The Fine Art of Political Distraction

When the Jeremiah Wright scandal hit Barack Obama back during his run for president, my reaction to it was one of "meh." I didn't give a fuck. I also didn't give a fuck when it was revealed that Obama was pals with radical Bill Ayers. Then, there was that ACORN bullshit. Now, I despise Obama. But I still don't care about these things. These things aren't the real scandals. The real scandals are GITMO, Goldman Sachs, bailouts, provocation of war with Iran, and on and on. Yet, no one seems to give a damn. But if Big Brother O were to get a little head in the Oval Office like Big Brother Bill did back in the day, the whole damn country will stop doing what it does to focus the bulk of its attention on the scandal. That is the purpose of these scandals.

As a libertarian, I am focused more on policy and laws than the personal lives of candidates and office holders. For instance, I don't think Anthony Weiner should have resigned for texting a picture of his pecker to some chick. To be honest, I thought he was a lot cooler for doing that. The same thing applies to Herman Cain's troubles when it was revealed that he was just like 90% of the married men in this country that cheat on their wives. My own opinion is that things like this should not disqualify a person from holding office. This is because every person in the world has flaws and failings. In fact, I think it is a virtue when people still manage to go on from their failures and their flaws.

I have learned from my own personal experience to never portray yourself as a saint. It is much better to play the role of the scoundrel. This is what Bill Clinton did which is why he could shrug off stuff like the Monica Lewinsky scandal. In fact, Clinton is damned more for claiming not to have inhaled than for anything else. This showed a bit of cowardice on his part which was more damning than smoking the actual joint. In politics, it pays to be a brazen scoundrel. Own it and mock it.

Presidential politics is the dirtiest of all the contests, and campaigns sit on dirty stuff to launch at strategic points during a campaign. This is why Herman Cain's indiscretions did not come to light until he was out in front. The same thing has happened to other candidates at critical points. It is one gigantic nasty game sort of like kids playing in a mud puddle.

The virtue of this process is that it makes truly scandalous people think twice before running. The downside of this process is that it also attracts certain types that don't give a fuck. This would be a clown like Donald Trump who uses bad publicity as well as good to keep himself out there. If there is anything redeeming about it all, it means that whoever is the eventual POTUS will not let negative opinions hamper his or her time in office. Elections should not be cakewalks.

The damning aspect of this mudslinging contest is how it trivializes everything else that is truly important. As I said, the real scandals are what are done in the daylight. The serious news sources I rely on don't care about this political tabloid crap. They care about real stories of European financial crisis, war crimes, torture, and the rest. The blame for this trivialization lies with the MSM that cares more about a sensational short term headline than doing real journalism that provides the real information American citizens need in order to participate in the democratic process. This is because news is entertainment not information. It is more entertaining to read about blow jobs than cruise missiles.

My man Ron Paul is now catching the mud in this game as he is now popular enough to warrant such attacks. The guy does not provide a lot of ammo as going through his personal life reveals that he is much better than reported. The truth is that Ron Paul is more about the issues than anything else, and the only garbage they have on him is actually the garbage of others that have supported him and helped him along the way. Like with Obama, this game is guilt by association. Sometimes, it is nothing more than the Kevin Bacon game. This begs a question. What should count against a candidate and what should not?

The American public is the final arbiter over what really matters, and it is clear to me that over the short term they are titillated a bit by the scandals. Over the long term, they don't give a fuck. Their memory is surprisingly short. Nixon's crimes ended with his resignation. Now, those crimes don't even compare to what is happening now. I think the American public is aware of what is really going on. The Tea Parties and Occupy Movements are definitely not about racists, blow jobs, and weiner pics. But these are merely minority segments of the larger population. The population as a whole is aware that the USA is torturing people, violating human rights, and being lied into a war with Iran just like they were lied into a war with Iraq. We assume that the public does not respond because they are ignorant of these things. But the public isn't ignorant. The public is evil. That should chill your soul.

We assume that the general public is benign on the average, but we can see from Nazi Germany that an entire population can become complicit in crime. The conventional wisdom is that the German public didn't know. But they knew. Likewise, the American public tolerates the erosion of civil liberties at home and abroad and seeks war out of a pathological hatred for Muslims. This is why a guy like Ron Paul can't win. Ron Paul does not share this collective hatred. So, they smear him by calling him a racist. It blows the fucking mind.

The real scandal in this campaign is what no one wishes to say, but it hangs there unspoken. The Reverend Jeremiah Wright spoke it, and it was scandalous. Ron Paul hints at it with his talk of blowback and pursuing a non-interventionist foreign policy. I will now speak it. It is simply a question. Is America evil? Try asking that question in a coffee shop somewhere. See how far you get before someone cusses you out. Ask it in a bar, and someone will take a swing at you. Run for President and ask it, and people will foam at the mouth and call you everything under the sun. But it is a fair question. With all the war and torture this country has done and the virtual sunset of the Constitution with the signing of the NDAA, we must ask this question. Is America evil? This nation's reaction to Ron Paul's foreign policy views will tell you.

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