By: Wes Messamore
The Humble Libertarian
Even top tier, pinnacle politicians like Barack Obama cannot help themselves but utter this hackneyed goad.
The politician who says: "This is the most important election of our lifetime!" every election– is like the car salesman who says: "This month's specials are out of this world!" every month.
But everybody remembers the last election was also "the most important election of our lifetime!"™ and knows the next election will also be "the most important election of our lifetime!"™
It's just another line politicians feed voters in addition to such well worn campaign classics as "I won't raise your taxes," and "I'm not like those other guys." Can it. You will. You are.
Heaven help the heretic who dares point out to the masses that there is often no real substantive difference between the pair of alternatives offered by the two party establishment.
Even though we all know not very deep down that this "most important election of our life!" shtick is the same old song and dance, pointing out that it won't matter who wins is a surefire way to make even a sweet old lady curse and spit.
"But you've got to do your duty and vooooote! This is the mooooooost important election of our lifetimeeeeeesss!"
But the truth is: There is usually no difference between the Republican and the Democrat because there's no difference between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party.
That's a marketing illusion that Republicans and Democrats have to spend billions and billions of dollars to re-enforce.
Many political commentators today are perplexed by what seems to be the increasing polarization of the two party system in America, and the rising tensions that have accompanied a rhetorical arms race of inflammatory cross fire.
But in fact the Republicans and Democrats are not drifting further apart than ever before. Over recent decades they have actually become more and more like each other ever since the Democratic Party started taking all that Wall Street money in the late 1980s.
Today they are nearly indistinguishable when it comes to the substantive policy results each delivers when in power.
It is their unprecedented similarity to each other that has given rise to the need for ever more hyperbolic product differentiation in their branded marketing, or to borrow a phrase from Shakespeare:
The parties doth protest too much.
If Coke and Pepsi were actually very different from each other, they wouldn’t have to spend so much money (billions of dollars a year each) to keep from losing market share to each other.
But in the end– even though they are slightly different– they are essentially the same thing: a cola-flavored, carbonated beverage... and if either one lets up even a little on multi-million dollar advertising campaigns to convince consumers that it’s different and better, it will lose market share to the other.
The most important decision of your lifetimmmeeeeeee!!!
That’s what’s happening with the two party system today. The two parties are actually so similar that they have to spend billions each year to differentiate themselves from the competition, but the differences aren’t real– they’re branded corporate marketing.
What do Democratic voters think a blue wave is actually going to accomplish? The U.S. House of Representatives has been a servile, irrelevant pawn in the service of the Washington swamp establishment for most of our lifetimes.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (CA) has been either the House Minority Leader or Speaker of the House ever since she was unanimously elected by the House Democratic caucus in 2006.
In 2008 she worked with George W. Bush to whip House Democrats into supporting the TARP bailout, a bill that stole $700 billion from working Americans to give to Wall Street banks, rewarding them for decades of recklessness and corruption.
The House Democrats' second in command is Rep. Steny Hoyer (MD), who also voted to bail out thieving Wall Street banks and soak the American poor and middle class to keep irresponsible and unscrupulous bankers from having to face the music.
Hoyer's number one campaign contributor, Exelon Corporation, is a big energy company that has given nearly $300,000 to an energy policy nonprofit with close ties to the Koch Brothers.
Still think it really matters that Democrats win the House this election? And Republicans– what do you think you're voting for this election? Lower taxes and better immigration policy?
You know Barack Obama was just as tough on immigration as Trump right? He deported 2.5 million immigrants. Before him Bill Clinton and Dianne Feinstein were using the same immigration shtick Trump is today to rile up Dems back in the 90s.
And Republicans say they cut taxes, but they have admitted that their tax plan last year actually raises taxes on some middle class taxpayers. But in the end it doesn't matter if they cut taxes.
What matters is whether they have increased federal spending (which you and your children will have to pay for later) or have they curtailed it? And with both Houses of Congress and the White House in their control, the Republicans have grown the federal budget to unprecedented proportions.
So with a record number of Libertarian Party candidates running in local, state, and federal elections in 2018, I hope you didn't throw away your vote on a Republican or a Democrat.
