The Random Comic Strip

The Random Comic Strip

Words to live by...

"How beautiful it is to do nothing, and to rest afterward."

[Spanish Proverb]

Ius luxuriae publice datum est

(The right to looseness has been officially given)

"Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders," wrote Ludwig von Mises, "no one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way for himself if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interest, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle."

Apparently, the crossword puzzle that disappeared from the blog, came back.


Saturday, August 18, 2012

Woe is us!


We still have 80-some days to go until the election but I am getting real tired of it all.

Lying has become an art form for politicians; they lie and then they claim they "may have misspoken" but that the "basis", or the "issue", is true and important.  It's all in the nuance. The "true believers" on each side ignore the lies, accept the explanations (but only by their side), and sleep without care.

In the end, we probably vote for the best liar.

It's a cinch the truth doesn't stand a chance in an election year.

But I read political articles (which means I am a masochist because I am not a politician or a reporter) and I read the comments that almost always accompany them.

We are so divided now that I worry about our ability to ever achieve a semblance of unity of purpose. Maybe if we were attacked by aliens from space. Well, after the blame game is played out, perhaps. After all, what better issue to hit your opponent with than the invasion of the planet?

4 comments:

sightings said...

I don't believe we're do divided. Regular people agree on a lot of issues, or for certain they're not that far apart. It's the politicians who divide us as they play to their base, and the so-called "news" channels on TV that stoke arguments to create more drama in order to boost their ratings.

If we could just turn off the TV, and read more blogs, we'd all be in better shape!

David Verhagen said...

American elections are too long. The camapaign is a year old now, nearly, and while the final selections are finished, and you're going into overdrive, reasonable people like you have already lost interest. Time breeds apathy, and I would be sick to death of it too. At least the Australian/Canadian models are quicker.
BTW I'm not sure I like your new comment system. I'd prefer to comment under Torggil and not my name. That said, I repect your blog enough to comment. You have a common sense/truth ring that is fairly hard to find.

Douglas4517 said...

I believe you're right. But it hasn't just been a year. The campaigning for president starts almost immediately after the election is over. For the first couple of years, it's mostly just political maneuvering. It gets more serious after that. Usually right after the mid-term elections, the potential candidates start campaigning (usually while denying that's what they are doing) for the nomination. There are some issues with using Disqus that bother me also but you can establish a nom de internet with them. I have. I did that long before I installed Disqus on this blog.

Douglas4517 said...

Well, much of what is on the news channels is commentary. It even slips into the hard news programs. I am not so sure about "regular people" agreeing on a lot of issues. Certainly they do... up to a point. Just as all the politicians agree that, say, SS is in trouble. What they can't agree on is what to do about it. The same goes for "regular people", too, I think.