Opinion

Playing party politics

First allow me to apologize for the abeyance.

It appears I chose to tackle much greater endeavors than I originally predicted. This ultimately left me rather busy the past few weeks. While I have not been writing for The Clarion Call, I have been staying up to date with the news.

And oh what a glorious past few weeks we have had. The GOP race is growing ever more interesting, or less interesting depending on your view. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, the propagated potential savior of the Republicans, announced today at 1 p.m. eastern that he will not be running.

There’s a surprise, especially when the man himself made repeated announcements negating the rumors he would run.
But hey, it gave the press something to write about, and thus ultimately gave some publicity and legitimacy to the process as a whole. But let’s take a quick second and elucidate why some thought Christie should enter the race.
A majority of it has less to do with Christie’s career and more to do with the current candidates. Mitt Romney started off hot, and while he still has a large enough bank to run his campaign, he lost some heat after the Iowa Ames Straw Poll. What’s this you ask?

Virtually it is a meaningless mock election in which candidates blow money in order to gain votes in the state of Iowa. Spending your money on a mock election really does wonders for the economy. While this is a good opportunity to see some of the candidates early on, many professionals agree that mass media outlets usually blow the results out of proportion. Consider this, Mitt Romney won it 2008, and John McCain didn’t even participate.

The gun-slinging ex-governor of Texas, Rick Perry, burst into the race like a supernova. He also burned out like one, as well. In large part, this has to do with scrutiny of his past policies that don’t seem “conservative” enough for the GOP base. I could dive deep into the specifics here, but instead I recommend checking out a clip from an episode of Saturday Night Live that aired about two weeks ago. To me it is the perfect satirical explanation.

So now the GOP base stands rather fractious, as Romney and Perry battle it out for the more traditional conservatives, while folks like Michelle Bachmann, Herman Cain and good ole’ Ron Paul gain the support of the Tea-Party conservatives.

Leaders in the Republican Party simply want someone who can beat Obama.

To do that, they first need to find a candidate who doesn’t stratify their potential voting base. Hence, let’s either persuade Christie to join in and hope for the best, or simply use it as a political machination in order to light a fire of sorts under the current candidates.

Either way, it certainly mixed things up for a bit. In all honesty though, when I look at all of this and then compare it with what we the people face on our streets, I see an administration separated from reality. It’s nice to know there are still some individuals out there like the Wall-Street protestors who utilize some good old civic activism.

To them I extend my props, and for some of the Americans out there who choose to do nothing, I will leave you with some prose. Interpret it as you wish.

The fibrous boughs of American braggadocio sway as the recalcitrant zephyrs of humanity scream through the land. The tree’s hubristic fruit only furthers the burden.

As a consequence of consuming such ersatz delicacies, our plebeian mores manifest with an ostensible abeyance of depth. We pare our fortuitous chance of civic duty, our right of self-autonomy, our chance for free will and we indulge in the visceral temptations of bread and circuses.

Finally, as the curtain call begins and the coltish storms culminate, the tree of our once great republic buckles under the proclivities of those it was once intended for.

Such is the way of our short history, and such is the nature of the profligate waves of humanity as they crash upon the shores of serenity.

Enjoy ALF!