The Craziness of Politics

The logic of the sociopath is to accuse people who focus on improving their family's lives of being criminals, instead of those who commit violence, rape, assault, robbery and anti-social acts. Jared Loughner's video monologue stand as the rantings of a sociopath aimed at all the students at Pima Community College and anyone who dares to live normal lives. The psychotic breaks from the acceptance of socially adaptable behavior and is focused on punishing the world for being the world. Jared Loughner made the leap into the fire because he learned to love the flames.



The criminal, who crosses the line between being responsible and becoming predatory or commiting acts of violence, need not be a sociopath. The violence in the Bay Area is as bad as the violence in other urban centers in the U.S. It is a culture of violence and it is reinforced. All the rhetoric of "non-violence" by Bay liberals has done nothing to de-escalate the violence. All the talk of sanctuary cities have not stopped the sex slave trade of women immigrants in the Bay Area or addressed the drug gang subculture. Posturing is the exercise of public officials, here in San Francisco, who are unable to resolve problems.



Credibility is evaluated by how often you can discredit the opposition. Meanwhile, the city continues to deteriorate. Those with the best of intentions often hesitate to speak out of concern that their words are misconstrued or deliberately misrepresented by others. Those with the worst of intentions feel free to arrogantly accuse all manner of crimes to any and all who speak other than themselves. It constricts the discussion, diffuses the substance of the issues and obscures the essential elements that really need to be reviewed. Following that, there becomes a presumption regarding the motives and intent of all others who try to point out relevant background that could help to clarify the discussion. And discussions degenerate into a THEM VS. US shouting match. This is encouraged by the political parties because their base is stablized in the most polarized situations.



As a Green in NM, I have seen Democrats accuse Greens the day before elections of being Republicans because former Republicans are active in Green campaigns. I have seen the Democratic Speaker of the House in the NM State Legislature try to prevent major party status for third parties by presenting legislation that made the requirements impossible to achieve. I have stood before the Republican Governor and criticized his managed health care from the podium and saw an acute psychiatric facility closed as a result of his policies. We have had a Green engage in the Gubernatorial debate to define us from left Democrats, as well as Republicans. We have also had Republicans offer $250,000 to the Green Party state co-chair to sponsor a PAC and a straw candidate to take votes away from Democrats. Even after the story hit the NY Times, some voters in the state still thought the Green Party had taken the money. I also heard of how a Green Party candidate was surrounded by a mob organized by local social justice groups in an attempt to get him to withdraw so the Democratic Party would win.



When we get into politics it is with the understanding that politics is dirty. But, it is only when there is something at stake, such as a candidate's reputation or an official's integrity, do we really find out what this means. Often the gap between guilty and not guilty is simply a matter of what the statute says. Other times we are led to the trough by unscrupilous individuals with their own axe to grind. Soap operas, nouvellas, have been replaced by cable news commentators, bloggers and op-ed writers. The drama is powerful but the impact on reality will always be minimal. There is no intention to solve inequalities or violence in our nation. Even if there was some intention, it is only through political action that these can truly take shape. Real leaders for our nation can come from any party. But, real solutions for our nation can only come from the people. It is the people who govern and it is we who must decide the best for our nation.

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