Simple fixes

Both of America’s political parties are preaching that all the problems of the country can be solved by the election of one man or the other. According to the Republicans all of our problems will become fatal unless Obama is driven from the White House. According to the Democrats all of America’s problems will soon be solved if Obama stays and will become fatal if Romney takes up residence. And Americans, it seems, are buying into this drivel as if it were that simple.

A wise man once said that anyone who thinks there is a simple answer didn’t understand the question. American problems are complex, decades in the making, and are beyond the control of any one person, even if that person sits in the White House. The American justice system is utterly broken, overwhelmed by a society that celebrates violence and endorses a multitude of hatreds for anyone slightly different. Obama and Romney both provoke and profit from some of those hatreds, Barack by being the first Blank President and Mitt by being the whitest White Man in history. Each is hoping the racists on their side will be enough to provide part of the margin of victory. Neither has any reason to try and address the deep divides in our society. Then again the only way most of us want to see those divides address is by the other side getting crushed out of existence.

Both Mitt and Obama are believers in supply side economics; as are (it seems) most Americans. It matters not at all that supply side economics has always been a sham, has never worked as an economic model, and never can work. Americans hold their economic view as a matter of faith. Like all matters of faith, facts and history need not be bothered. The economic failures of the US are endemic, part and parcel of the robber baron capitalism that is endorsed by most Americans. One man or the other sitting in the White House, (who are both members of “The Faith) will not fix it.

The United States is sinking slowly under the weight of religious intolerance. Since the Christians hold the numbers advantage, they get to be the ones who both claim discrimination and then get to discriminate against other religions. Oddly enough the right-wing Christians in the USA, a sizable chunk of the electorate, roundly reject the Christian Obama and are standing behind the Mormon Mitt. (Personally I find this amusing, fascinating, and further evidence that right-wing American Christianity is bat-shit crazy.) Obama or Mitt, either way the religious bigotry is deeply entrenched in the American mind-set and stands only to get worse.

Both Mitt and Obama are big fans of war. Maybe it comes with wanting to be “the most powerful man in the world”. Either one wins, the impact on the world and the military budget will be about the same.

Mitt is big on saying how much he will cut domestic spending. Obama is big on saying what parts of domestic spending he will preserve. Both are going to cut domestic spending because there is no money to spend. It doesn’t really matter what they say. The USA has spent itself into bankruptcy, over-extended itself with military adventurism, shipped much of its intellectual and manufacturing abilities overseas, has allowed its infrastructure to decay, and is too beholding to oil, coal and gas companies to change its energy habits, laws, and regulations. Domestic spending is a reflection of society’s choices. For as long as I can remember ours has gone to the ballot box and chosen robber barons and war over fairness and peace. That choice was not made in Washington alone.

To some degree American’s are simplistic people and we like easy answers. A constant stream of TV stories that solve the most complex problems in 21 minutes (1/2 hour show) or 42 (hour show) seems to strike most Americans as a reality. Movies might take an hour and a half or even two hours, but generally they are saving the entire world from some catastrophe so of course it would take a little longer. In any case the thought that it may take years, even decades, to find a solution to some problem is way too big a thought for our media shrunken minds. We gave Obama and the Democrats two years to fix a world largely trashed by conservative / religious politics. When they couldn’t get it done we gave half the government back to the conservative / religious politicians. Two years after that and we don’t know what to do with ourselves when it comes to this election.

President Bartlet would have it fixed it in 42 minutes, or maybe 84 if the problem popped up at the end of the season. Season ending problems are always more complicated. I admit that I stopped watching TV about the time Bartlet offed an international terrorist by having his privet jet shot down over the ocean somewhere, so my take on TV problem solving might be slightly out of date. I’m guessing it isn’t though, not when people are expecting answers in a 30 second, political campaign sound bite.

America’s problems, and those of the world for that matter, are far too large and complex for any one person. They are the result of movements, ideas, the illusions of entire populations and the emotions of millions of people raging out of control. No one person and “fix” religion. Billions of people flock to the doctrines of millions of religious preachers and teachers. Not a single one of those preachers and teachers, from the Pope to the lowly street preacher on the corner in New Orleans, knows one iota more about god than anyone sitting in the audience. But they are all, teachers and students alike, caught up in the illusion. The combined weight of their corporate thinking simply overwhelms that of any one individual. God, as it turns out, is the simplest of answers to any question. The American religious right has it down pat; “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.” It doesn’t get any easier than that.

Of course religion has led to the brutalization of millions and is driving our civilization to destruction. But I didn’t say it was pretty, just simple. Politics is much the same. Obama and Romney both claim that they can “fix it” as does the party each represents. No one mentions that the ideology of simple fixes is what helped break it in the first place.