Okay, I'm late. Sorry about that. I
was just so relieved that my final was over that I forgot to write my
blog! Right, but you can learn more about France, skiing and all
that next week. This week, I'm going to go on about how the public
doesn't actually elect the President, or really have much to do with
the whole business.
What, you think I think American
politics aren't super corrupt? You're kidding me right? We aren't
exactly in the top ten of the least corrupt nation. Actually,
according to Transparency International, we're number 22 out of 178
measures countries. Well. At least we're in the top 25. Somehow.
Personally, I'd put us somewhere down about between Turkey (56) and
Latvia (59). Why? Well, it's simple.
While our local politics aren't
corrupt, our state politics and national politics reek like a
roadkill skunk!
What the monkeys am I talking about?
People need money to run. On a local
level, they need much less. Yard signs putting your name out, maybe
buttons and fliers. Maybe. That's for a small town. In a city they
need more, so might need sponsorship of small business, for example,
or donations even more. On a state wide thing, even if they only
have a single bill board in each county and a single TV ad on the
state TV stations than they need a lot more. Advertising is very
expensive. This means on a state level, your
governor/senator/representative is owned by their...hm, we'll call
them shareholders.
Let's face it. Most people aren't
going to give more then ten-twenty bucks now-a-days. Business
however will give more, especially if they buy a bit of loyalty from
that lawmaker. Later on, maybe the lawmaker will think of them when
they're working on say, taxes, imports, exports and the like. So
corporations give out money, and let's face it, almost without fail,
the richer campaign wins.
Combine this with the very low poll
rating of the incumbent president, right now, and the forerunners for
the Presidential race are, well, obvious. Romney, Perry, and Paul
are the only ones in the tens of millions, and Romney outstrips the
other two. Obama of course, ass around 99 million. However his
approval rating is around about where Nixon's was was Nixon left
office. I suspect it'd be lower, but for the whole Bin Laden bit.
Historically speaking, his approval rate is low enough that his
chances for re-election are slim, especially considering the economic
hardships right now. He will be blamed, whether he had anything to
do with it or didn't have anything to do with it.
As I'm not God, and not an economist, I
simply do not know. That means, in essence, that right now, the next
President is likely Mitt Romney. Now, admittedly, I'm only 21. I
have paid attention to that many elections, but I can look at history
and grimace.
So whats wrong with all this?
Well, let's face it, the corporation
own our candidates. Due to the electoral college, we don't actually
elect directly, and we have no direct control over who the next
bumbling idiot in control of our nation is. Except for the fact that
we have two choices: Romney and Obama.
I could be wrong. Obama could somehow
miraculously end up with a second term somehow. But it doesn't look
it. So what the devil is the problem? Well, it starts at our
education system, which you don't want to get me started on. Then it
goes to the rich people, which you also don't want to get me started
on. But it boils down to use only having two major choices for
President. Every election, we only have two choices. Two!
Oh, occasionally, there will be an
independent that can swing votes, but never enough. And the
candidates don't court the people who form the bulk of the nation.
They court the rich. You don't get campaign donation dinners with
plates costing 25 bucks. They cost thousands of dollars.
I don't ever trust the president of the
United States. Unless they are humble enough to realize they need
help on the many things required of them, then they are a poor
choice, and I cannot call anyone cocky enough to run for President
the least bit humble. They are owned, and care little about the
people, so long as we don't rebel, and when we think of it, they
promptly work to suppress it all.
One Final Byte: Politics has never been
transparent enough to trust.
Sources:
Transparency International Corruptions
Perception Index:
http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2010/results
New York Times: The 2012 Money Race
http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/campaign-finance
Gallup Daily: Obama Job Approval
http://www.gallup.com/poll/113980/gallup-daily-obama-job-approval.aspx
Approval Rating for President Richard
Nixon, with the Data from Gallup Poll:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gallup_Poll-Approval_Rating-Richard_Nixon.png
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