Sunday, February 10, 2008

Politics

February 10,2008

Duplicity in Friendship


Only in politics would a candidate insult another's integrity and then make friends later on as if nothing had happened. Only in politics would the aggrieved candidate accept such a friendship. We know that both men, in spite of their contrived harmony, will be talking about one another behind their backs all during the campaign. If these political opponents simply disagreed on their various approaches to social and political problems then that would be one thing but as soon as one contender slips in the polls then his inclination is to attack his adversary on a personal level in order to regain the advantage or to "level the playing field" as those in the know like to put it. To seek an example of your opponent's stupidity or dishonesty or insincerity and hold it up to public scrutiny is quite enough to shake the foundations of real friendship. In fact politics is the antithesis of friendship.

Politicians are right at home with duplicity. Remember the campaign of George Bush Sr. in the 1980 presidential race with Ronald Reagan? Bush attacked Reagan relentlessly, setting himself a gulf apart from Reagan's " voodoo economics" and then, upon losing the nomination to his opponent and accepting Reagan's vice presidential offer, Bush repudiated every issue he had campaigned on and embraced Reagan's "trickle down economics" as if it had always been dear to his own heart. It was one of the most transparent political sellouts in American history. Who would believe Bush after that display of insincerity?

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