Grand Guignol

Now if you load your rifle right
And if you fix your bayonet so
And if you kill that man my friend
The one we call the foe
And if you do it often lad
And if you do it right
You'll be a hero overnight
You'll save your country from her plight
Remember God is always right
--I Don't Believe in If Anymore, Roger Whittaker

Certainly we do not want men to allow their Christianity
to flow over into their political life, for the establishment
of anything like a really just society would be a major disaster.
--Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis
___________

Screwtape has nothing to fear. Hardly news, but our system of choosing presumptive leaders does not reveal the qualities of statesmanship required to lead a great nation.

The catchword "change" is really sticking in Ranger's craw. What is it that needs to change, because surely something is wrong.

As example, let's assume one of the promised changes, affordable, universal health care, is actually enacted this next administration. This is not "change," so much as the natural progression of a civil and solvent society, and the right of every American. It is so basic a human right -- if we choose to adhere to that concept of rights -- that it should not be a political issue at all.

Nobody defines this touted "change," which even Rudy Guiliani noted can be for the good or the bad. Ranger would add a third option -- neutral.

GWB promised change back in 2004. Yet nothing good has come of that; it was all bad change. We as a nation have become fearful, and spawned an intelligence and security apparatus to rival the KGB and Gestapo.

Legality has become confused with position papers justifying secret prisons, torture and suspension of habeas corpus. Terrorism has become an excuse for government intrusions into our private lives and a reliance on the concept of state secrets in our judicial system. The soaring trade deficit and shrinking dollar, escalating oil prices and diminishing social programs are all changes, and all detrimental to the health and welfare of the average U.S. citizen.

Voters select a leader based on words and promises, and get a bait-and-switch.

In fact, the change we need is backward, rather than forward. A return to the core values of the American experiment.

Some ideas:

1. A definition of America on the world stage. Are we are a world player, or a rogue nation? Do we police the world? If so, how?
2. If America cannot provide a social and economic framework for all of our citizens, then why are we nation-building in the sandbox?
3. What is the purview of federal courts--protection of questionable government practices, or the rights of the citizens?
4. Does a government of, by and for the people still have relevance today? Do our appointed and elected officials represent the people, or has the government superseded the taxpayer as the ultimate authority in the country?
5. Is the U.S. military actually a Department of Defense, or is it a tool of preemptive violence? What is the function of defense in a liberal democratic society? Are the policies of America dependent upon violence, or the threat of violence?
6. Is soft power preferable to hard power, manifested via military bullying?
7. Do the defense and intelligence types exist to serve America, or do we exist to serve them? If they work for us, we have the right to know what they are doing, and at what cost.
   
8. Does the defense and intelligence bureaucracy determine state policy, or is this a State Department function?

America stands at a crossroads, yet the electorate ignore these issues and our leadership happily complies with their apathy. This allows for an unresponsive government, regardless of political party, which is par for the present course.

This election will not bring change because this election is based upon a theater of fantasy and illusion. It is like a reality show, with about as much credibility. A simulacrum experience of the changeover of power.

Democracy relies upon the transparency of facts. Politics must transcend illusion and rhetoric if it is to be a politics of change.