The Humble Libertarian
Even top tier, pinnacle politicians like Barack Obama cannot help themselves but utter this hackneyed goad.
The politician who says: "This is the most important election of our lifetime!" every election– is like the car salesman who says: "This month's specials are out of this world!" every month.
But everybody remembers the last election was also "the most important election of our lifetime!"™ and knows the next election will also be "the most important election of our lifetime!"™
It's just another line politicians feed voters in addition to such well worn campaign classics as "I won't raise your taxes," and "I'm not like those other guys." Can it. You will. You are.
Heaven help the heretic who dares point out to the masses that there is often no real substantive difference between the pair of alternatives offered by the two party establishment.
Even though we all know not very deep down that this "most important election of our life!" shtick is the same old song and dance, pointing out that it won't matter who wins is a surefire way to make even a sweet old lady curse and spit.
"But you've got to do your duty and vooooote! This is the mooooooost important election of our lifetimeeeeeesss!"
But the truth is: There is usually no difference between the Republican and the Democrat because there's no difference between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party.
That's a marketing illusion that Republicans and Democrats have to spend billions and billions of dollars to re-enforce.
Many political commentators today are perplexed by what seems to be the increasing polarization of the two party system in America, and the rising tensions that have accompanied a rhetorical arms race of inflammatory cross fire.
But in fact the Republicans and Democrats are not drifting further apart than ever before. Over recent decades they have actually become more and more like each other ever since the Democratic Party started taking all that Wall Street money in the late 1980s.
Today they are nearly indistinguishable when it comes to the substantive policy results each delivers when in power.
It is their unprecedented similarity to each other that has given rise to the need for ever more hyperbolic product differentiation in their branded marketing, or to borrow a phrase from Shakespeare:
The parties doth protest too much.
If Coke and Pepsi were actually very different from each other, they wouldn’t have to spend so much money (billions of dollars a year each) to keep from losing market share to each other.
But in the end– even though they are slightly different– they are essentially the same thing: a cola-flavored, carbonated beverage... and if either one lets up even a little on multi-million dollar advertising campaigns to convince consumers that it’s different and better, it will lose market share to the other.
That’s what’s happening with the two party system today. The two parties are actually so similar that they have to spend billions each year to differentiate themselves from the competition, but the differences aren’t real– they’re branded corporate marketing.
What do Democratic voters think a blue wave is actually going to accomplish? The U.S. House of Representatives has been a servile, irrelevant pawn in the service of the Washington swamp establishment for most of our lifetimes.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (CA) has been either the House Minority Leader or Speaker of the House ever since she was unanimously elected by the House Democratic caucus in 2006.
In 2008 she worked with George W. Bush to whip House Democrats into supporting the TARP bailout, a bill that stole $700 billion from working Americans to give to Wall Street banks, rewarding them for decades of recklessness and corruption.
The House Democrats' second in command is Rep. Steny Hoyer (MD), who also voted to bail out thieving Wall Street banks and soak the American poor and middle class to keep irresponsible and unscrupulous bankers from having to face the music.
Hoyer's number one campaign contributor, Exelon Corporation, is a big energy company that has given nearly $300,000 to an energy policy nonprofit with close ties to the Koch Brothers.
Still think it really matters that Democrats win the House this election? And Republicans– what do you think you're voting for this election? Lower taxes and better immigration policy?
You know Barack Obama was just as tough on immigration as Trump right? He deported 2.5 million immigrants. Before him Bill Clinton and Dianne Feinstein were using the same immigration shtick Trump is today to rile up Dems back in the 90s.
And Republicans say they cut taxes, but they have admitted that their tax plan last year actually raises taxes on some middle class taxpayers. But in the end it doesn't matter if they cut taxes.
What matters is whether they have increased federal spending (which you and your children will have to pay for later) or have they curtailed it? And with both Houses of Congress and the White House in their control, the Republicans have grown the federal budget to unprecedented proportions.
So with a record number of Libertarian Party candidates running in local, state, and federal elections in 2018, I hope you didn't throw away your vote on a Republican or a Democrat.
