Cynicism Runs Strong In Election Year

Is there enough salt in the ocean so everybody can take a grain of it to choke down all the politician promises served up during an election year.?There is no problem too large, no dilemma they can’t handle and no mountain they can’t topple. Have a leaky faucet? They will form a committee, study the problem, come up with a solution and attack the problem head on as they set up the DDA, the Drip Deterrence Agency.

Everything would be just rosy if they were allowed to do all they wanted. If Barack Obama got everything he wanted, the wealthiest among us would have a tax rate of 30 percent, something he called the “Buffet Rule” so he would have to pay a higher percentage than his poor secretary. The thing is, Mr. Buffet, a known supporter of Obama, pays a 15 percent tax rate on his investments, but what they don’t tell us average folks with leaky faucets is that Buffet, whether he admits it or not, has already paid taxes on the money with which he’s investing — it’s a double dip thing.

Trying to stir up the youth vote, Obama is getting tough with universities and the constantly rising tuition. His plan would shift federal dollars away from universities that don’t control tuition costs and encourage more efficiency and competition at institutions of higher learning.

Well, that sounds good, especially to the “Occupy” crowd out there, and to parents everywhere selling their souls in order to send Timmy and Sally to college. College is a great thing, but let’s face it, college also is overrated. A large percentage of college graduates would be able to learn to do their jobs with a few years’ experience at a lot less cost. To be certain, the world needs college-trained engineers, physicians and scientists, but the country might be a little better off with a few less poli-sci and general studies majors and a few more plumbers to handle all those leaky faucets.

Most of the solutions offered up by politicians involve more government intrusion at more taxpayer expense. Obama, and others, can pander to the middle class all they want, they may even promise enough to win another election, but at some point, people casting votes need to ponder what government has made better. Lyndon Johnson vowed to eradicate poverty, Social Security was promised to bolster the nation’s elderly, it and other New Deal programs were supposedly only temporary, but after almost 80 years the programs are still in place now costing taxpayers trillions of dollars every year.

Still, these parasites seeking office promise more and more. It seems though, with every promise made, the country edges a little closer to the precipice.

In Tuesday’s State of the Union address, Obama, like other presidents before him, are welcomed in high fashion and then they strut down the aisle, shaking hands, winking and pointing at people determined to catch a glimpse of their benevolent leader.

Someone pointed out a book written by the National Review’s John Derbyshire, who decried this once-a-year mandated idolization of the office of president.

“On the podium at last, the president offers up preposterously grandiose assurances of protection, provision, and moral guidance from his government, these declarations of benevolent omnipotence punctuated by standing ovations and cheers from legislators.”

Derbyshire also wrote the president is now “pontiff, in touch with Divinity, to be addressed like the Almighty.”

As Solomon noted, “There is nothing new under the sun.” The wise king was right, as it seems the feudal system is coming back into fashion, as the ruling elite — the modern feudal lords — rule and throw bread at the serfs — the modern working stiffs.

There should be no end to national cynicism during this election cycle.