This is a year for snakes. When I went hiking earlier in the Spring, I saw no fewer than three snakes sprawled out on the trail at various points. There was one we spotted slithering off the support structure of an old railroad bridge, down into the pilings underneath. There was a second sunning itself on the wood planks of another bridge. And a third was just hanging out in the middle of the trail proper, waiting to get run over by a cyclist.
Seeing these snakes got me to thinking about politics. Normally, I don't believe in politics ("You may not believe in Politics, Virginia, but Politics believes in YOU"). However, this year has been a heady year for the political system (or "arena," or "landfill") and even though I've managed to avoid most of the hype by going hiking, travelling to the far side of the world, and always carrying earplugs, some of it has gotten through my defenses.
My understanding is that on the Democratic side there are two charismatic, go-get-'em contenders, each vying to be a "first" -- one, the first black president; the other, the first president who wears pantsuits. On the Republican side, there's just the one guy left. And to be fair, he's mostly hanging out waiting to get run over by a metaphorical cyclist. With a flagging economy ("flagging" meaning that the economy is standing out in the street directing bank foreclosures with multi-colored flags), a war or two, high gas prices, falling stock prices, and a number of "etcs," the Republicans, as the folk-in-power-who-presided-over-this-mess, aren't positioned for a victory in November.
As for the Libertarians, the Greens, the Independents, and the Rastifarians, well, we in the United States should admit that we have a two-party political system and let those people go home to their families so they can play with their children and write about their pets on their blogs.
Something I've noticed about the above politicians, whether they have been working on their blogs or not, is that they have one thing in common: they all want us to believe that they are "outsiders" in the system, and they don't want us to think that they are "elitists."
This "common folk" deception that politicians put out to us, the viewing public, is one of the reasons I don't like them as a group. I'm sure that as individual people they are all wonderful folk…except possibly the Democrats, the Republicans, the Libertarians, the Greens, the Independents, and the Rastifarians, but the lying has to go.
First of all, no politician is an outsider to the system except at the lowest levels of government. Amid the realities of U.S. politics, it would be impossible to gain any political power without working within the system and thus having to deal with all the back room deals, back stabbing, and other nasty terms beginning with the word "back."
To try to convince us that you're an outsider is, at best, lying, and at worst it's saying that you as a politician are the beach equivalent of a surfer with herring tied to your leg while paddling around in shark-infested waters. You'll get absolutely nothing done while you're in office because all the "insiders" will be doing their wheeling and dealing and you'll be a chewed-up one-term-in-office has-been huddling in the corner, crying yourself to sleep.
On to point two. Don't we want our leaders to be elitists? Don't we want them to be the best of the best? Don't we want someone who is smarter than us, wittier than us, more politically savvy than us, a better dresser than us, and all around better than us in every way?
I say, yes, we do. And I want them to admit that right up front.
Otherwise, they're just snakes on the trail. And for snakes like that, I'm ready to call in the Olympic bicycling team.
Even if nominated, the author won't run (or walk) for public office, and won't serve even if he's elected. He also promises not to blatantly steal any more quotes like that one. He is currently teaching onboard a US Navy ship that's headed out to sea. 