Trusted Leaders

I respect professional politicians only for the virulence of the diseases they carry, much as I respect three day old sushi.  It might nourish me but then again, it might kill me.  Part time politicians may have a non-cynical belief in the system and seem to be for the most part people who wish to make a difference for the people and for the better.  Once they inter into the professional realm however, backers are needed to maintain the office, to collect votes, to advertise.  That is when the incremental sale of ideals truly begins.

There is huge profit to be made in the American market and the markets that America controls.  It is difficult to believe that simple politicians, most born into privilege and wealth, would be left in charge of such a vast profit making machine.  The realities of international commerce, or any real commerce for that matter, preclude the ideologue, the dreamer or the simply venal from any true control.  Best to utilize the base drives of simple, provincial folk to present the public face.  Just as "God" rules through proxy, so too do the business interests that control our commerce.

Does the shepherd allow the sheep to vote about shearing and market time?  Does the rancher ask the cattle for their opinion?  In both cases, the owner of the herd picks out the alpha of the group and entices it to lead the group to places the rancher/shepherd chooses.  We know what then happens to the herd.  While at pasture, the herd has the illusion of freedom.  That illusion is dispelled only when it's too late for any member of the herd to run.  The shepherd protects the flock or herd from other predators only because other predators cut into the profit made from the herd.  The shepherd culls the weak, sick and old from the herd for the same reasons.  It is not from emotional attachment or a desire to see members of the herd rise to the level of shepherd.

If you do not wish to be part of the herd; turn off your TV, don't read the paper, grow a garden, chase your children around the house and tickle them until you and they are exhausted.  Read for pleasure anything you can find to read.  Read to your children and instill in them a love for the printed word and the tales it tells.  Show them the love of family, the joys of responsibility, the give and take of community.

"Gods" loose their power when there is no one to worship them.  If we ignore those who would be our "Gods" then they will have no power over us.  If you believe in the power of freedom, then, BE FREE!
No one gets out of here alive, so live it like ya mean it.