I’ve met quite a few politicians over the years, including a handful of legendary heads of state. And to a person, regardless of whether or not I shared their point of view or position on a particular issue, there was always this niggling thought at the back of my mind –- “Why in God’s name does anybody trust this guy?”.
To me, politicians are all junkyard dogs, as happy to bite the hand that feeds them as they would anybody stealing the distributor cap off a ‘74 Chevy.
And yet we continue to turn them into pedagogues and demagogues, viewing them as the saviors and villains of what pass for the issues of import on any given day.
And, in numbers far in excess of the national average in other professions, they continue to reveal themselves as self serving rogues with entitled access to the public purse and no intention of embracing the accountability they relentlessly demand of both us and their opponents.
But each new one that comes along assures us they’re different, pure of heart and trustworthy. And we, convinced we are unable to take the reins of government ourselves, willingly surrender once more to their will.
At the moment, Hillary Clinton is the frontrunner to be the next President of the United States. And in deference to that reality, Cable news network CNN announced a documentary on her life and work.
There was some blowback, of course, from those who might oppose her in the 2016 campaign. But CNN insisted the project was of legitimate public interest and their chosen captain, filmmaker Charles Ferguson, steamed full speed ahead.
Until his ship hit some apparently unforeseen rocks and he emulated the Captain of the Costa Concordia and was the first man overboard.
The project was then unceremoniously cancelled. And everybody wondered why until Ferguson offered an explanation in this morning’s edition of The Huffington Post.
Ferguson appears shocked to learn that: “Nobody, and I mean nobody, was interested in helping me make this film. Not Democrats, not Republicans — and certainly nobody who works with the Clintons, wants access to the Clintons, or dreams of a position in a Hillary Clinton administration. After approaching well over a hundred people, only two who had ever dealt with Mrs. Clinton would agree to an on-camera interview, and I suspected that even they would back out.”
Despite holding a PhD in Political Science, Ferguson seems shaken by the realization that one of the junkyard dogs wouldn’t roll over for a nice belly rub and showed its teeth instead.
Perhaps his understanding of his doctoral field isn’t as acute as the brothers Ylvis, the Norwegian rockers who became an internet sensation not long ago with their song “The Fox”.
Here’s their take on the leader of the Norwegian Labor Party, in which surrender to the politician is complete…
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