“Elizabeth Warren Is the Real Deal; Hillary Clinton Is the Great
Pretender”
We Americans are a strange lot in many ways. For reasons that I cannot explain, we seem to
have an ingrained need to create idols in our minds to which we ascribe the
mantle of celebrity. That in turn, gives
them the license to engage in all sorts of deceptive behavior which we not only
covet, we swallow hook, line and sinker.
I never cease to be disappointed in myself when I fall for that same
line, and vow to be more
perceptive in the future. But, like so
many of us born under the red, white and blue, that vow always seems to elude
me. So much for indomitable will and
personal resolve.
No one in recorded history was so taken by the persona of
Barack Obama as when he gave that great speech to the Democratic National
Convention. I was absolutely certain
that he was a leader that had been sent from heaven to save the world. You have to admit, he gave new meaning to the
word “charisma.”
However, in the intervening years the luster has faded and I
am able to see and hear what he is really all about. He may look and sound good, but at the end of
the day I am persuaded those who have
him pegged correctly are right. He is a
fraud. He is nothing but an illusion of
what we want to believe, not the real deal.
He is not a leader. Rather, he is
a seducer of those who want or need to use him for their own ends. That explains why he is the darling of every
huckster who wants to make a quick buck by sweet-talking the average American
out of what should be rightfully his and passing it on to those who only get
fatter and richer off of his ability to pander to those who simply want more
from those who have so little to give.
And, moreover, no one ever calls him on it!
Look at how cozy he is with Jaime Diamond and his cohorts on
Wall Street and in the financial sector of our economy. Look at how he panders to the advocates of
free trade, the oil and coal industries, Prime Minister Harper of Canada, big
defense contractors, the fat cats who are in a race to ship their businesses
overseas for the benefit of tax breaks that only accrue to the detriment of the
working people of the United States.
Look at his penchant for “privatizing” everything for the
benefit of great wealth and unlimited power.
Just take a close look at what he has managed to engineer for our prison
system and education. Now, I ask you, how
are we better off because of those bright ideas? Prisoners are used by the state for cheap
contract labor and our children are given an inferior education all in the name
of making more money for those whose greed knows no limits. Look at the sad state of the entire
infrastructure of the country so billionaires can pay less in taxes and shift
the burden of public services, more and more, to the taxpayers.
I was mesmerized by the recent line up of the richest people
in the United States ,
how they are giving most of their money away, not for the benefit of the
taxpayers, but so they can control how their money is spent for the “common
good” whatever that means. It may have
been their money that was going for a greater good, but you can bet your bippy
they will have managed to maintain absolute control over how that money is
spent, and I seriously doubt it will be for the common good!
One of the great benevolent billionaires of our time, Warren
Buffet, who now owns one of the largest rail systems in the country (BNSF) is
sending trains down the Columbia River Gorge and on to the pristine environs of
the Northwestern West Coast, as far as the eye can see, all loaded with
petroleum and coal destined for Asian countries. I rather suspect he will be perceived as the
entrepreneurial genius he has become, all because the polluting energy will not
be burned on our soil and polluting our atmosphere but, rather, that part of
the equation will occur halfway around the world. The prize in all this is the ability to boast
that the pollution is the fault of the consumer of those products. All we are doing is making a quick buck from
the process – the spirit of free trade.
Give me a break! But, the local
politicos are just lapping up the promises and the prospect of “bringing jobs
to the Northwest.” Go figure.
The latest to catch my eye is the current search for a
permanent home for the Obama Family when it finally becomes reality that they
have managed to funnel all they can respectably take after the mantle of
“President” sinks in for the long haul.
It is reputed they are looking at an opulent place in Rancho Mirage in
the California Desert that would be fitting, not so much for what they are but
what they have become. The place they
ostensibly have in their sights used to be the luxurious residence of the
Annenberg Dynasty, one of the richest men on the planet at the time he built
it. But, I supposed it would be asking
too much to expect the newest graduates of the White House to settle for
anything less. But, they do like money,
power, prestige and prominence, don’t they?
