September 17, 2008
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Palin, Obama, McCain, and…That Other Guy
Politics.
Politics are politics are politics are politics.
Whether you’re talking about a basketball team at a high school, your job at the office, your church’s praise team, or the race for the most powerful position on the planet–politics are politics. The game of politics is here to stay, and there is nothing you can do about it. So stop trying to ignore it, condemn it, or fix it–you can’t successfully accomplish any of those things, so deal with it and play along.
Politics are a part of life on this planet. Whenever something worth having is up for grabs, inevitably more than one person is going to want it. When that happens you have a little bit of healthy competition. Good, right? Right. Although it can be ugly at time, inevitably politics has a positive impact on the consumer.
The consumer never loses when corporations, political leaders, or companies have some healthy competition. Generally this means that one or both of the parties involved ends up trying to “win over” customers (or in the case of the presidential race–voters), so they try to offer the better product…maybe even at a lower price. So is it bad that McDonalds is in a secret competition with Starbucks over breakfast?
NO WAY. It’s actually GREAT! Just think about it! If McDonalds is actually successful in winning over iced coffee drinkers and can offer it at a rock bottom price–especially compared to “The ‘Bucks” as we like to call it here at Dunder-Mifflin–then Starbucks will be forced to lower prices and/or offer something even better in return for their higher prices. Why do you think Starbucks introduced all of the breakfast sandwiches that looked remarkably similar to all of the kinds of Egg McMuffins? Ultimately the customer wins here because they’ll end up with a better product for a lower price than if ONLY ONE company were to offer that product at one set price.
It’s all about the secret competition for breakfast (and your soul…hahaha).
OKOKOK but I didn’t come here to talk about Starbucks.
I think ultimately my question is this–
If politics are here to stay (and they are), and the presidential race is–when it comes down to it–the race for the most coveted and powerful position on the planet and in history, THEN WHY ARE WE SUPRISED AT ALL OF THE NEGATIVE CAMPAINGING?
I mean, really?
McCain did a bold and positively mind-blowing thing by picking a female running-mate. Should we expect the Left to blast her? OF COURSE!
It’s politics.So why are we all so outraged? I’m certainly not. I’ve come to expect it.
It’s politics.And why would both sides be engaged in outrageous attacks on one other?
It’s politics.Why are we shocked when someone lies, takes something out of context, or greatly exaggerates the claims of the other side? I’m not.
It’s politics.Politics are politics.
You can’t run away from it.
You can’t hide from it.So let’s embrace the game of politics. LET THE CANDIDATES FIGHT IT OUT in front of America. I really want to know what’s going on over there and not just what YOU want me to know. Bring on the competition! BRING. IT. ON. It can only be heathly for the common American for the two parties to be duking it out right now. Fight for it. Tell me why you want my vote–’cause right now I’m pretty open-minded. SWAY ME. Play the game. Outwit. Outplay. Outlast. Until there’s one…sole Survivor…
Politics.
Did I mention the word politics?
Oh yeah, what was this post about?
Politics.And by the way…I’m just about the least informed of anyone on all of this. I don’t read Fox News, CNN, MSNBC…or any of that.
Mostly I get my politics fill from here:
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Comments (15)
Well you’re right of course. The only reason it’s a story of significance at all is when one guy says that he’s not a normal politician, he is not a negative campaigner, he’s about hope and change, and he won’t do things the usual way. And then he does things the usual way as soon as the poll start to slip. If you don’t pretend to be something else at first then it’s not a story when you’re not.
But yeah, you’re right, that’s the political game and how it should be duked out. I especially like your lead-in, where you compare it to basic American capitalism – the survival of the fittest and the one who gives the better product at the better price in the end comes out on top. Good analogy.
You are so sweet. And have too much time on your hands. I’m glad you’re getting excited about politics though…good old Colbert Report
I hate politics, and I do everything in my power to avoid them.
