Sunday, August 30, 2009

Comments on American Democracy #1

Thanks to the Health Care debate, it should now be clear that to properly understand American democracy one should read Mencken, not Tocqueville. And should the absurd theatre that currently passes for public debate in America continue to degrade further – if that is indeed possible – it may even be time to dust off that long-forgotten tome by Spengler. Caligula’s horse would be too embarrassed to sit among the screaming lemurs that make up the US Congress. But what can one expect – after all, each nation gets the government it deserves, including the United States of America.

There is no public debate in America. A debate requires at least two parties who occasionally manage to say something meaningful to each other. Only a comedian could take that as a description of this ‘public debate’. What we have instead is dimwits untainted by the slightest hue of understanding spouting the most obvious stupidities on issues far beyond their ken to masses of ignorant blockheads.

There is the foul-mouthed underclass of barely educated right-wingers trying to protect a boondoggle government program from the government. There are the mealy-mouthed semi-educated left wingers wanting to replace a cobweb of private monopolies protected by the government with a single monopoly run directly government. None of these jackasses and squirrel brains manages to say anything that could withstand the analytical acuity of a clever twelve-year old – provided the poor child has successfully avoided the blessings of American public education.

But, what am I talking about? American’s voted for this. Every two years, they go and vote those lemurs, blowhards, jackasses, and dimwits into public office. Every two years, they do the same thing. Clearly, if they didn’t like the outcome, would they continue?