Who Would George Carlin Vote For? - Op-Ed Piece
As I hear all the pundits on the news, the analysts online, and anyone else talk of the election, it is the words of a comedian that stays with me more than theirs.
Pundits and analysts, as you know, repeat themselves so much that I often get confused on who is the truth seeker and the liar.
The left is lying about the right.
The right is lying about the left.
And I am left baffled on who to actually agree with.
I am then left asking myself if there are such things as half-truths.
Can a reporter on a biased station tell me some part of the truth and the other reporter on the other biased station tell me some of a half-truth also?
That guy says about 40 percent of the truth.
The woman says about 55 percent of the truth.
So if I combine what they say, I can get to the actual truth.
That is how it works, right?
Oh, wait…
Somehow a man who tried to make me laugh as a kid, who never held a title in office, and openly admitted to not voting, has a larger impact on me than that guy who followed the last nine elections, predicted each of them to be correct, and expects me to believe that he didn’t put money down on any of them.
“This is it. This is who our system produces.” – George Carlin (I paraphrase)
Of course, those are the words of George Carlin, the quick-talking, controversial comedian, who thought that talking of inappropriate topics was as normal as talking of the mundane.
And he was right.
That is what all the schools are for.
Those virtual classes, and the snow days, that we do and don’t get.
All those graduations and detentions and loans.
That is what all the colleges and all that the learning is for.
All the buildings, all the programs, all the classes.
All of that is made to help our society produce a leader that we want.
Someone we can follow.
Someone who can actually do something for us all.
Sure, when we go through our lives, we don’t mention this little fact.
This elementary school is built so that we can make a great leader one day.
This college is created with a future leader in mind.
This program is designed to help whoever our future leader is.
But that is the real purpose for them.
We want our institutions and establishments, from Maine to L.A., to be able to somehow crank out a leader that we can all not only like, but be proud of.
And we will get what we deserve.
These politicians didn’t come out of nowhere, from an unknown place we never heard of.
They aren’t from another country and don’t know the language.
They aren’t living separate lives and have never been to school before.
They grow up in the same society like us.
If we want an elderly grandpa figure to lead us, we’ll get one.
If we want a motivator to get us through war, we’ll get him.
If we want a young, charismatic leader to speak to us, we’ll get him.
It’s the beauty of democracy and the curse.
The majority rules, so none of us can ever say that the leader we picked wasn’t our choice at that time.
You and me and everyone else will stress over this election as if the whole world will end if we don’t get involved, the demons will rise from hell, and the moon will fall from the sky,
We’ll analyze every word in every debate, and then we’ll talk about each promise made, each promise not made, and what promises should have been kept.
But we will all miss a major part of this all.
A factor that influences the vote as much as the latest words of the news anchor or the article of an insider.
Our culture.
The president wasn’t created in a vacuum where he never met a single life form or interacted with another person.
He is us.
He is you.
He is me.
He is America.
How Americans feel about who they want in charge didn’t just happen this year.
Ok, yes, the calendar says it happens this year, but the leader was involved in a process, in a lifestyle and a culture, that we all participate in every day.
They talk our language.
They listen to our songs.
They watch our movies.
They read our books.
They are a reflection of us and our values.
If we like the guy in charge, it probably causes we like ourselves (and our culture)
If we hate the guy in charge, it’s probably cause we hate ourselves (and our culture)
How the American people view, the president is ultimately how they view themselves.
One final thought I have on this election, And I hope I can go back to writing about Halloween after this.
(After the election, the blog will go to writing pieces on Thanksgiving, which should be nice. I mean, compared to politics)
Would you die for the president?
If a war broke out, and the enemy was at the gates, and we all had to get our things together and fight for our country, how comfortable would you be with the president being in charge and calling the shots?
Cause that is what is really on the line in each election.
We know that all of a sudden, we get dragged into war, and the president is expected to be the guy to get us out of it.
Did anyone think that the second Bush would end up in a war in the Middle East?
Or that Kennedy would have to face the possibility of the world ending?
Or that Roosevelt would have to lead the nation through a war against the Nazis?
Probably not.
Would you have voted for Bush if you knew that he would start a war?
Would you have voted for Kennedy if you knew that his hand was on the nuclear button?
Or Roosevelt would have to lead us in the deadliest war the world has ever seen?
Eh…maybe?
If you really want to stress out and worry about this election and let’s face it, you aren’t following it for any other reason; you should just think that.
What if things go bad?
Can you trust the leader to get us through the crisis?
I don’t know the answer here.
Cause sometimes, the great leader looks poor, and the poor leader looks great.
The composed looks lost, and the lost looks composed.
Sometimes the looks of the leader make us believe that their mentality is the same.
Lincoln wasn’t exactly the most comforting president at first because half the nation left once they heard he was the leader.
Yet, he was the best one we ever had for handling a crisis none other could.
It’s tough voting because you are expected to put faith in a stranger you don’t know to handle an awful situation that you don’t know much about that could potentially change you and the world we are in.
No pressure, though.
Want to know who the president will be?
Look around you at the people you see.
He will be just like them.
If we are all idiots, then we can’t complain when an idiot is president.
If we are all smarty pants, then we can’t expect a moron as a president.
If we are all a certain way, then the president will be that way too.
Like Carlin said, maybe it isn’t the politicians who stink around here.
The president is the reflection in the mirror that Americans see when they think of themselves.
The good things we love of ourselves, the bad things we hate of ourselves, and those unspoken blemishes that we’d rather ignore.
Perhaps being a representation of American society is the toughest challenge the president has to face, for that is not in his control.
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About The Blogger
Greg Luti is an editor and blogger on pensandwords.com. He never met George Carlin. He never asked George Carlin who he would vote for. He has listened to a bunch of George Carlin's comedy.
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