What If Elections Don't Matter?
by Andrew P. Napolitano
What if Democrats and Republicans were two wings of the same bird of prey?
What if elections were actually useful tools of social control? What if they
just provided the populace with meaningless participation in a process that
validates an establishment that never meaningfully changes? What if that
establishment doesn't want and doesn't have the consent of the governed? What if
the two-party system was actually a mechanism used to limit so-called public
opinion? What if there were more than two sides to every issue, but the two
parties wanted to box you in to one of their corners?
What if there's no such thing as public opinion, because every thinking person
has opinions that are uniquely his own? What if public opinion was just a
manufactured narrative that makes it easier to convince people that if their
views are different, there's something wrong with that -- or something wrong
with them?
What if the whole purpose of the Democratic and Republican parties was not to
expand voters' choices, but to limit them? What if the widely perceived
differences between the two parties was just an illusion? What if the heart of
government policy remains the same, no matter who's in the White House? What if
the heart of government policy remains the same, no matter what the people want?
What if those vaunted differences between Democrat and Republican were actually
just minor disagreements? What if both parties just want power and are willing
to have young people fight meaningless wars in order to enhance that power? What
if both parties continue to fight the war on drugs just to give bureaucrats and
cops bigger budgets and more jobs?
What if government policies didn't change when government's leaders did? What if
no matter who won an election, government stayed the same? What if government
was really a revolving door of political hacks, bent on exploiting the people
while they're in charge?
What if both parties supported welfare, war, debt, bailouts and big government?
What if the rhetoric that candidates displayed on the campaign trail was dumped
after electoral victory? What if Barack Obama campaigned as an antiwar,
pro-civil liberties candidate, then waged senseless wars while assaulting your
rights that the Constitution is supposed to protect? What if George W. Bush
campaigned on a platform of nonintervention and small government, then waged a
foreign policy of muscular military intervention and a domestic policy of vast
government borrowing and growth?
What if Bill Clinton declared the era of big government to be over, but actually
just convinced Republicans like Newt Gingrich that they can get what they want
out of big government, too? What if the Republicans went along with it?
What if Ronald Reagan spent six years running for president promising to shrink
government, but then the government grew while he was in office? What if,
notwithstanding Reagan's ideas and cheerfulness and libertarian rhetoric, there
really was no Reagan Revolution?
What if all this is happening again? What if Rick Santorum is being embraced by
voters who want small government even though he voted for the Patriot Act, for
an expansion of Medicare and for raising the debt ceiling by trillions of
dollars? What if Mitt Romney is being embraced by voters who want anyone but
Obama, but don't realize that Romney might as well be Obama on everything from
warfare to welfare?
What if Ron Paul is being ignored by the media not because they claim he's
unappealing or unelectable, but because he doesn't fit into the pre-manufactured
public opinion mold used by the establishment to pigeonhole the electorate and
create the so-called narrative that drives media coverage of elections?
What if the biggest difference between most candidates was not substance but
style? What if those stylistic differences were packaged as substantive ones to
re-enforce the illusion of a difference between Democrats and Republicans? What
if Romney wins and ends up continuing most of the same policies that Obama
promoted? What if Obama's policies, too, are merely extensions of Bush's?
What if a government that manipulated us could be fired? What if a government
that lacked the true and knowing consent of the governed could be dismissed?
What if it were possible to have a game-changer? What if we need a Ron Paul to
preserve and protect our freedoms from assault by the government?
What if we could make elections matter again? What if we could do something
about this?
by Andrew P. Napolitano
What if Democrats and Republicans were two wings of the same bird of prey?
What if elections were actually useful tools of social control? What if they
just provided the populace with meaningless participation in a process that
validates an establishment that never meaningfully changes? What if that
establishment doesn't want and doesn't have the consent of the governed? What if
the two-party system was actually a mechanism used to limit so-called public
opinion? What if there were more than two sides to every issue, but the two
parties wanted to box you in to one of their corners?
What if there's no such thing as public opinion, because every thinking person
has opinions that are uniquely his own? What if public opinion was just a
manufactured narrative that makes it easier to convince people that if their
views are different, there's something wrong with that -- or something wrong
with them?
What if the whole purpose of the Democratic and Republican parties was not to
expand voters' choices, but to limit them? What if the widely perceived
differences between the two parties was just an illusion? What if the heart of
government policy remains the same, no matter who's in the White House? What if
the heart of government policy remains the same, no matter what the people want?
What if those vaunted differences between Democrat and Republican were actually
just minor disagreements? What if both parties just want power and are willing
to have young people fight meaningless wars in order to enhance that power? What
if both parties continue to fight the war on drugs just to give bureaucrats and
cops bigger budgets and more jobs?
What if government policies didn't change when government's leaders did? What if
no matter who won an election, government stayed the same? What if government
was really a revolving door of political hacks, bent on exploiting the people
while they're in charge?
What if both parties supported welfare, war, debt, bailouts and big government?
What if the rhetoric that candidates displayed on the campaign trail was dumped
after electoral victory? What if Barack Obama campaigned as an antiwar,
pro-civil liberties candidate, then waged senseless wars while assaulting your
rights that the Constitution is supposed to protect? What if George W. Bush
campaigned on a platform of nonintervention and small government, then waged a
foreign policy of muscular military intervention and a domestic policy of vast
government borrowing and growth?
What if Bill Clinton declared the era of big government to be over, but actually
just convinced Republicans like Newt Gingrich that they can get what they want
out of big government, too? What if the Republicans went along with it?
What if Ronald Reagan spent six years running for president promising to shrink
government, but then the government grew while he was in office? What if,
notwithstanding Reagan's ideas and cheerfulness and libertarian rhetoric, there
really was no Reagan Revolution?
What if all this is happening again? What if Rick Santorum is being embraced by
voters who want small government even though he voted for the Patriot Act, for
an expansion of Medicare and for raising the debt ceiling by trillions of
dollars? What if Mitt Romney is being embraced by voters who want anyone but
Obama, but don't realize that Romney might as well be Obama on everything from
warfare to welfare?
What if Ron Paul is being ignored by the media not because they claim he's
unappealing or unelectable, but because he doesn't fit into the pre-manufactured
public opinion mold used by the establishment to pigeonhole the electorate and
create the so-called narrative that drives media coverage of elections?
What if the biggest difference between most candidates was not substance but
style? What if those stylistic differences were packaged as substantive ones to
re-enforce the illusion of a difference between Democrats and Republicans? What
if Romney wins and ends up continuing most of the same policies that Obama
promoted? What if Obama's policies, too, are merely extensions of Bush's?
What if a government that manipulated us could be fired? What if a government
that lacked the true and knowing consent of the governed could be dismissed?
What if it were possible to have a game-changer? What if we need a Ron Paul to
preserve and protect our freedoms from assault by the government?
What if we could make elections matter again? What if we could do something
about this?