions to the problems they keep whining about. They complain about Obama and they claim that getting rid of the EPA and regulations for businesses and banks will propel the economy. They claim that we cannot take more tax from rich people because they are the job creators. With as many companies as Romney owns or manages, one would think he alone could create more jobs by staying the private sector and just buying more companies. It is not the rules. I have never met a strong business person who can’t figure out a way to make more money. You make a rich person pay more taxes and they will go out and make more money. Ask Warren Buffet how he made so much money with all these terrible rules and regulations.

If corporations are people too, then why don’t they pay the same percentage of taxes that people pay? We need to all pull together. All the Republican Party needs to get over is the fact that they have tarnished Congress for both parties. The Democrats haven’t helped; they have gotten down in the same ditch to mimic their co-workers with petty pronouncements and political psychological vomit. Just get to work and get something done Congress. And work with the President. I sense they don’t even read the bills. They didn’t even know what SOPA and PIPA could do to the Internet content creators. They just asked their leaders how they should vote. The fact that Senator Dodd now runs the MPAA is a glowing example of how corporations have bought influence by leeching onto to former Congress people. For now, the power of the Internet won. Now we know why it has a capital I.

The primary elections and caucuses may only be a procedure we must follow to give the media an opportunity to manipulate the outcome, as Newton Leroy Gingrich claims. Or, they are a legal way to determine how delegates will vote at the summer conventions. But for this citizen, primaries are becoming just a test market for commercials, a way to give candidates a bunch of free-TV time to keep the fairness doctrine off the table. The insanity is that we keep doing the same thing expecting for some different result. The party leaders will determine who will run, not the people. The people are only pawns sent out to clear the way for the money and the power of the king makers. The soldiers, the bishops, the castles all play their part, but in the end there can be only one king. You can only work hard to make sure it is your king that wins.