So the question was asked, "who is going to win the election this year?" My guess is as good as yours and the analysis of same would reveal the old cliches anyone can discover from watching CNN. Rather, we would look at this.

Since 1960 there has been a steady decline in the public sector. People have a hard time understanding how much esteem the government had back during the election of '60 between Kennedy and Nixon. Politics was exciting because people believed that their will would translate into the programs that, in fact, made the 60's one of the most active in American history: The Great Society, voyage to the moon, Civil Rights, foreign aid, massive defense against Soviet communism were all featured at that time.

Two events started the long erosion. Those were Vietnam and Watergate; events that were not the act of will from the people but were acts by elitist, imperial-minded persons who forgot that all power is accountable to the people and opposes the people at its peril. Then Reagan came along in 1980 and actively opposed the public sector. The lasting legacy of Reagan is the success he had in convincing the vast majority of people that the public sector was a sick puppy that needed to be laid up until it was healthy again. It has never recovered. Clinton has simply moved this along to further deepen and ingrain the idea in the popular mind. It was Clinton who pronounced the end of the "era of big government."

Throughout the '80s and '90s the move has been toward the deconstruction of the public sector. The rise of the private sector is a direct result of all this and will continue this way until a huge crisis arises. The crisis will come either through economic problems or the direct confrontation of the United States by a strong military power. It will happen but there is no way to prepare for what will, indeed, happen.

Politics has become a side show in a world that plays as voraciously as this one does. It doesn't want politics or the state or leaders. It knows it must put up with them but the resistance in this culture is monumental. Politics today is an expression of the neurotic in the public soul demanding satisfaction on questions that can't be answered. It is determined by irrational, passionate issues like abortion or gun control; issues that are linked to impossible situations. Politics is artless in impossible situations and seems reasonably happy that the popular will is so against any kind of activism on the part of the state.

Does that mean the empty, semi-corrupt boy will win over the experienced, reasoned man because the one can connect with the people and the other cannot? That's hard to say and it appears things are swinging away from the boy to the man. One thing is certain. The class that dominates the forming of the political type is the Entertainment class. The Lawyer class, Military class, and Business class are on the margins now since the popular will so opposes them. The Entertainers are the new heroes and, actually, when you analyze it that is another legacy from the '60s. It was the Entertainers who led the popular will through rock music and popular movie heroes like Jane Fonda, Marlon Brando, and Paul Newman among others.

Does it matter that some of the renowned actors and actresses of our time have been wife beaters, drug users, and people you wouldn't want your children to be around? I keep searching for Juvenal to show up.

Is it something to worry about? Yes and no. Yes, because as Jefferson and John Adams noted to each other, as old men, when the people stop paying attention to those who govern them, the leaders become devouring wolves. But then, they reasoned as well, when the people are thoroughly absorbed in their role as political citizens they lose the ability to create the future. The free, liberal democratic citizen has to find the balance between his or her freedom to pursue their goals and connecting with the system to prevent it from falling into an abyss of corruption.

I was talking to my old friend Jorge who hails from Costa Rica. "David, this politics is crazy. Why get involved in something so nasty and crazy? God has dropped this new platform down in our midst to create a new world. New worlds! New people! New Politics!" Jorge was smiling largely when he ended his statement. And his wisdom is noted in the small group of people we associate with. After all, the federal system is not going to change one iota. The passionate wings of the political parties will never be satisfied. The people must monitor the snakes and rats that crawl through the beltway just as Jefferson and Adams counseled. Beyond that the people are destined to create a new future by embracing the core of American virtue: The ability to move in the direction of ones choosing, to read and cultivate whatever one chooses, to embrace and believe in a future, to build and create against any odds, to cast the shadows into the sea.

I am in agreement with those who want to deconstruct government. Government is a "necessary evil" that resembles dysfunctional families by making people dependent on it. There is no heroism or greatness in government these days. A swelling government usually means a weak populace who then take their sense of powerlessness out on anything they can get their hands on. I trust, in this sense, the instinct of the people over the dependence and self-satisfied arguments of the academics. Still, while it is evil it is also necessary. And much more focus should be put on its necessity than its evil at this point.

That doesn't answer who will win in November. It matters that someone wins in November. The day no one wins in November is the day the barbarians have breached the walls of the White House and whoop in glory as they wave the first lady's undies around. Until that day arrives the election in November is a good habit. Politics belongs to winners and losers. But hopefully, the future belongs to the free. Make the "necessary evil" up to the task.

Back to Essay Page

David Eide
January 24, 2014