Bill, Hillary and the cadre of adoring admirers that became
the legion of power and influence during their years in government were great
mentors for the Obama’s. The mere fact
that they would select the Arkansas
alums and their lot for their role models tells us all we need to know.
Let me pose a few salient questions for us to contemplate:
1.
Wealth and power do not equal preferential treatment at
the expense of the common good.
2.
Elected officials are there to serve the people; not
vice versa. They work for us and they should
take their marching orders from us!
3.
The cowboy mentality and renegade posturing we revere
and emulate do not make us any better than the rest of the world, despite what
we may want to believe.
4.
Republicans are not ordained by God. They may think so but, at the end of the day,
they are simply intoxicated by some false belief that God is on their
side.
5.
Democrats do not have a corner on what is deemed
progressive. They just like to think so
but, in the end, all that gives them is the license to steal less conspicuously
than Republicans.
6.
Words and phrases that may suggest a common good and a
common future are not subversive nor do they undermine the viability of the
country.
7.
Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as vulgarity and
poor taste. Just because Mommy and Daddy
think there is something magical about their private parts does not make it so. There is such a thing as human decency and
good behavior that trumps that myth.
8.
Money does not make the person. The person makes the money and it is for the
good of everyone, not just a select few who have managed to delude themselves into
believing that it gives them preferred status in society.
9.
To work harder, longer hours and for less money does
not diminish the stature of those who labor under those conditions. They have just as much merit in the eyes of
Our Creator as any other human being.
Work is honest and noble. Stealing,
pillaging and plundering are not.
10.
Democratic Socialism is not a dirty term. It is a democratic form of government that is
there to serve the people and to make society a better and more equitable place
to live. The Scandinavian Countries
proved that a long time ago and it remains one of the most viable and sanest
forms of government in the world today.
11.
This planet we fondly call “Mother Earth” belongs
equally to all of us. No one has
squatter’s rights despite harboring a false belief that they do.
12.
We are here as custodians of this country and all it
has to offer its citizens.
13.
We are not here to save the world at our expense. That is a common obligation we share with
others, equally.
14.
Wishing will not make it so. Hard work, integrity, decency, honesty, fair
play, and a common concern for each other will.
In the final analysis only the collective “we” can make this
one of the “Greatest Countries on Earth,” as can every other citizen of every
other country can and should do for themselves.
Frankly, I think our system of government has outlived its
usefulness. It is not there to serve us
all, equally, but to facilitate the dubious ambitions of those elected to
office by those who still harbor the notion that there is such a thing as
“equality.” The only solution I see as
realistic and feasible is a complete review of what we actually have compared
to what was intended, and then we set ourselves to the task of righting the
wrongs that have occurred since 1776. Ambition
not withstanding, it could and should be done.
The question is are we up to the task and are we up to the cost of
making it a new reality for the welfare of all of us?
Given what I see as a prevailing malaise that is endemic
within us as a once determined and proud people, I seriously doubt that we have
the will or the means to be sufficiently honest to set ourselves to the task
and make it really happen. Perhaps the
pundits that see nothing but folly in that notion are right. Maybe our reality is that while we may be watching
Nero tune his violin yet again, our modern day Rome is in the process of simply preparing to
incinerate itself all over again and right before our very eyes. Then what do we do?
By turning against each other and ourselves we may be
setting the stage for the Great American Dream to simply evaporate before our
very eyes. That would be the ultimate
tragedy, wouldn’t it?
Which of the two would best fit in the Oval Office? Elizabeth Warren or Hillary Clinton? If my memory serves me correctly, I believe
Walt Disney said it best; The Lady and the Tramp. Nothing more needs to be said.
Cowboy Bob
The Sagebrush Philosopher
July 23, 2014
