Individual Liberty — Individual Responsibility 

Their primary job

I've got to give them this one. Most successful politicians aren't fools. That's not to say that some aren't fools, but most of them aren't. The ones that are are backed by a cadre of people that aren't.

What, after all, is a career politician's primary job? To win elections of course! Everything else is secondary to that goal. Everything else. What about after they win the election? What's their primary job then? Why it's still the same — to win the next election. What — did you actually think it was to represent the people? We are talking about career politicians here.

Now I'm not a politician, nor do I ever want to be one, but I do know what it takes to win an election — at least in a general sense. To win an election you have to get more votes officially and finally counted than your opponents do. You don't need more actual votes, just more counted votes. Or rather, you need more of the votes that count. I could write a whole series of posts on that topic (starting with the 2000 election mess, as well as several truly screwed up elections in the state of Washington in 2004 and after, moving on to the antics of ACORN, the efforts to register illegal aliens to vote, and yada yada yada…).

Much has been made of the recent trip to Europe made by the arrogant, anti-American, racist (Yes, that's exactly what I mean.), and Marxist candidate put forth by the major media and their Party of record, the Democratic Party. It's quite clear to the casual observer that Barack Obama was campaigning for the European vote over the past week. Some people have even been wondering why he would campaign in Europe, after all, it's American voters that count in the United States Presidential election. But Barack Obama wasn't campaigning for that job in Europe… Instead he's doing something that most American Presidents wait until their final years in office to do. He's working on building his legacy.

Conservatives have a lot to dislike about Barack Obama. The adjectives I used to describe him just a moment ago exemplify just a short list of them. It's easy to see his arrogance. He's already been campaigning as though he's sewn up the national election.  We've seen his disdain for the working class Americans that “cling to their bibles and their guns” with antipathy toward anyone “not like them”.

It's also very easy to see his anti-Americanism, although he tries to hide it under a cloak of false patriotism at home. For twenty years he attended a church with a pastor that we've all seen spews forth a diatribe against America, and only separated himself from that pastor after it became obvious to everyone that he was anti-American. His separation from the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has all of the appearance of political expediency about it, but the wrong Reverend Wright wasn't Mr. Obama's only anti-American associate. There's no need to go through a catalog of them — the point is that after spending most of his adult lifetime associating with people that spew anti-American rhetoric from the pulpit, or who engage in actual terrorism against America and her citizens, some of that attitude not only must have, but has demonstrably rubbed off on him. We can see that in his speeches he made in Europe. His own words condemn him as anti-American. The fact that he cannot admit to anything good done by our military does as well.

I also contend that he's a racist. I'm well aware of the “liberal” definition of racist. The Seattle school board posted it on their website some time back, until they were “forced” to remove it due to public outcry…

Racism:
The systematic subordination of members of targeted racial groups who have relatively little social power in the United States (Blacks, Latino/as, Native Americans, and Asians), by the members of the agent racial group who have relatively more social power (Whites). …

Thus, according to liberals, only white people can be racists. Now nothing here actually says that Mr. Obama himself believes this racist definition of racism… but there are other indications that he himself is a racist. There is for example the hyper sensitivity to any possible racist remark made by anyone that opposes his campaign, although this could be attributed more to the media than to Mr. Obama. There's also the strongly implied, sometimes articulated (although not necessarily by Mr. Obama's campaign itself) argument that anyone that doesn't vote for him must be a racist, regardless of their claims to principle. But, if we need his own words then let's use them shall we?

“I consistently believe that when it comes to whether it's Native Americans or African-American issues or reparations, the most important thing for the U.S. government to do is not just offer words, but offer deeds.”
— Barack Obama, July 27, 2008 (emphasis added)

Others have said it… but it bears repeating. If the hundreds of thousands of deaths in the war of 1861 weren't reparations enough… if the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution weren't reparations enough… if the various incarnations of the Civil Rights acts weren't reparations enough… If decades of institutionalized “reverse racism” ala racial preferences, more euphemistically termed “affirmative action” weren't reparations enough… then there will never be reparations enough. Barack Obama disdains the words offered by Congress this past week, completely forgetting the deeds of a century and a half.

The notion that people of a particular “race”, regardless of any family history of slavery or for that matter even a history of having lived in America at the time slavery was an active institution, are owed reparations for slavery by the people of another “race”, regardless of any family history of slave ownership or for that matter even  a history of having lived in America at the time slavery was an active institution, is — to put it plainly, racist.

