Carousel of Clowns

We don’t have elections anymore, we have popularity contests with constant reporting on the amounts of campaign cash a candidate has raised, and who raised the most. Basically, it amounts to the candidate with the most money, is the one Wall Street, the top 1%; and the major corporations are backing. You know this candidate is never for the ‘common good’ but instead is going to cover Wall Street’s back if elected.

After the New Hampshire primary, Mark Shields syndicated columnist said the biggest difference he’s seen in this election since the Citizens United ruling is that “money is king”. It was reported that Rick Santorum did poorly in the New Hampshire primary because he couldn’t afford TV ads. During the week of the South Carolina primary Mitt Romney went from being in first place to Newt Gingrich being in first place. When Gwen Ifill asked voters what prompted them to change their minds, they couldn’t pinpoint any specific reasons. David Brooks, columnist for the NY Times, said, all those ads have absolutely no influence on voters.

Once again as in all issues the line is drawn, either you believe the TV ads or you don’t. Mark Shields said “when Jim Lehrer used to host the debates he would go out beforehand and tell the audience, no yelling or screaming and no applauding. And if it happens, I'm going to put the camera right on you and humiliate you.”

The Romans used to say “give them bread and circuses”, now we don’t even get the bread, we get the orchestrated media circus of these pep rallies fixed with ringers in the crowd, all conveniently camouflaged as intellectual debates. These present day examples of ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ just goes to prove that P.T. Barnum was right, even today there’s “a sucker born every minute”.