Toxic sludge is good for you – and it comes in two flavors
They say if you don’t want to make enemies don’t discuss politics (or speak the truth), but every rule is made to be broken…
You don’t have to be a psychic to predict the outcome of the November election.
I already know who’s going to lose and I’m willing to bet every penny I have on it.
The losers will be the American people…In fact, we’ve already lost.
How is this possible?
How is it possible that the United States of America has effectively come under the control of two epically corrupt organizations that provide us with nothing but garbage as choices for president?
The news media, and even some intelligent people, act as if this is normal and the only thing we have to debate is which one to vote for.
There’s a much deeper issue here.
Imagine if you went to a restaurant and were offered just two choices of drinks, one red and one blue – and they were both made with toxic sludge.
Would you feel compelled to buy and drink one of them?
Of course not, but that’s the state of affairs we find ourselves in today.
Presidential candidates are not our friends
Both candidates thump their chests and tell us they want to make America “great.”
The crowd roars. “Yeah!” and thumps its chests in return.
Really?
We already have the biggest military, the biggest real economy, and the biggest potential for positive influence on the world.
How much “greater” do these candidates intend to make us?
I’ll settle, and gladly settle, for a candidate who wants to make America decent.
By “America”, I mean the government of the United States of America.
We the People don’t need anyone to make us great, thank you very much, but what we are in serious need of is a government that is decent.
Not great. Not the greatest that ever was. Simply decent.
Honest, law abiding, service oriented.
The fact is that the People of the United States (as well as people all over the world) have been the victims, not the beneficiaries, of American presidents and their ambitions – and the packs of criminal cronies who come along with them.
(My apologies if you’re a fan of Barack Obama, George Bush Jr., Bill Clinton, George Bush Sr., Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson etc. etc.)
In every case, the country has ended up much worse off after its presidents were through with it. To top it off, most of these characters have committed crimes that should have put them in a court of law if not jail.
How did we get here?
How did we get here and what do we do about it?
First, we need to take a good look at the lunacy of letting two profoundly sick organizations – the Republican and the Democratic parties (the “Republicrats”) – have a monopoly on who gets to be president.
There’s nothing in the Declaration of Independence that said: “We want Liberty and the right to be ruled by a two party system.”
The Constitution doesn’t specify two parties.
And I’m damn sure no American ever went to war to preserve the Republican and Democratic parties.
Yet somehow the two party “syndicate” – which always means the Republican and Democratic parties – is “enshrined.”
The people who pulled that off – and perpetuate it – should get the Con Artists of the Century Award.
Reality check
The reality is there are three “parties” in the United States:
The Republicans, the Democrats and the Majority that believes that none of the choices the two parties offer are worthy of consideration, let alone the presidency.
If you’ve read this far and your head hasn’t exploded yet, you’re in the third party.
And guess what?
You’re not represented.
Think about it.
If you’re a must-win-at-all-costs Democrat, you’ve got a candidate.
If you’re a must-win-at-all-costs Republican, you’ve got a candidate.
If you’re a normal, decent human being who wants the best for the country, you don’t get a choice.
(Giving someone the choice of drinking either Red or Blue toxic sludge is not a choice at all.)
If you don’t have a choice, then that means the outcome is out of your hands and you are in fact a subject of the small minority that buys into this corrupt syndicate.
You have to ask yourself: What’s worse? Being subject to King George or to two organizations that by any normal standard would be called criminal enterprises?
The 800 pound gorilla in the room
The fact that we’re subject to whatever crooks happen to be running the two parties is only the tip of the iceberg.
There’s another problem every bit as serious and strangely, no one talks about it: “The Imperial Presidency.”
Back in 1973, historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. wrote a book that coined the phrase.
In his book he recouunted the way presidents and their bureaucracies have steadily accumulated powers that are in fact unconstitutional and therefore illegal.
One of the issues he focused on in his book is the power to declare war.
Believe it or not, the Constitution reserves that power for the Congress.
Yet over the years, especially in the last 100, presidents have just gone ahead and dropped bombs on, invaded, armed rebels in and engaged in violent “dirty tricks” against countries all over the world – by presidential decree.
We can see what a disaster this has created in the Middle East, a disaster which gets worse by the day and impacts our own safety and prosperity.
There’s more
War-making isn’t the only place where Presidents overstep.
They get us involved in trade treaties that profit a few companies, but put the nation as a whole and tens of millions of workers on the losing side.
They run interference for the fraudulent activities of powerful Wall Street banks.
They back oil companies against the People. They back Monsanto against the People. They permit a monopolistic health care syndicate to rip people off with ever-escalating prices and ever-declining services.
And basic freedoms – to be private in your communications and finances, to travel, to educate your children the way you see fit, to own firearms – are all being eroded if not under direct attack.
What’s our choice?
The first option you always have when you recognize an evil is to not participate in it.
Don’t pretend that there is such a thing as the “lesser of two evils.”
There are two evils. Period.
Which one is specifically worse is a matter of debate and debating takes your eye off the ball.
Ask questions.
Why is the choice we are given – in every election – the “lesser of two evils?”
Why are we letting presidents – regardless of their promises or charisma – assume more and more power while at the same time become less and less accountable?
Why do we tolerate our country being stolen from us, our children and their children?
There are no easy answers here.
This is an article about hard questions: Questions we can and should be asking.
The entrepreneur’s dilema – and a suggestion
It’s hard to make a living.
It’s even harder to start, run and grow a business – and keep it alive in troubled times.
Getting involved in political discussions is time consuming and it runs the real risk of alienating customers.
But there comes a certain point where enough is enough – and I believe we’re there.
One simple thing you can do is use your platform as a business owner to get the discussion going. The news media sure isn’t going to do it.
A simple way to start would be to run your own poll. (Everyone loves a poll.)
Just ask:
Who do you believe would make the best president?
– Trump
– Clinton
– Neither, I think they’re both terrible choices
You might be surprised – or not surprised – by the answers and I bet your customers will appreciate seeing the results.
Notice that this simple question is never asked in a poll.
Every poll assumes you’re on “one side” or another and that both sides are legitimate. A big, and false, assumption.
The Red drink or the Blue drink of toxic sludge?
How about neither?
But this is crazy, isn’t it?
There are hundreds of reasons why the syndicate of crooks who control American politics cannot be rooted out.
I’ve heard them all.
I also know this:
1. We’re past the point of doing nothing
2. If we don’t think and talk about alternatives, there will never be an alternative
Big problems are generally not solved quickly, they’re not solved easily and they’re certainly not solved alone.
The key is to get people to see the problem clearly, talk about the problem, and then “tune” their minds to look for solutions.
That’s how all problems – big and small – are solved.
I know one more thing: the sooner we get started, the sooner we’ll start finding solutions.
– Ken McCarthy
P.S. For over 25 years I’ve been sharing the simple but powerful things that matter in business with my clients.
If you’d like direction for your business that will work today, tomorrow and twenty years from now, visit us at the System Club.
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