Tired of Political Nonsense

Albert Camus:

Every time I hear a political speech or I read those of our leaders, I am horrified at having, for years, heard nothing which sounded human. It is always the same words telling the same lies. And the fact that men accept this, that the people's anger has not destroyed these hollow clowns, strikes me as proof that men attribute no importance to the way they are governed; that they gamble--yes, gamble--with a whole part of their life and their so-called 'vital interests'.

Things that make me crazy about our political discourse:

• our refusal to admit that some things (e.g., healthcare) are done better in other countries;
• the constant flattering of 'the American people' and the impossibility of calling the voters shallow, self-centered, and lazy;
• the pseudo-toughness of acting like children being blown apart by bombs is no big deal;
• the Republican insistence that lower taxes and less regulation would solve every economic problem,and the Democratic cowardice in not really standing up for why high taxes are a good thing;
• the notion that 'the market' is something natural, not something we have constructed for our own ends;
• the refusal to acknowledge that our big problems are complex and very hard to solve;
• the refusal to admit ignorance;
• ending every speech with 'God bless America.'