How It Is with Politics

I just have to write. I just can't take it anymore. I can't hold it in. All the arguing I have done has been dead-ended, so it's time to write something a little more in-depth, maybe in an attempt to explain some of this stuff to those who can't or won't see past the smoke in their faces, or maybe just to get it off my mind.

So this Scott Walker "Budget Repair Bill" issue is "political." We all have political views...we all have ideals, we all believe different things in that regard...well, not all of us, it seems.

Let's start out talking about "politics." What are they, really? The first thing that comes up on a simple Google search is this:

'social relations involving intrigue to gain authority or power; "office politics is often counterproductive"' (1)

Get a little more picky, and you get this:

–noun ( used with a singular or plural verb )

1.

the science or art of political government.

2.

the practice or profession of conducting political affairs.

3.

political affairs: The advocated reforms have become embroiled in politics.

4.

political methods or maneuvers: We could not approve of his politics in winning passage of the bill.

5.

political principles or opinions: We avoided discussion of religion and politics. His politics are his own affair.

6.

use of intrigue or strategy in obtaining any position of power or control, as in business, university, etc.

7.

( initial capital letter, italics ) a treatise (4th century b.c.) by aristotle, dealing with the structure, organization, and administration of the state, especially the city-state as known in ancient Greece.

—Idiom

8.

play politics,

a.

to engage in political intrigue, take advantage of a political situation or issue, resort to partisan politics, etc.; exploit a political system or political relationships.

b.

to deal with people in an opportunistic, manipulative, or devious way, as for job advancement. (2)

The parts of this definition I want to focus on involve the words "principle," "opinion," "intrigue," and "strategy" (and please particularly note definition number 4--how ironic!!!) Hopefully you already know what those mean, or know how to find out, because I'm not in the mood to post definitions for all those as well.

We all know that politics involve a great deal of principles and opinions. A person stands with his or her political party based mainly on these. Now the problem comes in when we also introduce the intrigue and the strategy--these are the parts that the politicians can easily abuse.

First, the strategy. The general strategy of any politician is to get a group of people to vote for him or her. How does he/she do this, you ask? Well, it's simple. He/she learns of the opinions and principles of the population of the voting community, and devises a campaign that will play on those opinions and principles.

For example:

Let's say a politician learns that the voting population absolutely loves cheese; however, he/she also learns that there is a local shortage of cheese. That politician will probably run, in part, based on the elimination of the shortage of cheese, and possibly will run also on turning it into a surplus. Surely, this will gain voters' support.

Now comes the intrigue. The politician wins the race because of how much the voters love cheese. However, they quickly find that the elected official has simply used them to gain some power, and has no intention of fixing the cheese situation, as he/she instead goes on to pass some legislation that actually makes it nearly impossible to own cows in the community.

You may be catching on.

So let's get back to the real world. It can easily be argued, and substantiated, that this happens on both sides of party lines. Fine. However, current events are showing us, more clearly than we've ever seen, exactly why this is happening on the "right" side.

In a real-world example:

Republicans run on the principles of conservatism, which involve supporting traditional marriage, Christianity, anti-abortion, individual achievement, "reduced income taxes," and on and on. They oppose, of course, the other side of what they claim to stand for.

Democrats then run on principles of liberalism, which involve supporting gay rights, freedom of religion, reproductive rights, collective achievement, progressive taxing, and so on and so forth, also opposing the other side.

Now here is the problem that leads back to my example involving cheese. Much of what the Republicans stand for are ideals--they are emotional issues that tug at the hearts of America. Of course America hates the thought of killing an unborn baby--don't you? Of course America would like to pay less taxes--wouldn't you? Of course America loves the thought of the American Dream, where they will invent a product or service, or join a hit band, or invest correctly in the stock market, and become rich--don't you?

The reality is that there is a gigantically gaping chasm between Republicans' platform and their actions. While they may pass legislation, for example, banning abortion, banning gay marriage, and stopping public health care, just to make their constituents happy, they are simultaneously accepting money and in return taking orders from their richest campaign supporters (see: Scott Walker & the Koch Brothers). What's the problem with this, you say? Oh, nothing...only the fact that what is essentially happening with the Republicans is that corporations are being allowed to run the nation. And the vast majority of corporations have only one thing on their minds: money. So if the corporations move their puppets the right way, they might get tax breaks that allow them to earn more...you guessed it!...money.

I'm going to stop here for now, because once again I just can't take it anymore. Politics tire me the heck out.

Just please realize: this is no small exaggeration. This may not be 100% accurate in every single way, because I am not perfect, but this is How It Is.

Note the 2 small references I listed, for posterity.

(1) http://www.google.com/search?q=politics&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=PFR&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&q=politics+definition&aq=0&aqi=g4g-o1&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&bav=on.1,or.&fp=18e4c0cc530c3619

(2) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/politics