See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil

It’s been a busy week in the world. The Muslim nations continue to burn flags, have violent demonstrations, and generally reject the notion that the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama would fundamentally change the animosity this part of the world feels toward us. It seems our government might have been misleading us as to the spontaneity of the attack of our consulate in Libya on 9/11, as well as its root cause. Of course, there’s Ben Bernanke warming up his printing presses for what has conservatively been labelled QE 3, but what some contend would more accurately be called QE infinity given it’s apparently open ended approach. But all that stuff is too complicated and depressing to dominate the conversation at the major news outlets… better to stick with something simpler and more uplifting, Romney is losing!

The big news seems to be a months old surreptitiously recorded statement by Mitt Romney regarding the 47% of people who are voting for Obama, or who pay no federal income tax, or who are dependent on handouts from the government, or I don’t know what. I’ve read and re-read the quote, and frankly it makes no sense. It seems to be a simple case of a candidate getting some of his talking points muddled and confused because of similarities in statistics. The logical response would be to ask Mr. Romney to clarify what he was saying; but the sharks smelled blood in the water and clarified it for him. According to these geniuses Romney apparently believes that 47% of the population are leeches and he has absolutely no chance of stealing their votes from Obama, since they are already bought and paid for. Of the remaining 53%, one would have to assume that a sizable portion who, despite paying taxes, will still vote Democratic, Libertarian, Socialist, or just not vote. Apparently, according to these mental giants, Romney considers the military, seniors on social security, and the working poor to be among those freeloaders whose votes are unavailable to him. I’m not entirely sure about Romney’s intention, but I’m pretty sure he wasn’t saying that… why would he bother running if he believed that? He doesn’t need to sell books, he’s rich enough!

Oh, and that’s the other big story. Romney released his taxes for 2011… turns out he’s wealthy. This of course will add fuel to the fire, because the tax code is designed to encourage people, including rich people, to invest and earn income which is taxed at a lower rate than ordinary income. Some of the liberal arguments concerning the 47% inadvertently highlight concerns of conservatives. The point is correctly made that even those who do not pay federal income tax do pay countless other taxes. The bottom fifth of households still pay about 17% of their income for taxes, the next quintile pays 20%. It may be the highest expense most poor people have to come up against. It is supposed that raising taxes on the rich will lower taxes on the poor and middle class, but raising taxes on the rich has always been used as a precursor to raising taxes on everyone. When our government spends so much that we need to tax even the poorest working among us at a rate of 17%, we don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem. In Mr. Romney’s defense, he has not suggested raising taxes on anyone. Another point is made that many of these 47% are hardworking people who just don’t make that much money, not freeloaders at all. This of course begs the question of why our economy is so anemic that this many hardworking people can’t manage to make enough money to pay income tax.

In related news is the annoying calls you get around dinner time. That’s right, political polls. Reading the political tea-leaves permeates the nightly news, especially when it’s bad news for the candidate the network is biased against. Of course, the latest doom is over Romney falling three points behind in the national average. Oh, that’s not the number you heard? Well take your pick, he could be dead even to 13 points behind, depending on the poll you choose. Gallup has it at 1% lead for Obama, and the candidate that is ahead in Gallup’s poll in September usually wins the race (no surprise), but the last time it was this close in September was when Nixon was leading Kennedy; and we know how that turned out.

IMHO: Increasingly, news organizations prioritize news that is advantageous to the slant of their political bias. In so doing they reflect, or perhaps effect, a similar dynamic in society at large. Rational investigation and discourse over the more serious issues of the day and public policy are sacrificed to finger pointing, gotcha moments, and the endless line of unverifiable polls. Issue “debates” are less an exercise in people talking to each other as much as talking over each other. Video clips are carefully edited to be more damning or forgiving as the desired result may dictate. It is as though the future of the United States of America has been reduced to little more than a sporting contest where all that matters is that our team wins, a sporting contest where good sportsmanship is sadly lacking. Rational support of positions is replaced with increasingly shrill accusations in an attempt to drown out the opposition rather than confront them, or -gasp- reason with them! Echoes of Jack Nicholson shouting “You can’t handle the truth!” permeate the “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” approach toward rah-rah cheerleading for the candidate of our choosing. Ah yes, those iconic “three wise monkeys” from a shrine in Japan, carved as a representation of a religious principle: “If we do not hear, see, or speak evil, we ourselves shall be spared all evil.” Someone should tell those religious devotees, as well as the news outlets and the voters at large; putting your hands over your ears, eyes, and mouth doesn’t change reality… and monkeys are not wise.