American Politics and “The Zombie Brainless Virus”

by DANNIE McINTIRE

CITY-COUNTY OBSERVER FEATURE WRITER

If you’ve seen the 1995 movie, The American President”, towards the end of the movie, the fictional president, Andrew Shepherd, is speaking to the American public, explaining how a politician gets elected. The below dialogue has always stuck with me:

“I promise you, Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things and two things only: making you afraid of it and telling you who’s to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections.”

In regards to many of our current State and National politicians, no truer words have been spoken. Too many of our politicians are more concerned with staying in power than they are in actually trying to solve any of the dauntless problems that face our country today. Some once elected, quickly prove they lack the mental capacity to effectively lead.  

Why do we keep reelecting these politicians once they’ve proven they are inept and lack the ability to actually get anything accomplished? I don’t believe it is because the majority of the American electorate is that easily bull winked, but more that we as an electorate have been worn down by the hypocrisy of those we had elected in good faith.

Perhaps, it has become easier to shrug our shoulders and say what can we do, nothing ever changes, so why vote. I believe it is this mindset that has allowed inept candidates to be elected and reelected.  

It is truly amazing to me the amount of political mail I have received during this most recent primary election cycle. Slick mailings, all promising if elected they will take the fight to Indianapolis or Washington. Reading their campaign literature, they all seem to say that they have “the integrity” and“the answers” we as an electorate are looking for. 

Is there some mysterious “zombie” virus that circulates in the air around Indianapolis and Washington DC, which renders many politicians brainless once they arrive?

I offer the following quotes as proof to the existence of the “Zombie Brainless Virus”;

Joe Barton – Former Republican Representative for Texas’s 6th congressional district – “Wind is a finite resource and harnessing it would slow the winds down which would cause the temperature to go up.”

Hank Johnson – Democratic U.S. Representative for Georgia’s 4th congressional district – talking about sending troops to Guam – “My fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize.”

Ed Orcutt – Republican Representative For Washington’s 20^th congressional district –    “Also, you claim that is environmentally friendly to ride a bike. But if I am not mistaken cyclists have an increased heart rate and respiration. That means the act of riding bike results in greater emissions of carbon dioxide from the rider”. Since CO2 is deemed a greenhouse gas and a pollutant, bicyclists are actually polluting when they ride.” 

Sheila Jackson Lee – Democratic U.S. representative representing the 18th District of Texas – “Has the Mars Pathfinder succeeded in taking pictures of the American flag planted on Mars by Neil Armstrong in 1969?”

Michele Bachmann – Republican U.S. representative for Minnesota’s 6th congressional district.- “Literally, if we took away the minimum wage—if conceivably it was gone—we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level.”

Diana DeGette – Democratic Representative for Colorado’s 1st congressional district – . on a high capacity magazine ban – “I will tell you these are ammunition, bullets, so the people who have those now they are going to shoot them, and so if you ban them in the future, the number of these high capacity magazines is going to decrease dramatically over time because the bullets will have been shot and there won’t be any more available” 

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – Democratic Representative for New York’s 14^th congressional district – “Unemployment is low because everyone has two jobs”

Sheila Jackson Lee – Democratic Representative for Texas 18^th congressional district – “Don’t condemn the gangbangers, they’ve got guns that are trafficked, that are not enforced, that are straw purchased and they come into places even that have strong gun laws. Why? Because we don’t have sensible gun legislation.”

How many of us have watched any of the numerous congressional hearings when they are broadcast on TV? Hours of mindless posturing by our congress members to get their “face out to their constituents” while accomplishing absolutely nothing, merely confirming to the audience that they have been infected with the “zombie brainless virus”.

How can we change this quandary we find ourselves in? In my opinion, there are several steps we as an electorate can immediately take.

The first step is to take time to educate yourself on the candidates, and know their positions on issues that matter to you. If you find the candidate is more often spending their campaign time telling you that the other side is the problem instead of offering solutions, run from that candidate, they already have the “Zombie brainless Virus”. 

The second step is once you’ve educated yourself on the candidates, quit going into the voting booth and “mindlessly” voting the straight party ticket. Vote for the best candidate and not the party. 

FOOTNOTE:  The City-County Observer posted this article without bias or editing.