Politics.

I will start out by saying, this will be long, but please read, as I would like feedback on these thoughts.

This post has been a long time in the works, mentally. I would say, I probably started thinking a lot about it in June or July. But...my emotions on the subject would ebb and flow, and when they ebbed, I posted about things I was flowing about. Mainly, I haven't wanted to post this because I knew how long it would take to cohesively form my thoughts on the subject and I wasn't sure if I wanted or had the time to do that. However, events as of late on the political horizon leave me with no choice. This post will come to fruition.

I will start out by saying, I have a background full of memories involving the history, politics and law of America. [But I'm by no means an expert. lol] My parents both have an avid love for history. If our TV at home wasn't on the History Channel, it was on CNN(before Fox News came on the scene). Growing up, it was nothing for us to throw a party and await election results, yielding time for heavy debate as to our opinions of different candidates. The Cooke can attest to this...since she came with me to one of those parties in college. Discussions of politicians and the government and the moral depravity of our nation surrounded me growing up (and still now, I just tune it out). So, it was a surprise to no one when I decided in 6th grade that I wanted to be a lawyer and work in Washington. Now, some may say, "Kate...you were way to young to actually know what you wanted to do." However, when I enrolled at Campbell as a freshman, I was a Government/pre-Law major, with every intent of keeping that desire as my goal. I joined College Republicans and loved studying for my National Government essays with Dr. Sellers.

Then came the breakdown.

I'm not sure when or where it exactly happened, but sometime at the end of my sophomore year at CU, I became incredibly disillusioned with it all. Some may attribute it maturity, some may attribute it my Micro Economics class with Dr. Cellek. These feelings of annoyance and frustration with the system were only heightened by the time I spent learning about the free market with Derek Yonai. At some point, I began to feel very comfortable with [most of]the ideas that the Libertarian party and felt very annoyed with the political parties that have the power in America today. However, one the biggest annoyances I feel comes from the transparent actions of the politicians. This is seen in many forms.

It is ever clear to me that the main motivation of a politician is election/reelection. Now, this works well normally for the system in America because it forces politicians to stay in touch with the desires of the people. However, now...it seems as if the political environment is changing because people are ceasing to think for themselves. Thomas Jefferson once said, "Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government." Well, now it seems as if people are relinquishing the information and choices to the government because it is easier. So what is happening? Ideas like nationalized health care are starting to circulate. Another quote by TJ - "I know of no safe repository of the ultimate power of society but people. And if we think them not enlightened enough, the remedy is not to take the power from them, but to inform them by education." But what happens when the people cease to desire to be educated? And where does that lack of desire come from? I have a few theories, but that is a whole other post.

One area that this is so clearly evident is within the current Hillary Clinton campaign. I was discussing this with The Husband last night at dinner at my favorite restaurant. I was telling him that watching the movements of these campaigns is so interesting to me right now. Currently, if you've been listening to any talk radio, you will know that the Democrat candidates have been participating in the requests from places like moveon.org and dailykos.com in order to receive money and support, etc. However, the interesting part of this is shaping up in the political placement this gives them. This association with the liberal left confused me until I hit this realization.

I was stuck on the fact that if you think about the political market, the smart candidate in any party will go for the middle. If you are a "hardcore" member of any party, let's use republicans for example, then you will vote republican regardless. My grandmother is one of these "hardcore" members. If the two candidates up for election are republican and democrat, then she will pick republican just because of what the democrat party stands for. As far as I know, her decision has very little to do with the candidate's stance, but more for the party's stance. So, any money spent attempting to court her vote would be wasted, for they already have her vote and they always will. The candidate needs to spend time and money on courting the middle. The conservative democrats that may be swayed to vote republican. So...since this logically makes sense, why are people like Hillary Clinton bowing down to the liberality that is moveon.org? I couldn't get past that until I realized that they don't have the party's nomination yet. If you apply this "middle" theory to the Democratic party nomination, then clearly, Hillary will lean more left as the time approaches the nomination. The interesting part will be to see what she does if she wins the nomination. My guess is that she will strategically move toward the middle and distance her ties to things like moveon.org. And, the citizens of America are so sheathed in their own lives, that they don't care what Hillary Clinton is doing currently. It's like a certain boss I used to have. If I was on time that day, then I was a great employee. If I was late, I was getting a lecture on the importance of keeping my office hours, regardless of how many I worked the previous day. It's all about short term memory. I digress...

Back to the point. Her motivations are transparent. She cares about election, not the constituents. Whatever that means. And when the citizens continue to be sheathed in their own lives, giving up control constantly to the government to make decisions, this is government neither by the people or for the people. This is scary.

I think I will stop here as it is time for lunch. I will resume with the issue I am truly annoyed with later. If you're still reading, thank you. :0)

***Edit: I used democrats in this example because it was the clearest example of transparency (no pun intended) that I could use. However, you could apply this same scenario to any Republican candidate who will only go on Fox News' debate or speak for Focus on the Family broadcasts or will call in to Shawn Hannity's talk show. It's all the same movements. All moving toward the end goal of election. And I am convinced that the struggle is for power. I wonder how many politicians, on either side, actually care about the best interest of their citizens and can speak the truth in love to look to protect the people from things that would harm them. We will protect them from terrorists in the Middle East, but will we protect them from terrorists that look to bring nationalized health care? Or more phone tappings from the Department of Homeland Security? Or more Faith-based initiatives from the White House? Okay, now I'm really going to lunch.