The discussion we just had in class is the exact reason our country is so divided and gridlocked. Its bothersome that we didn't even question or discuss the ethical issues surrounding segmenting the population and trading favors for votes. That's essentially exactly what we were talking about, who has the majority and what policy issues of ours can we manipulate to acquire their support. Any true libertarian in the class would be just as frustrated as I was about the discussion.
First, one of the founding ideas of libertarianism is equal treatment of everyone by the government. That means liberty for all, regardless of ethnic or social classification. Pandering to the minorities by promising healthcare reform, immigration reform, tax reform, better education, lower interest rates for borrowing and lending, etc is great if you're in a particular group receiving the benefits. However, it polarizes the country and is simply immoral.
Whatever happened to politicians who ran on principles, morals, and convictions? Using just the last two elections as examples, we've seen that candidates will change just about any opinion they hold to conform to the generally excepted beliefs of the populace. The reason this is bad for our country is, as i have said in my earlier blog posts, because we were never designed to operate as a democracy, but rather a republic. Elections are meant to single out the most intelligent, most moral, most pure citizens and allow them to make decisions that affect the entire population. Where we see ourselves now is in the situation where we elect the weakest, most malleable, most easily persuaded citizens and allow them to dictate the future of us all. Really, the only positive attribute we now seek in a president is his or her public speaking ability, and tendency to tell us what we want to hear. I don't support either major political party, but to simplify my argument, i'll just use Obama as the most recent example. His position on Guantanamo Bay, oil drilling off the coast, corporatism, the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Lybia, and foreign involvement in general, tax policy, torture, the use of drones, etc have all changed or altered throughout his campaign and presidency. We refuse to elect people that see us as "Americans" and continue to elect those that see us as "votes" or "constituents".
What we just did in class was to segment the population and say, oh, you're black here's a something that will appeal to you, oh, you're Asian, here's something that will appeal to you, oh, you're white, here's something that will appeal to you. In other areas of business that completely fine, but concerning politics, its horribly wrong. This classifies people into groups, when really, in politics, there should only be one group that matters, Americans. Our politicians should be protecting the rights of all of us, not just the ones that will get him or her elected.
"When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - When you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors - When you see that men get richer by graft and pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but them against you - When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - You may know that your society is doomed." - Ayn Ran, Atlas Shrugged.
Its my opinion that this class discussion should have been strictly about business applications of sub cultures and segmentation, or at least touched on the ethical and moral issues of bringing this type of thinking into the political arena. Most people understand our country is fucked up, but few seem to question why.... we need to ask why, discuss why, and have a open and intellectual dialogue about why. Again though, just my opinion.
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