PostHeaderIcon The Incumbrepublocrat Duopoly

I have heavily edited and rearranged my 2008 “Incumbrepublocrats” essay, and thought I ought to throw it up front here for critique:

 

Incumbrepublocrats: n. A cabal of incumbent ruling elites, organized into a duopoly called Republicans and Democrats, to fool complaisant sheeple into believing they have a choice, of shearers and shepherds. (aka: iRats)

 

As an independent swing voter and militant moderate, I am becoming increasingly disgusted with both caucuses of the Incumbrepublocrat Party. We used to laugh at the notion that the Soviet Union only had one political party, and their citizens were only allowed to choose from a slate of competing Communist Party members. Their candidates might differ over how best to achieve the Party’s goals, but Communism itself was not permitted to be questioned. Our two-party system was touted as infinitely better. Really?

 

At this point, I truly fail to see the difference. Communists and Incumbrepublocrats are both monolithic cabals of ruling elites, organized into a duopoly of nominal Left/Progressive and Right/Conservative caucuses. The only real differences between the caucuses, is the speed with which they move toward implementing a totalitarian, centrally controlled, Marxist nanny state, and minor disagreements over how much of our money to confiscate, and where best to spend it to buy votes.

 

It seems that all career politicians really care about is getting reelected. Even their lust for majority status, for which they will forsake all principles, is all about better office space and key committee positions, from which to shovel reelection pork, rather than anything ideological. Most would switch sides in a heartbeat, if that is what it took to get reelected. That they are welcomed with open arms when they do, and their malodorous past instantly forgiven, reveals all one needs to know about the principles of either caucus.

 

I am sick of their pandering, demagogy, and mudslinging. The abject hypocrisy they all demonstrate, in the amazing contortions required to keep their coalitions of competing special interests cobbled to their ‘base,’ would be amusing if it were not so pathetic. How so many otherwise intelligent adults, could be so utterly unprincipled is beyond me; but then I could never be a politician. Of course, their symbiosis is unavoidable; because if they ever allowed a viable centrist third party to get a foothold, it would become the majority party overnight.

 

I suspect that I am not the only one who rarely finds an electable candidate worth voting for, but plenty to vote against. We generally must hold our nose, while voting for the ‘lesser of two evils’ out of fear, of the specter of the greater evil winning. As a militant moderate, in the middle of the traditional Left/Right political spectrum, it drives me crazy that intellectually I know I should be voting for the Libertarian, Independent, or other third party candidate in centerfield. Yet, I know the Incumbrepublocrat duoply has the game rigged, so that no third-party has the slightest chance of ever breaking their cabal.

 

Fear of either Left or Right extremist agendas, almost always suckers me into forfeiting my vote to the more moderate of the two Incumbrepublocrats in the race, even when I don’t like either. I am now so disgusted, that I hereby vow never to do it again. If I can’t find someone worthy of voting for, I will vote ‘none of the above,’ by the simple expedient of not voting at all for that office. What would happen if they held an election and nobody came? At least they couldn’t claim a ‘mandate’ for their grandiose ‘vision,’ when all the average voter intended to convey, was that the other guy’s agenda was worse, and nobody was addressing ours.

 

I am nearly convinced that it is folly to ever vote for any incumbent; it just encourages the bastards to think they are our leaders, and they waste at least half of their time campaigning for reelection, in one way or another. Regardless of how likable or principled one might initially appear to be, when push comes to shove, they rarely represent the wishes of their constituents, when they perceive doing so might jeopardize their own careers, or their caucus’ agenda. They call it ‘politics’; but I didn’t want to vote for a caucus platform, a caucus leader, or even a caucus politician. I was trying to hire a representative of my own interests, not theirs.

 

TV commercials and robust professional campaign organizations are expensive, so they must kowtow to the special interests, who fund their reelection campaigns. They count on most of we the sheeple, to ignore politics until a few weeks before a national election, and then half of us not even bothering to vote. Even when we do, clueless voters too often choose simply on the basis of name recognition or, at best, whichever panderer, demagogue, or mudslinger is most persuasive in last minute TV commercials.

