Monday, February 04, 2008

No, please don't send in any more clowns

George W. did his state of the union (Ha!) address last week. Here’s my state of the world address.

To begin, I’ll paraphrase Shakespeare and suggest: “First we kill all the politicians.” Since the majority of politicians are lawyers, we’d end up nailing a goodly lot of them at the same time.

Not intending to begin the week on a downbeat, but it came to me after perusing the weekend papers that the world is really, really badly run these days. Actually, the world has always been really, really badly run. And since politicians have run the world since the beginning of time – oh, you might have called them caesars, or tsars, or emperors or Attila the Hun, but they were still politicians, and almost all of them botched up ultimately. Louis XVI might have died on the guillotine (deservedly), but how many others got a ‘deep’ haircut in order to get the bastard there?

In the contemporary world, in all its complexities, the ineptitude of those in power becomes vividly apparent. For example, I’ll posit the idea that George W. Bush is absolutely the worst president the US has ever experienced. Indeed, he is the worst US president the rest of the world has been forced to endure. I don’t think he’s evil, but I think he is dumb, and naïve and truly the victim of a lot of forces beyond his control, and he has never shown the strength or depth-of-character to thwart the forces of nastiness who yammer around him. And, if he is the worst, I’ll also suggest that Daddy ‘Big George’ was second worst. That’s my opinion.

But, the Democrats don’t get off the hook that easily. Bill Clinton has a following that is utterly undeserved. He may have been well-intentioned and he certainly had the acumen, intellectually and otherwise, but in following his dick rather than adroitly dealing with such evildoers as Osama when he had the chance – and he did – he paved the way for George W. If Hillary wants to stand a chance, she should rid herself of Bill’s influence on her campaign, much as she should have rid herself of Bill himself many years ago. What does it say about her that she didn’t? Just asking.

Don’t think that I, as a Canadian, would be prepared to let my own country off the hook. Canada is an utter mess and has been woefully led by the purely power motivated since the days of the despicable Pierre Trudeau. And in my own British Columbia we have a facile premier who runs around embracing an environmental agenda, including vouchsafing the idea of sticking a carbon tax on gasoline that is already taxed up the ass, but doing nothing to address an entirely hinterland that has been laid waste by the pine beetle, and has done even less to address the thousands of people sleeping rough in his cities and towns. That’s OK, he has his environmental agenda, without paying heed to the actual environment of the place. Hookers get butchered in Vancouver (which will hosting the 2010 Olympics, but all thoughts go to the Taj Mahal showplaces that will wow the visitors who aren’t prepared to look beneath the façade. This reminds me of the stories of people who used to arrive in Bombay (now Mumbai) by P&O liner and would be so impressed by the lovely white buildings along the esplanade of the harbor. The caveat was, however, don’t dare venture a block or two inland because the horrors that will greet you will stay with you for life. I know people who’ve had the experience.

This isn’t really a rant, however, it’s just an observation about the state of life as it is, who is to blame, and how the world’s only real hope is (and always has been) the good people who can sift through the morass of evil and self-seeking and do their part to try to make life more tolerable. Included in their numbers have been some politicians, but far too few.

I think at heart I’m an anarchist.

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14 Comments:

Blogger Dumdad said...

And all that you say applies to Britain and France and many other countries as well.

I guess the way the world works has changed.

10:39 AM  
Blogger Ian Lidster said...

Dumdad: I was going to get into the UK and France, too, the only European countries with which I have some direct knowledge of their current politics and, as you say, the same applies. Howevcer, the blog would have ended up like a book. But, thanks for your observation.

10:57 AM  
Blogger Jazz said...

I'm all for anarchy if I can be the boss!!!

11:41 AM  
Blogger Dr. Deb said...

Quoting Shakespeare is good for SO many things!!!

And how funny is Jazz's comment!

11:44 AM  
Blogger thailandchani said...

I know I'm tossing my Buddhist card in the fire with this one but...

Shakespeare was right.

:)

11:44 AM  
Blogger Wisewebwoman said...

I tumbled in here from Lady M's blog.
I think all of us who write of politicians and their ilk, are budding anarchists waiting for the Dragon Anarchist to loosen us from our cages....
Rattle on!

1:02 PM  
Blogger meggie said...

It was a sad fact that around BushW the only part of John Howard that was visible was his feet, hanging from the rear of Bush.
Now we have a new leader... wonder how he will go?
I suppose he has made a start, by finally saying "Sorry" to the Stolen Generation of Aborigines.
As Gom says, Sorry is just a word.

1:41 PM  
Blogger Vic said...

I am confused by whether it is that the politicians we get are the best that the world can produce (in which case we should slit our throats, civilisation is finished), or only power hungy morons want the job (in which case we need to change the job), or being a politician changes people (in which case maybe we should devolve to small self contained settlements where their destructive impact can be minimised). Oh, perhaps we should just kill them all, and be done with it!

3:14 PM  
Blogger jmb said...

Why is it no one knows what they are doing any more? Is it all too complex, which I could certainly believe? The problem is everyone is a specialist and no one has the overall picture and that's why the guy in charge is supposed to do. Keep track of the overall picture.

3:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh, God - I had just eaten. Clowns. Ick. Clinton was far form perfect, to be sure, but he did a lot right and the U.S. was expereinceing realtive prosperity and peace while he was in office. Compared to how we are faring under GWB, who is malignantly dumb. Any Democrat will be better than what we have now.

4:12 PM  
Blogger Big Brother said...

As Margaret Meade once said: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world, indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Unfortunately for us these citizens are few and far between and we get stuck with politicians who are mostly there for their own ego. Isaac Asimov once said that wanting to be in charge should automatically disqualify that person from holding office. Get the good guy who doesn't want to be there, and tell him that if he does a good job in office, he'll get time off for good behaviour.

5:25 PM  
Blogger heartinsanfrancisco said...

So am I. An anarchist.

I agree with your assessment of our American presidents except that I do believe that George W is evil as well as stupid.

I have long held the belief that the most dangerous people seek the power in every society.

I can relate to your point about making beautiful facades for the world to see when there is crime and poverty festering in the hinterlands.

Years ago, I visited Jamaica and was told not to venture inland from Montego Bay. Of course I did just that, and within 1/2 mile of the luxury hotels by the Caribbean, people were living in tarpaper shacks with dirt floors and beautiful, raggedy children were begging for food scraps.

All of this was going on while mindless, overprivileged tourists cavorted on the sand drinking pina coladas that cost more than the local families had for a week's food.

Call me naive, but I would like to see our politicians address the world's hunger, housing and education needs instead of spending all our tax money on war machinery.

11:42 AM  
Blogger Leslie Hawes said...

"...she should have rid herself of Bill many years ago. What does it say about her that she didn't? "
You are the only person I have ever heard, other than myself, to express this idea.
And my opinion about this has absolutely nothing to do with her politics.

Where I was growing up, the word "politician" was always a hyphenated word...dirty-politician, crooked-politician, lying-politician.

My silly little criteria now for politicians, (aside from 'if their lips are moving they're lying'), is if their hair doesn't move, they can't be trusted.

1:15 PM  
Blogger Echomouse said...

Oh. My. God. You said PET was despicable!

LOL

Honestly, in my family, he was revered. Until I grew up and we all saw how PET's ideas evolved and now....I think he meant well but he did mess us up.

I admire anyone who can follow politics regularly. It just depresses the hell out of me. I feel like they're all the same and we can't trust any of them anymore. I agree too that Canada is no better. Good Lord, I cannot imagine where we're headed.

10:00 PM  

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