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Carl Grafton, an Auburn University Montgomery political scientist, said that whatever the outcome, Sophocleus' [Libertarian candidate for Alabama governor] platform will cost him more votes than it could ever draw.
"Ideology is fine," he said, adding that he was sympathetic to many Libertarian views. "But when it comes to winning elections, they've just got to connect to the real world."
Barrow, Bill. "Libertarian could throw wrench in election." Mobile Register.10/31/02.
Political elections can be both instructive and nauseating. Even in the best of times, I find myself reaching constantly for the mute button on the television remote. Hearing lie after lie, distortion after distortion, personal attack after personal attack grates on my nerves in short order.
It's not that I mind one politician trashing another. Heck, dissing politicos is a favorite pastime of mine. No. What gouges into my mind like bamboo slits shoved beneath my nails are the unspoken assumptions underlying the endless charges and countercharges flooding the airwaves.
Whether the issue involves education or Medicare or Social Security or drug benefits for seniors; whether a politician -- incumbent or hopeful -- assures us with great sincerity in his voice how much he personally has done for us, how much he cares for us, how much it tears him apart to see anyone anywhere bereft of whatever he "needs" to struggle through in life, how badly off we will be if he is not (re)elected; all these thugs, frauds, and delusional characters never ever for an instant or a moment question the fact that what they are doing is the essence of what good government is all about.
Republican or Democrat, Green or Reform party makes no difference. These people are quintessential practitioners of realpolitik, of that Holy Writ -- "pragmatism" -- worshipped by all the power-hungry control-freaks who infest the landscape of our nation and our planet, who plague us with their inanities, their smirks, their "good" intentions.
These vermin, these pests, these parasites upon the human populace would nod in sage agreement with the sadly popular attitude expressed in the quote above by Carl Grafton.
Winning uber alles: do whatever it takes, assume any position you must, promise any reward or bribe to the greedy populace it desires; scare, frighten, cajole, prostitute your soul. None of it matters. As long as you're the one who takes home the prom queen slut, you're golden. After all, the self-delusional voters have short memories. They won't recall next week -- let alone next month or next year or next election -- what you say or do now. Praise freedom and choice and security and compassion, support a good economy, more jobs, higher wages: in your mouth and in their minds, all those concepts are floating abstractions, senseless and arbitrary utterances that mean anything to anybody; subjectivism writ large. It's all a matter of opinion.
Just ask Carl Grafton.
This miasmic mess is, according to him, the "real world."
If we were to follow his sage advice, we would have to eschew such quaint notions as integrity, truth, and honesty. Morality? A nonstarter. Rights? It is to laugh. Liberty? Fuhgetaboutit.
No, no. In the Brave Old World championed by Grafton, legal extortion, legal theft, violation of rights, diminished freedom, endless social welfare programs for citizens and businesses, State-run education, censorship of ideas, and all the rest of this noxious brew are part and parcel of the "real" world.
In this warped point of view, voluntary social interactions, personal choice, and peaceful coexistence are the non-real. Defend the principle espoused by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Washington, and their cohorts that good government exists when the political is limited solely to protecting individual lives, individual property, and individual actions, and you have ventured into the realm of fantasy and make-believe.
According to this "sympathizer" to libertarian ideas, the sole avenue to electoral success is to pander to the American public, to hide what you really believe, to tell people what they want to hear. Appealing to their common sense, asking them to adhere to their moral principles, requesting that they use their rational faculties is a fool's errand.
Don't offer the voters facts or evidence. Don't seek coherence between word and deed. Don't demand that results match plans. No. Such distractions are the sure route to failure, to that ultimate purgatory: loss of power.
"Ideology" -- i.e., a coherent worldview in which one actually has the nerve to maintain that ideas matter -- is a naive impediment to gaining control over the lives, the fortunes, and the sacred honor of your fellow citizens.
Nothing like the opposition's own words to reveal the true depth of their personal degradation and immorality.
I find it breathtakingly arrogant and ignorant of Grafton and those who share his prejudices that they contend that they are the epitome of reality.
Their vision of the "real world" is founded upon and bolstered by the greatest fantasies and fallacies of all time: that universal slavery is both desirable and practical.
Their pipe dream tells us that no one is personal responsible for anything in his own life...but that we are all personally responsible for everyone else's lives.
Their delusion tells us that the road to prosperity is paved in theft and robbery...while truly productive, i.e., rich, people are the ultimate cause of poverty and despair.
Their fable tells us that a State-created inflation that erodes savings and rewards debtors is great for the economy...but that a gold-based monetary system is evil because it leads to stable or deflating prices.
Their fanciful invention tells us that State-censorship of ideas in politics and education creates a truly informed public...but that allowing the full and free expression of ideas in schools and society stifles discussion and stunts intellectual growth.
The figment of their imaginations tells us that people will labor ever harder and longer when they receive no benefits for what they do and are taxed to the maximum...but profits that reward success will make people lazy and self-indulgent.
Their hallucination tells us that making health care or housing or food or gasoline or education available for zero cost will foster increased supplies...but that adhering to the principle of supply-and-demand will lead to price-gouging shortages.
Their chimera tells us that we can all live at each others' expense yet still love one another...but that a desire to make people pay for what they receive is the height of maliciousness and alienation.
And these people have the temerity to tell us that we are not "connected to the real world"!
The dreams of these "realistic" folks are, in actuality, malignant nightmares of the most demonic kind.
As I said, elections can be most instructive. I learn the most interesting facts.
In this case, the insight -- the confession -- came directly from the horse's mouth...or at least the horse's something...
