18 nov

Have been reading a book about the last American elections. Double Down it’s called. It is kind of a tedious book. Hundreds and hundreds of pages about an election of which the result was written in the sky. As long as the Tea Party, basically a whole group of nuts together as far as I am concerned, is defining the rules at the Republican Party no Democratic challenger has to worry about the end result of national elections, I suppose.
The role of politics is at stake though. I assume that the role of politics is to define policies that are in the common interest. The common interest being what the majority of people chose for. Respecting the thoughts of influential minorities, I might add.
Something has gone wrong. Politics is about stupid little gossips, about side issues, if I might believe this book. The most pressing issue in these elections was a slightly diverted Obama, who couldn’t be bothered by preparing really well for the second of the televised debates with Mitt Romney, after he had, according to anyone involved, lost the first debate. Biggie biggie wow wow. Of course nothing serious happened.
Obama had a decent second debate and won the elections easily. Mitt Romney is a mormon! He probably can’t help it, but it is a goofy kind of religion, if it can be called that. A religion created in the 19th century. This is after the French Revolution and at the time of Darwin. Be serious!
The French Revolution defined the purpose of a country to be about Liberté, Egalité et Fraternité,(Liberty, Equality and Brotherhood in good English).We are reminded of those thoughts every time we see a french mairee, a city hall, where these three words are chiselled down for eternity, it seems. It occurred to me that the definitions of Liberty and Equality were written in the American Declaration of Independence. But the notion of Brotherhood, to me the most essential (not forgetting the other two though) has been left out. Brotherhood. Which explains a lot about the inferiority of American democracy, it dawned on me.
If you think about it, the concept of politics used to focus on citizens, being the people of one country being concerned about their rights, but most surely also about their duties. They were balanced at each election as long as elections were mainly concerned about respecting the institutions that were built to instigate and respect brotherhood.
These days people can not be defined as citizens any longer, the rights and duties are not the principal concern anymore. People are consumers, thinking about: ‘what’s in it for me’.
It is a natural consequence, probably, of the individualization that has been going on in the last 50 years, it itself being caused by gradual improvements of health and wealth.
It might be a development that one needs to understand, rather than fight. But it makes societies less cohesive. It is another reason to attempt for smaller, more identical, politically more independent communities. But then again, it might also be a reason to try to understand people that there is a higher honey that is for grasp than the one that is easily spread on bread.
Romanesqe churches help, I think. But not the goofy one we saw in Moissac today, although the prophet Isaia is one of the best scuptures of the Western world. Amost 1000 years old, but still as vital as ever. Promising a new world to come, he did in the old testament. Some claim it might have arrived, some others are still waiting. I just admire the sculpture and shake my head about society.