It’s often said we get the government we deserve. But when you are a big and powerful nation that holds a great deal of sway in the world—albeit a rapidly shrinking sway—the government you get affects a huge constituency who has absolutely no say in the matter. So to those of you who are affected by whatever travesty is wrought in the next United States (USSA) national election, that’s just tough. Suck it up, and get on with your lives—you can’t do any more to influence the election than American voters can.

In case you may not have noticed, the United States is planning, for November of this year, another of those exciting contests where citizens get to pretend that marking an ‘X’, or pulling a lever, or dimpling a chad is going to count for something. It doesn’t. But because everyone gets a whiff when America farts, much of the world will be paying attention.

And look what we get to watch: A popularity fest where the contestants repeatedly lie about their opponents and themselves, where they studiously avoid discussing anything that is important—like policies or substantive issues, for instance—and where there is a tedious battle of the dollars that leads to the American people ultimately getting to choose between, well, nothing really.

One of the most laughable ironies is the arrogance of the United States to monitor or supervise elections in other countries, as if the USSA were the arbiter of all that is fair and honest. It doesn’t take a great deal of insight to understand that the entire election machine in the United States is a cesspool of manipulated garbage. The USSA election process is corrupt, and it isn’t capable of anything but spitting out swill to fill the various offices.

But let’s assume for the moment that the three remaining candidates for US president—John McCain for the Republicans, and Barack Obama or Hilary Clinton for the Democrats—have some measure of decency, that all, or at least one of them, has a moral compass. I know that’s a stretch, but stay with me on this.

Whomever of them is chosen isn’t going to make the slightest bit of difference in the world, or even appreciably in the United States.

Within the USSA itself, the successful candidate will ultimately do nothing of real value for the American people, because he or she can’t. You can draw your own conclusions about the integrity of the candidates, but the simple truth is that the President—indeed the government—of the USSA has no power. The United States was bought and paid for a long time ago, and the only purpose of these every-four-years exercises in self-flagellation is to maintain the illusion that the people are actually in charge. They aren’t. The owners of the United States—and that is most decidedly not ‘we the people’—are clever enough to allow the elections to happen like clockwork, just to continue to feed that illusion.

The late author Douglas Adams once wrote, “Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.” He added that the real function of those in office is to distract the public’s attention from the real source of power—which is certainly not the people elected. Adams was writing about the President of the Universe, but the same principle applies.

Regardless of who is chosen, the domestic scene in the USSA is unlikely to change significantly. If it is McCain, we’ll get more of the same. And isn’t that something to look forward to? If it is either Clinton or Obama, there is ample reason to suspect the lunatic redneck fringe won’t let either of them survive their first term. And even if no one comes forward who can shoot straight enough, neither of these candidates will do much useful for America. The economy is too far down the tank to rescue in a hurry—if at all; both of them will carry on the same tired militarism as the incumbent—despite what Obama might be saying about that; the imagination is too bankrupt to generate a renaissance for America.

On the international scene, the election will be even less noticeable. The whole world knows the time of America has passed. At this point, it is just a wounded old sea cow, pathetic to watch, but still powerful enough to lash out in its death throes. But this time, there isn’t enough strength remaining in the old whore.

Frankly, America doesn’t deserve a rebirth. It had a chance to be the best place on earth, and to help make the whole world a truly glorious place (barring whatever nastiness Nature might have in mind), but it succumbed to greed and brutality. It treated the rest of the world as its latrine. And now that Asia is rising, and Europe doesn’t need the USSA to any great degree, there will be no one to mourn its passing.

So why would the owners of the United States allow this to happen? Two reasons: they don’t care; and most of them are not American.

So for those of you who enjoy such spectacles, you can keep on pretending that the upcoming election has some point, some purpose, and that it can deliver something of value. It doesn’t, and it won’t. 

© Copyright 2008 by AxisofLogic.com

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Paul Richard Harris is an Axis of Logic editor and columnist, based in Canada.  He can be reached at paul@axisoflogic.com

Read the Biography and additional articles by Axis Columnist, Paul Richard Harris