Mr. Obama's Marxism is also pretty well documented as is his plainly socialist agenda. On the campaign trail he's promised many things, from free universal health care to free, government sponsored pre-kindergarten education for all children. How is he going to pay for these things? By raising taxes of course. But only on the rich.

You would think from observing this that Barack Obama is a fool… that there's no way he could win an election with this sort of background and platform… but you'd be wrong. His Marxism may well be enough to win him election. That and the foolishness of the electorate. His attitudes about race may well resonate with many on the left… and that could translate into votes. His anti-Americanism may well play into the attitudes of the fringe on the left as well. And all of it is glossed over by his handlers and allies in the major media.

So, if the primary job of the career politician is to win elections, what's their reward for success? What motivates the career politician? Remember, we're talking about career politicians here, and it's their job to win elections. This implies that everything else is secondary, including the truth. We can't simply take them at their word for what they say their motivation is. But then, I'm sure you've heard the expression “by their fruits shall you know them”. Some of you may even recall where you've heard it. OK, I'm sure that most of you do.

POWER.

That's a primary motivation for the career politician. It's why they seek election in the first place. It's why they seek re-election from the moment they win election in the first place.

POWER and the ability to exercise POWER motivate politicians. Witness Senator Patty “Osama Mama” Murray from the state of Washington. On Tuesday, she had this to say on her Capitol Hill blog…

“It is extremely important that we all remember why we are here, which is to make sure that workers across this country have safe places to go. It’s up to OSHA to enforce standards and write standards, and if they’re not going to do it, we will do it for them.”

That's it. That's all she said. I tried leaving a comment this morning. Apparently comments are moderated, because my comment still doesn't appear at her post. That's fine. I'm sure, if she bothers to read comments that she didn't like what I had to say. [Update: My comment is appearing at her post now. I encourage you to read the Hill Blog and give civil feedback on what your Representatives and Senators have to say. If they're going to participate in the blogosphere let's join them in the conversation.]

So Patty Murray claims that the reason she's in Congress is “to make sure that workers across this country have safe places to go”. That's odd… I've read the entire Constitution. I've read the Bill of Rights. I've read the other seventeen amendments to the Constitution. I've even read the Declaration of Independence. I can't find the Congressional mandate “to make sure that workers across this country have safe places to go” in any of those documents. It must be in one of those “penumbras” that our Supreme Court discovered when they found a Constitutionally guaranteed right to murder the unborn. I guess I don't see that well in the shadows. In any case, I'm pretty sure that that's not what motivates Patty Murray to seek re-election every six years.

Senator Murray reminds us that “It’s up to OSHA to enforce standards and write standards”. Well, I suppose she's right about that. OSHA was created to write standards. Further, OSHA is a part of the federal bureaucracy subordinate to the executive branch of our government. You know the branch I'm talking about, the one defined in Article II of the Constitution. Section 3 of Article II says that the President “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed”, so I guess that it's up to OSHA to enforce standards as well. It's good to see that the Democratic Senator from the state of Washington is up on that…

Senator Murray also warns us that “if they’re not going to do it, we will do it for them”. Are these words of warning really that, or are they merely posturing? What is it, after all that Senator Murray is threatening to do? Is she threatening to write standards? If so, I guess that's OK. After all, it's up to Congress to craft and enact legislation — laws and regulations — so long as that legislation complies with the Constitution. But that's not what Senator Murray is threatening to do at all! No, she's threatening to have Congress enforce workplace standards in place of OSHA.

I ask it again — are Senator Murray's words meaningful? Does she intend for Congress to carry out this threat? Or is it mere posturing in support of her primary job to win votes and thereby win re-election? Perhaps it's simply the revelation of her true motive behind seeking election in the first place — the overweening desire for power.

Quite simply, the power that Senator Murray is threatening to use doesn't belong to the Congress. She's threatening to usurp the executive power for the legislative branch. And she's not the first Congressperson (am I succumbing to the politically correct neutralization of language here? Heaven forbid) or Senator to try to do that.

No, career politicians aren't fools. They and their backers have a desire for power. They've found one of the best ways to obtain that power, and they've made it their job to win that power at any cost. Their drive for power is what drives the trend toward larger and larger government. Their need to win election after election is what drives the trend to offer more and larger entitlements to the masses, while ensuring that the people that ultimately end up paying for it are either out of sight and out of mind (because they're actually future generations) or are in the minority so that they have no voice (the ever decreasing percentage of the population that actually pays taxes).

The real fools are the people that they sucker into voting for them election after election after election.

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