Politics' duality

As we’ve pointed out before, there are two parts to a political system. One part is shrewd, calculating and corrupt. The other is stupid, senseless, and earnest. The first is surprisingly predictable. The second is predictably surprising.

Like the two sides of the brain, people use politics both ways. On the right side, they use it to do something that is completely preposterous…and often completely at odds with their own interests.

Start a war, for example. National pride. Sentiment. Anger. Humiliation. There’s no telling exactly what emotion will stir up the mob. And there’s no telling what mischief it will get up to when it’s been properly stirred and shaken. India was the site of the biggest political demonstration of all time. What was it about? Killing cattle. The Hindu population was against it…

Meanwhile, from Nigeria comes news that the Christians and Muslims are killing each other. And in Europe, just a century ago, people tried to kill each other for 4 long years…

But the right side of politics is beyond our scope for today. We’re concerned with the left side…the rational…goal seeking…angle playing side…where people use politics like a burglar uses a crowbar – to get something that isn’t theirs.

For example, a report in USA Today tells us that government employees have used politics to get more money. The paper said that 8 out of 10 professions are better paid by the government than by the private sector.

Lobbyists use the government to get money for their employers. If we read the item in The Wall Street Journal correctly, there were 10,000 “earmarks” in the latest budget bill.

What’s an ‘earmark?’ It’s a special little provision that gives a contract – or other favor – to a specific company, industry, or locality. A congressman might insert a little provision awarding a $100,000 contract, for example, to one of his constituent companies. Directly or indirectly, the company may have contributed $50,000 to the congressman’s re-election campaign…or may be ready to hire him if he is booted out of office…or may have hired his son or daughter. The amount is so small that the rest of the Congress is not going to pay much attention to it. Besides, other members of Congress are doing the same thing. Ten thousand earmarks…that’s more than 20 apiece.

Giving out money to friends and supporters is not exactly what Congress was set up to do. A Congressional Ethics panel was organized to investigate. Its report just came in this week. What did it find? That there was no impropriety; it was just business as usual!

Even the Ethics Committee has been corrupted by the left side of politics – the rational side. Everybody is looking out for Number One. Even the Ethics Committee.

Very predictable. And no harm in that. Everyone does it.

But as the political system matures, it supports more and more people who are looking out for Numero Uno and don’t much care what happens to Numero Duo. And as the host weakens, the parasites become bolder.

Even the right side of politics is corrupted. Instead of going to war for purely absurd reasons, lobbyists for pentagon contractors urge the nation to war for practical ones…specifically, to add to their own profits…and generally to boost employment.

Eventually, between the left side and the right side, the nation runs out of juice. Or worse. When the politicians have squeezed all they can out of existing taxpayers they go to work on those who aren’t even born yet. The debt rises and rises…until it is too heavy to carry. Then, all Hell breaks loose.

A few days ago, the Congressional Budget Office reported that the Obama administration’s deficit forecasts were a little on the low side – $1.2 trillion short over the next 10 years.

How reliable are those CBO forecasts? Not very… The deficits are likely to be a lot higher than either the administration or the CBO now imagine.

Stay tuned…

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