Friday, September 19, 2008
POM, PCP and DRS, dangerous mental diseases
In a recent interview by Sean Hannity, Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin referred to an addiction to OPM (say opium) when asked about the causes of the meltdown of Wall Street and the financial markets. She was referring to Other Peoples Money.
I think she also should have mentioned another addiction, that of the Washington politicians to PCP. So many of our politicians are controlled by this addiction as evidenced by their inability to separate themselves from the Washington power structure.
They keep returning year after year, election after election. Each time they complain about the corruption of Washington and vow to clean it up, but in the end they, year by year, election by election, become increasingly tainted by their addiction.
That addiction? PCP, also known as Personal Consolidation of Power. Except for the very strong and disciplined, they all fall into its grasp. The grasp of its tentacles and the tantalizing purr of its disarming voice more often than not overwhelm the good intentions of freshmen politicians.
Its most prominent symptom is the complete lack of acknowledgement of their addiction. As we all know, especially those whose life work is in addiction counseling, until an addict acknowledges his addiction, there’s no hope for him/her.
For those who are in the grasp of this addiction, usually their only hope is the good will of their constituents who, though not an easy task, must force themselves to think of their representative over themselves, and issue a massive dose of anti-incumbentadosis.
On November 4 of this year, voters across this nation have the solemn obligation, as they go to their polls, to vote for a candidate other than the incumbent.
I know, in some cases, this may be a very difficult task. It’s hard to think about what you are doing and consider your vote intellectually rather than by rote. But for the health of your representative, you must do so.
If you find you cannot, it may be a strong symptom that you are infected with an incurable case of DRS or Disassociative Responsibility Syndrome. Other symptoms are an insane belief that your politicians are actually telling you the truth as they campaign, that you want to get your fair share of the money the candidate is promising to dole out, and you think you must punish the greedy rich and big business by increasing taxes on them to transfer their money to your bank account.
If you exhibit any of the symptoms of DRS, it is vital that you isolate yourself immediately. Do not go out of your house until after November 4th. It is especially important that you stay away from your polling place and avoid at all costs absentee balloting.
Extracting yourself from the political process is the only hope for you to regain your sense of self responsibility and for your country to regain it’s equilibrium and return to the greatness for which it is known.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
