Politics is a game

Democracy and politics are nothing but a game played by politicians, most of them don’t actually have underlying core values, they just pretend that they do. This is evident in the lack of consistency in the application of their ideas, the constant flip-flopping of positions, as well as the over emphasis on public image and appearance. 

Just look at the billions of dollars being handed out as “bailout money” to firms that are politically connected. They are not more deserving of this money than the people who are paying for it via taxation. But then suddenly, once AIG started paying out some of the bonuses it was contracted to pay out, this made people unhappy because now the people who were partly responsible for the crisis were getting rewarded handsomely for it. Never mind the fact that as a percentage of the overall bailout money, the bonuses make up a tiny percentage.

So now the politicians are all running around trying to look “angry at AIG” for paying out the money it was contracted to pay, and looking at ways to just tax that specific money back. The politicians are crying nothing but crocodile tears, it was the politicians who gave them this money in the first place. The politicians were the ones who made this possible, via the sick game called democracy. No wonder individuals and businesses are reluctant to carry out any major investments, it’s because they don’t know who it will become politically expedient to persecute. The politicians, in their impartial and farsighted wisdom may decide to come after anyone by either nationalising a business, or passing unfavourable and restrictive regulation.

I’m sure there are many politicians who don’t actually believe that drugs should be illegal, they just hold this as their political opinion to score points with the voters for looking “tough on crime”. They’re perfectly happy to see millions of dollars poured into “The War on Drugs”, and for thousands of people to sit in jails for victimless crime, so long as it is politically expedient.  Do they spare a thought for the many families that get ruined or the people who lose their livelihoods? Or what about the people who get caught up in an endless cycle of jail and recidivism because nobody will hire them thanks to their criminal record? 

You could look at the way Obama ran for US President by being deliberately ambiguous and relying heavily on positive imagery and uplifting rhetoric to carry the day. He had millions eating out of the palm of his hand, as if somehow the hopes and dreams of millions could overturn immutable laws of nature and economics (eg. scarcity, the fact that we have finite resources on Earth). Obama ran a campaign of “change”, but exactly how much has changed since he got into office? The US government is still running massive deficits, the empire is still expanding and pursuing it’s foreign interventionist policy, the federal reserve continues to devalue the USD, as well as Wall st firms and other related financial insiders still receiving bailout money. So, you tell me, where’s the ‘change’ ? 

The underlying problem here is not just the individual politicians responsible for bailouts and so on, it is with democracy. I think too many people just give democracy a free pass and believe that “democracy is more stable”, when really, it isn’t. There is no such thing as “stability under democracy”, only the illusion of it.