Wow, I haven't posted on this in. . . man my analogy well is dry. . . anyway, I haven't posted in a long time.
Anyway, we're currently balls-deep in the republican primary race. The economy is puking up it's guts like it just drank two fifths of bottom-shelf bourbon on top of Chinese food. The Tea Party is still crazy and they now have a crazy rival in the 99% occupy wall street folks. Our politicians are fighting like. . . I'd say cats and dogs but not strong enough. . . dwarves and elves. . . no. . . Steelers and Browns fans. . . no. . . DC and Marvel fans. . . like water and hydrophobic molecules. . . no. . . like some things that really hate each other, I guess that'll have to do. Anywhoo, as such we can't get anything done and our political system is trapped in a gridlock while things get progressively more grim and dark.
So, with all this bollocks goin' on then it's not surprising that some people have decided that they have all the answers to fix all our problems and that gullible people believe them. What most people fail to realize is that our systems and institutions are broken beyond repair. Now don't get me wrong I'm not for all that end is nigh gloom and doom bull. Fact is things never worked right from the beginning. Shit was broken before it came outta the box. At the risk of sounding trite "The best laid plans of both mice and men often go awry." or in other words things never work out like planned.
If you're an American like me then you've been indoctrinated into the world of free market economics and our infallible constitution. To quote Fire Marshal Bill "Let me show ya somethin'." Ceteris paribus, or roughly translated as "all other things being equal. In economics we preface any statemetnt with the above phrase. That's because the laws of economics only exist so long as we assume that people will do what's intelligent and rational. Free market economics, like communism, works beautifully on paper. Smith's "invisible hand" guides us and everyone gets what they need and economies thrive and we live in a meritocratic utopia. This, however defies what we know, people aren't rational and don't always make decisions intelligently. People are irrational, greedy, erratic, and short-sighted. As such free market economics have not and will not ever work. Our economic system was always broken.
Our constitution isn't perfect either. It's the smallest constitution written in any democratic nation ever. Furthermore it was written by a bunch of rich, hidebound, prejudiced old white businessmen who specifically wanted to create a form of government that allowed them to get richer and stay that way. Why do you think the biggest issue with Britain were their taxes? The constitution was ratified in 1788 and had no mention of slavery in it, slavery wasn't outlawed until 1865 and African Americans weren't even treated as human in most of the country until the passing of the Civil Rights act in 1964 and tons of legal battles from the 50's through the 70's. After Kennedy's assassination lack of foresight in the succession of the presidency left our country effectively leaderless until he was officially declared dead (an issue corrected by the 25th amendment). The mere existence of the amendment process is evidence of it's imperfect nature. Our constitution is just an old piece of paper that got our government started it's not infallible and it's certainly not perfect.
The point here is that things are broken but they've never worked right to begin with. We'll never have all the answers and create a perfect system. All we do is stumble in the dark trying to find our way. We make the best out of the situation that we're in and that's the best that we can do. So when anyone tells you that they have the answers, that they can fix all the problems they're just blowing smoke. There are no right answers, there are no absolute solutions and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to you whether they are aware of it or not.
