Red vs. Blue

Politics is a funny thing.  I feel like its become much more about the race than about governing.  Everyone wants to win, and be on the winning side.  They label themselves a certain way, and then vote as their label tells them.  They may or may not care about who they are voting for, they just want to win!

How do I know this to be true?  Well, I’m guilty of getting caught up in the race myself.  I was all about Republicans beating Democrats…simply because I liked seeing my side win.  It was like sports.  I’d cheer for Canseco and McGwire, roids or not, simply because seeing my side win is thrilling!  Except sports aren’t important…the way our country is governed is.  Yet, here we are, playing the media-driven red vs. blue game.  Republicans vs. Democrats.  Who’s running?  No idea…I just check my mark next to the –R and move on.

The worst part of all of this is that it doesn’t even matter.  Republicans and Democrats are basically the same people.  Republicans spend money just as outrageously as Democrats.  Democrats want to jump into unjustifiable wars just as much as Republicans do.  No matter who is in “charge,” nothing changes.  So all of this red vs. blue, all of the media forced hype, all of it…what’s the point?  I figure the point is to keep people focused on the race rather than the politics.  Everyone in the political machine…from the parties to the politicians to the lobbyists to the banks to the media…everyone is in power because of the current system.  They all want to stay there.  Therefore, they want nothing of substance to change.  They don’t want to be held back by pesky things like the constitution.  They want to stay in power, and grow their power…and the easiest way to do so is to keep the public focused elsewhere.

This is why its so impossible for any third party candidate, or any opposing viewpoint, to ever gain any real traction in this country’s elections.  1 v 1 makes for good storylines.  It makes for competition.  It allows for people to choose sides and fight against one another.  If a third party showed up somewhere with some radical ideas on how to fundamentally change how this country was run (following the constitution, limiting the scope of government severely, trusting in the free market, allowing people to enjoy freedoms that this country was originally founded on…I know, radical, right?), how would the media react?  How do you force people to choose sides between two parties that want the same thing when a third party comes along and shows everyone just how similar the two parties really are?  You can’t, so they are marginalized.  Rules are made up on the spot to keep them out of the spotlight.  And the media and special interests force people to focus in on the two parties they can control.

So this November it appears that we’ll have Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney.  And the media will focus on all the HUGE DIFFERENCES between these two very similar candidates.  Both Romney and Obama will send us to war with Syria…and probably Iran…and neither will follow the constitution in doing so.  Both Obama and Romney will spend way more money than we take in…and neither will look to make real, fundamental changes to the way our country runs.  Both will be beholden to the banks and the federal reserve, who prints money at will.  Both will be beholden to the UN and the global government, who seems to be where we take our military marching orders from these days.  So, really, what’s our choice here?

It’s all just pointless red vs. blue.  And it makes me sad that so many people won’t wake up and see what is going on.