Jackals and Vultures

Politics is the empty promises of jackals and vultures, the theoretical whimsy of serious Germans hijacked by ambitious hoodlums as a fig-leaf to cover their enormous inadequacy, it is the out of place smile on Gordon Brown's desperate face (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P_lpbLME84), it is the murderous Tony Blair's sheen of acceptability, it is David Cameron's "common touch" (you may have noticed it when Dave looks into the camera and smiles, leaning back slightly, gripping the podium firmly, and your intestines shoot up to your larynx and tries to throttle you in a desperate attempt to preserve your humanity).

Politics is the process by which it is determined who should govern, not how one governs - that is governance which is an almost, but not quite, entirely separate issue. Because people can't be trusted, we need politicians to govern; so the first rule for ambitious politicians is that they can't be people. This rule is studiously followed by all concerned, the good and the bad.

Barrack H. Obama is not a real person; he grew up rising at 4am to study, he taught constitutional law at the foremost university in the world, he has written two books, won the Nobel Peace Prize and in the space of five years went from being unknown to being the President of the USA.

George W. Bush, on the other hand, failed at every venture his father put him in charge of and was a drunken cocaine addict spoilt rich boy who went from being the joke son of a one-term president to declaring victory in an election where he got less votes than the other guy, going on to become the world's most hated figure.

These aren't people; they're cartoons, like Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner. My prejudices paint the colours brighter. I have a sympathetic reaction to Obama because he speaks to his audience like they were intelligent; I hated Bush the first time I saw him walk - an overblown waddle full of unearned confidence. They present the world with what they want the world to see, their political opponents present us with a dimmer view, neither side comes close to true, then the electorate (which might be millions or it might be a dozen people, depending on the system) decides.

So these inhuman ciphers are imprinted on by the electorate, their colours are painted all garish and clashing, in order for one or other party or politician to emerge victorious.

In politics, that is the end: power. There are promises to fulfil, the piper must be paid and all that, but once a politician has power, then the rest of their career is spent doing two things: defending what he has and getting more power.