Because-I-Said-So Politics

This post was adapted from something that I had previously written.

Last August, Washington State was subjected to a man-made disaster. A couple of sonic booms rocked the area when an uninformed pilot had entered a restricted area. That’s right; we had to suffer through a visit from a disaster named Obama. Why was he here? He was showing support for Patty Murray.

Obama wanted to help one of his yes-women retain her position. He wanted us to support her simply because he told us to. I know that this practice is nothing new. It was just a little more obvious because the federal government usually ignores us completely. Personally, I would rather they ignore us during campaigning than to have so many people come in purely to help the spendocrats retain power.

Mr. Obama eventually came back. We also had visits from the first lady, and former first gentleman, Bill Clinton. All of these people felt that telling us who to vote for would help their own causes. While a lot of people have faith in American voters, I don’t. I believe that this is a valuable approach to campaigning in our over-schooled/under-educated country.

I am among those who have hidden from the voting scene due to the lack of options and the corruption plaguing American politics. I am not vulnerable to the argument, “Vote for/against this candidate/issue because I said so.” A lot of people are, and because-I-said-so politics goes well beyond American figures going public. Numerous eyesores are placed at every intersection. Bumper stickers that are never removed wind up on cars. (Obama already won the election, quit telling us to vote for him.) I would love to be able to look in a random direction and not expect to see, “Vote this way because I want you to.” Unfortunately, simply telling people how to vote has proven effective.