 

We are rather pathetic, really, but nothing is going to change until citizens start paying attention, develop a memory, and exercise our franchise seriously, intelligently, and unfailingly. If we were clever enough to pick a new crop every time, the current bunch could keep doing the jobs we hired them to do, while the wanabes did the campaigning, and the special interests wouldn’t be so inclined to invest big bucks to buy them. Why do we pine for ‘term limits,’ when we already have them? They are called elections, and we have only ourselves to blame for voting for an incumbent or establishment approved partisan hack.

 

Politicians long ago morphed our Republic into a democracy, and rather than act as our Representative employees, they demand the mantle of our ‘leaders.’ They may have need of caucus leaders to tell them what to think and do, but they would be surprised at how many of us in Flyover Country aren’t in the least interested in their leadership ability. We want to hire Representatives of our desires and culture, to protect our interests, not ‘leaders’ purporting to tell us what we are permitted to think, say, want, and do.

 

More and more of us are awakening to the realization that their beloved democracy is like two wolves and a lamb discussing what to have for breakfast. Our elections, which are so much the focal point of career politicians’ petty lives, are little more than advance pre-auctions, of soon-to-be-stolen goods; and they wonder why so few potential buyers bother to show up.

 

“Vote for me, and I promise to steal from the rich, and/or mortgage your grandchildren’s future, to provide loyal constituents a cornucopia of ‘free’ government ‘benefits,’ and hometown pork projects.” They call it voter apathy, yet more citizens every year are noticing how incompetent, insignificant, and irrelevant Federal politicians are to our lives, and are voting ‘none of the above,’ by the simple expedient of boycotting their electorial auctions.

 

The advantages of incumbency have been so institutionalized, that there are only a handful of nominally competitive races every two years, and most of those are the result of incumbents retiring. Like the Communist Party of the old Soviet Union, it is probably going to take a cataclysmic collapse of the system, before the Incumbrepublocrats ever permit the political reform required to save our culture and country. In the meantime, even the threat of their ‘base’ not showing up at the next election, much less voting for their opponent, is about all the leverage we have over politicians. Keep that firmly in mind, as we endeavor mightily to comb the wool out of our neighbors’ eyes… and perhaps our own. â—„Daveâ–º

3 Responses to “The Incumbrepublocrat Duopoly”

  • Daedalus says:

    The thesis here is that you are unhappy with the government because it doesn’t represent your interests and the politicians in Washington really only stand for the expansion of Federal power along Marxist lines. You also feel powerless to do much to change the situation. Not voting is the solution you offer. In friendly critique, I suggest you might be able to shorten this essay a bit.

    • LOL, John! You are probably right. 🙂

      Of course, my intent was to cause others to think about how they are being herded; but the distracted sheeple arent’t going to read it all, are they? Cest’ la vie… 🙁 â—„Daveâ–º

  • Troy says:

    In my article on the Establishment, I tried to advance a similar argument, although with a totally different viewpoint. The establishment is currently guiding us toward a Gingrich/Obama contest which would render a choice between two establishment progressives. The only difference I can detect between them is that Obama favors direct welfare payments to individuals while Gingrich favors a form of “trickle-down” welfare where payments are made to crony-capitalist businesses and allowed to trickle their way down to individuals.

    Newt’s sudden phoenix-like resurgence is exactly what happened 4 years ago with McCain. In each case, some hidden force almost miraculously took a contestant with no organization, little money and virtually no support from back of the pack to front runner — so quickly that those watching closely were subject to whiplash.

    Now, the establishment and their mindless mouthpieces in the media constantly crow about the crushing victory Newt is about to score in Iowa. Only FOX Business seemed to notice that Newt is actually in a statistical tie with Ron Paul in Iowa.

    In just a few short months, WTS have sat by, mostly silently, while Herman Cain was lynched, Ron Paul declared insane and Gary Johnson determined to be a mere mirage that does not exist in reality. Then we scratch our heads and wonder why every modern presidential election seems to come down to a contest between tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum. Or, in other words, how on election day WTS are graciously allowed to pick either establishment person D or establishment person R.

    I was thinking just yesterday how, within my own lifetime, I have been privileged to enjoy America at its zenith then cursed to watch it spiral toward its demise, frustratingly unable to do anything but whimper over the inevitable.

    Troy

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