FOND of referring to themselves as the greatest nation in the world, Americans are presently the laughing stocks of the planet as they vacillate between choosing Tweedledee or Tweedledum as their next leader.
As a nation that has, indeed, produced many astute, creative and in fact genius citizens in every sphere of public life, the question must be asked: are these really the two best presidential candidates the country has to offer?
Of course, the answer is a resounding ‘no!’.
In the good ol’ US of A, political leadership today apparently has absolutely nothing to do with ability, common sense, brain power, negotiating skills, executive ability, coherence, economic nous, intellect, knowledge, rationality, temperament, integrity or any of the qualities once deemed important for anyone sitting at the end of a ‘press here for nuclear war’ button.
Leaders in America are now chosen on the basis of image; it has nothing to do with who is the best man/woman. Candidates have been replaced by celebrities.
(Oh, and don’t forget a huge bucketful of cash is also required, which also means pandering to the whims of those who sign the biggest cheques).
Show business
As far back as 1966, Ronald Reagan said politics is just like show business. How much more does this metaphor ring true today?
And if the analogy is true, it does not matter whether you are honest, intelligent or sane: you just have to present an image that convinces people you are.
So step in the image makers – people who are now far more important than speech writers.
For, it doesn’t matter much what you say, as long as you look the part and surround yourself by a mindless, flag waving, frozen-smile group of devotees.
The world has steadily moved from a coherent, writing-based conversation to one where a picture obliterates a thousand words.
To call the Trump-Clinton television confrontations a ‘debate’ is an insult to the word.
Surely, a debate is a serious meeting of minds, where well-articulated positions are presented on issues from space travel to national debt, world peace, immigration, job creation, foreign policy and the like.
Listeners would then have the ability to determine their vote based on a rational choice.
This election will be all about emotion, and who got off the best one-liner.
The candidates have appealed to – and then stirred up and fed – the negative emotions of the electorate.
They have said very little about their position on anything that really matters.
Rather, they have taken every opportunity to attack their opponent and try to make themselves look better by making the other look worse – a tactic typical of 8-year-old siblings.
Strangely enough, it also sounds much the same of the way we choose leaders in our country… but just with less violence.
