Seriously?

Greetings good citizen,

Sunday’s topic wasn’t provided directly by a story that’s in the headlines but rather it was suggested by those headlines.

If my ‘off the reservation’ pieces disturb you then save yourself the trouble and move on now.

Today’s musings about the ‘quality of leadership’ will only bore you.

For that, good citizen is what caught my eye as I browsed the front page of the online edition of the NY Times (free version; Gegner is too poor to pay.)

I’d like to add that the, er, ‘inspiration’ to tackle this topic hit me even before I read today’s headlines, Herman Cain’s claim that God, er, ‘told him’ to run (apparently god loves Republicans so much he tells them all to run! Yet another reason why I am a devout atheist. I have no use for a god that would inflict Republican/Libertarian principles on anyone!)

If we were to back up even a quarter of a step right here we would be wondering precisely what kind of circus the governing of our civilization has become?

I mean the only legitimate employer of clowns are circuses, right?

(I mean no disrespect to those who study to be ‘real’ clowns, it is both a noble and honorable profession: it is the ‘clowns’ who run for political office that are besmirching your profession.)

How sad is it that the general public can readily grasp such an analogy?

Seriously good citizen, how disturbing is it that there ISN’T a single democratic challenger to the incumbent?

More disturbing is the very notion that this individual even thinks he deserves a second term!

At least Mr. ‘I elected myself a half a dozen times’ Berlusconi (it is no secret he owns the Italian media, HE can make anyone he wants Prime Minister…and the people will buy it!) has ‘stepped down’ from politics, once again begging the question of who (in their right mind) would want to take the reins of ANY of the badly broken nations on the planet?

Which, naturally, is a damning indictment of capitalist media in general…although communist media proved just as useless.

Only Anarchist media would be the type of watch dog the people could rely on.

Um, yeah…probably a deal killer for some of you but A Simple Plan was designed using the principles of Anarchy…and I count myself as an Anarchist.

WITH THE DISCLAIMER that I AM NOT ‘affiliated’ with the multiple bizarre manifestations that claim to be anarchist in nature but totally ignore ‘true’ anarchist principles such as rules without rulers, rather than the empty credo of ‘I will not obey’, (the angry retort of a belligerent child!)

Just as there are Marxists, Leninists and Maoists (to name a few) anarchists are similarly, er, divided.

Another of the feature of A Simple Plan is that our ‘leaders’ will NOT BE ‘legislators’; only the people can alter or, through the courts, interpret the laws.

The laws will be few and simple…conversely, the penalty for breaking them will be severe if not extreme…exile is a one-way proposition.

Um, while we’re talking about insuring ‘effective’ leadership (our leaders will compete for the job using their experience and skills, which is to say the ‘test’ will have a ‘practical’ aspect as well as a written evaluation.

More interestingly, it is likely this practical portion of the test will be televised!

Which is another way of insuring our leadership won’t get away with operating ‘behind closed doors’.

To that end the media cannot be denied access to ANY aspect of government, as a kicker, the media will be the ‘sole arbiter’ of what is or isn’t ‘fit to distribute’.

A society of secrets will soon consume itself and cannot be permitted.

If the more you read, the less you like gnaws at you, consider the alternatives…

The Who said it best; ‘there’s no easy way to be free!’

Now, if I can design this system to ensure we are not lead by a troupe of simpering sycophants, why do we persist in inflicting that exercise in futility upon ourselves?

Probably because the only thing I’m in charge of is the garbage…

Actually it’s not about doing the ’right’ thing, it’s all about PRETENDING to do the right thing!

And being clubbed like a baby fur seal for our ’poor decision making’ when the media’s picks turn out disastrously!

And in fairness to the ‘we write for a paycheck’ brigade, they only publish what they’re told to publish…information that comes from a deeply corrupt election commission.

Ironically, we have arrived at a time when even the general public has become ‘disenchanted’ with our seriously defective electoral system.

More frustratingly, we seem to have as much chance of repairing that as we have of ’reforming’ our obviously corrupt government.

Which is to say ’no chance’.

Can you say ’viva la revolution’?

Thanks for letting me inside your head,

Gegner