Myths that Politicians Happily Perpetuate

For fear of appearing too "smart" or "sophisticated" or French, America just keeps getting more American, and politicians are only too happy to cater to the whims of what they perceive to be simple-minded, big-hearted folks of this vast nation of plains, farms and honest-to-goodness blue-collar workers. Too bad those have all been slowly disappearing since after WWII, but the Vice President nominees seem to have missed out on that. (Farms today are run by millionaires and their illegal immigrants, who keep our lettuce cheap. If it gets too expensive when higher-paid legal workers pick it, we complain about the economy and want to kick all the immigrants out because they're taking American jobs). But honestly, why do politicians insist on allowing the myth of the American Redneck to determine the parlance and values of the country?

From Slate:
"At times what was supposed to be a throw-down turned into a hoedown as the candidates tried to out-folksy each other. Sarah Palin took us to the sidelines of the soccer games. (First hockey, now soccer—we'll be getting a spring sport soon.) Biden took us to the gas station and Wal-Mart. Palin was dropping her G's and using expressions like doggone. Joe was speaking to the Catholics with 'God love him' and reminding us a few times that his father called him 'Champ.' I'm just glad there wasn't dancing. Although, if there were, we might have been able to use those words."

This nation does not belong to blue-collar workers. They perform very important roles that we couldn't survive without, but the same group that pats them on the head is systematically indenturing them in low-paying, uninsured servitude. And then outsourcing their jobs elsewhere. A very small, very smart group of very old and very white men run the entire show, more so than we would be comfortable to even imagine, and politicians and their patsies to get down on their knees and shamelessly beg for votes is disingenuous and offensive, and the reason that debates and politics in general are completely worthless.

Also, for both VP candidates to stand up in front of America in 2008 and claim that our country is founded on the "sanctity of marriage" between one man and one woman is also a lie, and to rely on the other almighty sacred text, the Constitution, is just as asinine as relying on the Bible. Both are equally outdated and misinterpreted. The only appeasing fact here is that one day, everyone who went on record stating that alternative unions are somehow morally wrong and un-American will be as loathed as slave-owners are today.

Finally, another nasty little habit of politicians that needs to be curtailed is extolling the virtues of Americans to themselves. America is in a very bad place right now. That is mostly because most of us (51%) voted for George W. Bush in 2000. And in 2004. That was dumb. Now we're screwed. When a kid makes a mistake, you might let it slide. When the kid makes the same mistake, you do not tell him how smart and hardworking he is. You tell him you're in charge and he needs to listen. America has proven it can't handle it's responsibilities and needs to be told what to do. This metaphor is going nowhere. But Sarah Palin is a smug idiot, and the presidential debates are a spectacle that haven't been relevant since 1960 when Nixon lost to Kennedy because the former was old and sweaty. The "debate" has been boiled down to a slick production that's more performance than politics, just another formality in the skeleton of a rational democracy that now exists in America.