Yes, politics is part of life. But we don’t have to lie, cheat & steal whenever we compete for something, do we? When it all comes down to it, that’s when we show the kind of person we are. Right? Right.
Negative politics will always be there, but that doesn’t mean we should just be silent on the matter. Some of the attacks made are just poor taste and make both candidates look bad. I want a qualified person as my leader, but I also want a GOOD person. Someone who’s not a total jerkface. So maybe we shouldn’t be surprised when politics go negative, but we still have the responsibility to speak up when they go too far.
Also, that video is great.
@MikeknaJ - thanks.
But for the record, I never expected Obama to live up to all the things
he promised. It just doesn’t work in the end…the real politics come
out when it gets towards the end.
@sc0tlas - how exactly do we speak up against negative campaigning?
Just curious.
@dsemsen - I don’t know, but we know that someone is aware of the brand of politics going on right now, so somebody’s getting heard… And we can talk about it amongst ourselves, contributing to and possibly affecting the overall societal attitude. (Chaos theory, anyone?)
I’m with Heidi on this one. In your response to your game play question and in the words of my 5-year old, “I don’t want to!”
Politics is not my cup of joe (pun intended) but I do vote. However, I will say if there is one thing I learned from my Political Science teacher in college, the public must remember that politics is all about POWER and it’s a SHOW; and of course about MONEY. So, yes, it’s a game played out before the public to see who can be the most theatrical and win all the toys at the end of the game to become King of the Jungle. Politics still bug!
However, I will add a prayer request to this: My brother works for Boeing in Huntington Beach and if Obama is elected he could very well lose his job. Obama wants to get rid of much of the BIG programs at Boeing. So please pray for my bro.
Kudos D-man! Love the video!
i loved that clip from SNL. I was amazed at how well Tina Fey captured the look and voice of Palin.
Poltics…Big Brother 10…its all a back stabbing game. The only difference is we are the losers……..just sayin is all.
@valoats - Well…I have to say. The only losers in Politics are the ones that don’t play the game.
There were things at APU that were very political when I was in office (hahaha..sounds like I’m a congressman now). But I played the political game, and got a lot of things accomplished that others would/could not–just because I played.
And let me clarify–PLAYING the game of politics doesn’t always mean getting nasty. That happens…but not always. My political game involves being SMART and being GOOD with people. When you can do that, you can win…and unless you’re running for president, you can probably win without getting too dirty (or not dirty at all).
Just saying…
I think the big difference between your capitalist/political analogy is that most people aren’t looking to McDonald’s to be a role model or a figure representative of the American people. The major difference is one is driven by greed and the almighty dollar, and the other is driven by… oh wait… well politics SHOULD be driven by a servant’s heart. Students running for ASB’s will be looking at this race as a model for how to get ahead in an election. What message is the negativity sending to them? The fact of the mater is that rarely there’s a person COURAGEOUS enough to resist the slandering. Well, I guess there was one… but now he is just called on for speeches and analysis (I STILL love Mike…). And he said, “In the end, it’s about electing a president you can trust.”
@dhawk6708 - hmmmm…I think I’m far too cynical to think that anyone that is remotely famous can still be a role model to anyone. I hardly find anyone that really sets any kind of an example of how to live…sure, there are those that have good qualities or do good things–things that should even be emulated–but I can’t think of anyone I would point a youngster to and say, “Hey, be like them!” because we all–ALL–have failings. You know…nobody’s perfect.
AAAAAND I think the capitalism analogy still holds up…the corporations want our money and the politicians want our votes. Both things are highly coveted after and take quite a bit of convincing in order for us to give them up.
Not to mention that essentially they BOTH want the same thing—INFLUENCE. The CEO of Starbucks doesn’t want to sell you a cup of joe, he wants you to LIVE and BREATHE his brand….ahhhhhh and there’s so much more too…
I miss our talks, Dan!!! Why do you have to be such a stranger!!??!?!!
Amen to that brother. May the best politician win!