Lies, lies and more lies

As I write this at 7:30 in the morning, I’m listening to C-Span’s morning show, Washington Journal. This show has a call in section where today’s topic is “Are you doing better than you were ten years ago?”

Almost without exception, no one is.

So I started to wonder why the public actually believes campaign promises. I recall last night’s news program when aspiring president, Mitt Romney (my party) was asked if we should go to war with Iran. He hedged his answer, but it was clear that his answer was yes.

He was obligated to say yes, in so many words so certain voting blocks wouldn’t vote for President Obama. He may actually mean no, as its a very risky proposition to take on a country that can actually fight back, but he has to hedge.

I, once again, reached the conclusion that to be elected you must study what the public wants to hear – jobs for everyone, victory in all of our uncountable wars, unlimited spending especially on your pet project and so on – and then ask for money or at least votes.

The tragedy is that, as far as I can tell, few people believe what the politicians say. The public knows that they are being lied to, but continue to support their party and its candidates anyway as if the politicians cares about the public once voted in.

They will say they do, but do you believe it? I doubt it.

Do you remember President Obama’s pledge to close Gitmo, to end the war in Afghanistan and so on? How many pledges were forgotten about, or left to rot on the vine?

As you know candidates are eager to shake your hands, and kiss your babies until the day after the election. That’s when you can’t get anywhere near them and you cease to exist… unless you have deep pockets.

So why does the public get actively involved in bashing the opposing party? I think that it helps them feel empowered, an emotion. It helps them believe that if they vote for an individual or party, then it will benefit them. Somehow, someway. Refer to the last sentence of the paragraph above.

The truth is politicians spend a lot of time and money finding out which buttons to push, and then they push them. It works every time.

My candidacy is a little different. As I’m 63 and not 43, I am clearly aware that my clock is running out and I don’t want to make a career as an elected politician. As such, I’m not in it for the long term, or for the power as I have publicly stated that I will resign after eight years in office. Those eight years will be focused on making some real changes, for the betterment of the country and not special interests that will hire me as a “consultant” when I leave office.

We are going the way of the British Empire,(375 years), the Byzantine Empire (977 years) and the Ottoman Empire (623 years), the Zhou Dynasty (790 years) and to a lesser extent the first Roman Empire (the second was the Roman-Byzantine) that lasted over 600 years.

Our empire building has barely begun, and we’re stretched really thin and broke.

If we don’t get our house in order and stop spending vast amounts of borrowed money, we’ll be a failed experiment and a very short-lived empire. I don’t want that so I want to enact laws to make some fundamental changes.

My goal is to actually help the country and state the facts the way they are, and not lie to the public. We are not living in a fantasy world, but the here and now.

Vote for me in November. I’ll tell you the unvarnished truth. You may not like it but it will be the truth, not rhetorical noise you hear from the other flag-waiving politicians.