The Partisan Delusion

I get very disturbed when I hear the partisan rhetoric that has been inculcated in the American masses. The partisan stuff needs to stop-because it's wrecking the nation. And the way in which the partisan stuff is wrecking the nation is by selling people on more than one delusion, all of which are dangerous and destructive; dangerous and destructive in a bi-partisan way, in fact.

Am I insisting that the partisan talk is a bi-partisan conspiracy? You bet.

Recently on National Public Radio, a wise economist had a little something to say on the station's excellent Market Place program. The wise economist told people to stop being so afraid of the bad news floating around the economic and financial spheres, because economically things really aren't bad at all.

The housing market's collapse is not some kind of historically anomalous outrage-- while it's nowhere near over, it's already slowing in areas and people's homes were largely overvalued anyway (part of the problem). The housing market is correcting itself in a perfectly okay way. That is, those who were foolish or stupid are now paying the price for their lack of awareness and foresight. This is a problem?

The Dollar is not as weak as it's made out to be, isn't showing any signs that it will remain weak forever, and is a far cry better than it was for much of the 1970s. Besides, its relative current weakness is getting more American exports sold.

Unemployment remains low, worker production remains high, and affluence is steadily growing.

But, it's sad but true that it's natural for the typical human being to see greener pastures on others' properties-even when they're completely imaginary.

What does the typical human do? Work and aspire to change his "bad" circumstances? No.

The typical human engages in the wickedness of lobbying the government-which is hardly the embodiment of a higher mortal authority and has absolutely no true authority to redistribute part of a better off person's smart-earned property to include it in the property of his less intelligent, or less diligent, or less ambitious but all the same very envious neighbor.

The government is not supposed to encourage or enforce avarice-but that's exactly what it does.

Enter the partisan politics delusion.

The general opinion of those who are the kind that listen to NPR is that wicked-bad Republicans named Reagan and Bush favor the free market, and this in turn makes the wealthy get wealthier at the expense of the poor little guys, who just get poorer and poorer (cue violin music).

The Democrats-who for reasons that I find utterly mysterious call themselves "progressives"-leap all over this and point to their guys like Bill Clinton, who talked about feeling the pain of the little guy and helping the downtrodden and forcing those wicked-bad corporate big money guys to comply and....you know, the old, old story.

The partisan delusion is this: it's all talk. And those who are all talk go by the name of "salesmen".

The Republicans talk and talk about shrinking the government and favoring free markets and businessmen. But do they? They do not, not at all. The Republicans maintain a huge bureaucracy and enormous government expenditures, and are involved with plenty of market interference. There is little that is "free" in the marketplace under Republicans, and this did not change under Reagan or either Bush.

The Democrats talk and talk about the power of government to "level the playing field". But does it? Absolutely not (the playing field is already level; people's individual traits aren't, and never will be). What's more, the government has no authority to do that anyway-and even less desire.

Under the last Democratic President, the size of the middle class decreased. Taxation increased but with no demonstrable "social good" to show for it. The disparity between the wealthy and the poor rose. A certain economic bubble developed and then burst, ruining the illusory fortunes of many.

And perhaps worst of all, rock and pop music became very largely atrocious.

The noticeable difference in the amount of new wealth going to the affluent and that of the middle and lower classes began in 1976 and continued throughout the 1970s under another Democratic President.

The talk involves the partisan political game. The game has a simple rule: the politicians talk about change, but don't bring any. They don't want change.

Politicians have a corrupted need to always be doing something. What that means for you is, interfering with your life, interfering with the economy. This is because politicians have an overwhelming need to exercise their power-so that you won't forget about it.

As Cicero said, "Men decide far more problems by hate, love, lust, rage, sorrow, joy, hope, fear, illusion, or some other inward emotion, than by reality, authority, any legal standard, judicial precedent, or statute."

Politicians know that Cicero was right, and they play it up. Just as they court the shameless (and shameful) lobbying by businesses and special interest groups. They use their partisan bickering to further their own agendas of power.

As Cullen Hightower said, "We may not imagine how our lives could be more frustrating and complex--but Congress can."

Does this mean that there are no differences between Republicans and Democrats? No, it doesn't mean that. It does mean, however, that those differences are so small as to mean nothing at all.