Political grandiosity is leaving people behind
Posted by
Rich Harwood
Jan 24, 2012
I watched the GOP
presidential primary debate last night
and was aghast at the grandiosity
put forth as sound ideas for moving the
country forward. Now I await President
Obama’s State of the Union Address tonight.
Such grandiosity only makes a mockery of
reality, insults people’s intelligence,
and leaves people behind. Something has to
give.
Last
night I wondered just who are these GOP
candidates and exactly what office are they
running for? I have followed the Republican
race closely, and with one or two exceptions,
have seen every televised debate. The pattern
is clear: the candidates and the debates are
only getting increasingly hollow by the day. At
times they descend into mindless bomb-throwing,
noisy saber-rattling, and adolescent
finger-pointing.
Here’s
one example. The debate took place in Tampa,
FL, and that state is perhaps one of the
hardest hit in terms of home foreclosures,
houses under-water (where the value of a home
is less than what its owners purchased it for),
and staggering un- and under-employment. When
asked what they would say to people living
through this mess, all the candidates could
muster were one-liners about reigning in the
Federal Reserve Bank in order to have “sound
money,” or that we need to “let the market
work.”
Then there were the
times the candidates talked about the relevance
of their past experiences. In listening to one
candidate, you’d think he was involved in
every major positive policy decision over the
last 25 years. Another seemed to claim that as
a junior member of the House and then in Senate
he was the key driver of every noble
piece of legislation that came down the pike.
There is another who says that if you are
hungry and poor, or if a world crisis faces the
U.S., fixing the Federal Reserve is the
answer.
And finally one who
believes that “creating a 100,000 jobs” in
the private sector is the equivalent to turning
around a country’s economic crisis. (Right,
and did I say that he keeps saying he’s
worked in the “real economy” – I ask, can
he tell me how I can catch a train to the
“fake economy”?)
Each of these points
is rooted in a grandiose view of oneself and
what the solutions are for real problems in
people’s everyday lives.
So, I’d like to say
to the candidates: Are you’re telling me that
if you were sitting in someone’s living room
whom you respect, or whose vote you want, this
is the gibberish you’d offer up? I’ll put
aside whether I agree or not with a particular
proposed policy solution or worldview. What
I’m after is some kind of genuine and real
response to people’s plight in this country
and to challenges in the
world.
Oh yeah,
here’s another example. The way to fix all
the world’s ills is to send troops and
bombers and spies into every country that ticks
us off. Moreover, even though Presidents Bush
and Obama faced resistance to the two current
wars we’re in, somehow these candidates could
wave a magic wand and people simply would fall
in line to follow them. Perhaps they have in
mind the old Apple ad based on George
Orwell’s 1984, in which mindless
people, dressed alike, are all walking in a
straight line like robots.
I actually do believe
there are many positives coming out of the
Republican presidential primary. There is a
sharpening of a long-needed debate about the
appropriate role of government, federal
priorities, and the role of communities and
citizens in taking ownership of their futures.
I think that’s all for the
good.
But this
grandiosity is too much. The candidates need to
get real with people – and themselves. They
need to address real concerns in people’s
lives. They need to come at things from the
perspective of people, communities, and the
wider world. They must stop thinking they can
talk and act from within a sanitized vacuum, in
which, for convenience sake they negate reality
because that’s more convenient to making
their arguments.
I’m sick of this
stuff, are you?
P.S.
If you get the chance, watch the State of the
Union tonight and ask yourself is it based in
grandiosity, reality, or what?
Re: Political grandiosity is leaving people behindJan 25, 2012 | Rich HarwoodYep, Sandra, I think you're absolutely right. You know, no one is asking these leaders to "like" each other, or even care about each other. What people want is that leaders care about them and express their love of country through more productive actions.