Cult of personality and misdirected votes

Why do we persist in being so stupid?

When it comes to politics in our country - at least presidential politics - the cult of personality holds sway. Nothing else is stronger in determining who most of us decide to vote for.

Why does that matter? Because it causes us to vote for the political crapola that every campaign makes up to appeal to as wide a spectrum of voters as possible. Because it causes us to vote against our best interests. It makes us even more stupid than we already are.

Why am I so harsh about our mental faculties? I'm not. I just observe what happens and comment on it. Ok, here come the generalizations, the broad-brush, so be forewarned. No, not everyone is the way that I'm about to describe, but from where I sit, this applies to the majority.

What I've observed, in six decades of living, is that Americans think this is the best country on the planet, even if they've never been to any other country. That's a pleasant little conceit, but the people who haven't been anywhere else don't seem to even entertain the possibility that someplace else might suit them better. Most of them were born here - a fluke of biological processes, not a choice. What if they went for an extended visit to Sweden, say, or Kenya, and decided they liked one of those places better? Would that make them a traitor?

We think the quality of life is better in the United States, and we believe the economy and government have no equal. But there's lots of evidence to dispute those beliefs. When you compare individual aspects of our lives, a number of countries are either comparable or way out ahead.

When it comes to healthcare, for example, we have about 47 million uninsured Americans. As a whole, virtually all Europeans are covered by healthcare systems. So, political conservatives would say those Europeans have socialized medicine and they pay out the nose for it. But guess which country has the most expensive healthcare? No need to look across the pond - the most expensive is right here in the good old U.S.A.

Then there's the argument that government-assured healthcare is not good healthcare. But the healthcare is so good and so cheap in some other countries - India, for example (where a growing number of the doctors in this country come from) - that Americans travel there for procedures in first-class hospitals by top-notch doctors for a fraction of what it would cost them at home.

Enough about healthcare - more about that in another post. Back to the cult of personality. We tend to vote for the good old guy, the fraternity brother, the popular class clown whose parents bought him a diploma from a good school, who never really studied, who dated the cheerleaders, who was voted most likely to succeed (not because he was smart but because his family had "connections"), and who seems like the kind of guy you'd enjoy having a beer with. Even if he doesn't drink beer anymore. He cleaned up totally after the family intervention because of his wild partying and excessive cocaine snorting. Oops . . . I guess we just voted for that guy once (maybe) four years ago . . . the first time he was appointed (or "anointed") by the Supreme Court.

But you get the point. This year, we seem to be deciding to vote for a old soldier who happened to get shot down and captured during the Vietnam War, who withstood horrible torture, and who decided to parlay his misfortune into a political career. Who used to be a maverick and who sold out to the neoconservative forces of darkness that derailed his strong candidacy in 2000. And who is somehow the best qualified to lead because he is a "war hero" and "ready to lead."

Or, we're voting for a former community organizer who is very smart, very skillful, has a winning smile and is one of the best orators of our time. He's a "rock star."

I happen to be for the latter guy. However, even if he were as ugly as Quasimodo, I would still be voting for him. Why? Because I don't believe in voting for "personalities." I know it's a radical position to take, but I believe in voting for the ISSUES.

What a concept.