By now it is probably difficult to not have heard about that Teen USA beauty pageant in which Miss South Carolina answered the question of why one-fifth of the US population can’t locate the US on a world map in the most amazing and embarrassing fashion.

This fact alone in itself is not necessarily news-worthy – even though some might think so – but then, by comes Larken Rose and compares this pretty girl’s dribble with the dribble that is usually called political speech.

And that was news for me!

I probably could paraphrase Larken’s words but I just love his writing style and as he has given permission to do with his newsletters as I please – – so I just post it here.

My Fellow Americans,

Much amusement has been had over the recent incoherent, air-headed ramblings of Miss South Carolina during the recent Miss Teen USA pageant. (Actually, I feel a little sorry for her, since I highly doubt that her profound cluelessness was entirely her own doing. Usually it takes a lot of co-conspirators — teachers, parents, friends, etc. — to result in such extreme bimbo-ness.) For those who haven’t witnessed the gruesome event, when asked why a fifth of Americans couldn’t find the U.S. on a world map, Miss South Carolina responded with what sounded like the output of a random- word generator. (…[Ed.: here it is…])

Normally, words are used to convey thoughts between people. In her case, the words seemed designed to convey the ILLUSION of thought, but without much success. She was, no doubt, trained to include certain catch words and phrases: “I personally believe,” “such as,” “our future,” “Iraq,” “Africa,” etc. And she did. She just didn’t bother including anything in between, which might have formed an actual concept or idea.

But what disturbs me a lot more than that one display of ignorance – – – which is hardly unusual in modern America — is the fact that when people do EXACTLY what Miss South Carolina did, only with more confidence and steadiness, we Americans usually grant them unlimited power over us. These days the megalomaniacs — those who desire personal power and dominion over others — dupe most people without even having to make a half-decent effort. Consider, as a randomly-chosen example, the following clip of Barrack Obama:

Looking sincere and confident, he spends several minutes throwing out catch phrases which, taken as a whole, mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. If I have to watch someone spewing out words which convey no shred of thought, I’d much rather watch Miss South Carolina do it. Frankly, I’d also rather have her be the all-powerful ruler of the world than have what we have now, because no amount of good old-fashioned stupidity could ever do the damage which the love-of-dominion crowd does every day through its supposedly well- intentioned “solutions.”

In his sales pitch for himself, Mr. Obama spoke of wanting a “different kind of politics,” and wanting to see the “change and progress that we so desperately need.” He pretended to sympathize with the common folk who face concerns about health care costs, pensions and college bills, and said that partisanship was preventing people from “working together in a practical, common sense way.” (Actually, “GOVERNMENT” is what prevents that.) He said he wanted us to “come together around our common interests and concerns as Americans.” He said that engaged citizens working together can accomplish extraordinary things, and that he has great hope for the future, because he believes in you. Isn’t that sweet?

So what did we learn from all that? We learned that Mr. Obama knows how to echo the same meaningless rhetoric that all politicians in all countries throughout all of history have used. When’s the last time you heard a politician say, “Ya know, I don’t much care about your stupid concerns. You’re a bunch of worthless twits who couldn’t wipe your noses if not for government. I have no intention of changing the system at all, I just want to be the one in charge of it for as long as it lasts, before the poop really hits the fan and this whole silly charade comes crashing down”? (Come to think of it, I might vote for someone who said that.)

And I picked Mr. Obama’s stupid ramblings at random. The same could be said about the rhetoric of anyone else in government: Hillary, McCain, Giuliani, Bush, Kerry, Gore, Cheney, and so on, ad infinitum. EVERY politician in Washington (with the possible exception of Ron Paul) spews the same meaningless drivel, and it WORKS–as demonstrated by the fact that they’re STILL THERE.

So before you laugh too loudly at poor Miss South Carolina, who merely sought to win a pageant, look how many of your fellow Americans are eager to give unbridled power, over everyone and everything in the country, to people who do nothing more than parrot the same old meaningless catch-phrases that tyrants have used forever. The ignorance of Miss South Carolina doesn’t hurt anyone but herself. The ignorance of the American voters, on the other hand, results in the robbery, extortion, harassment, terrorization, assault, wrongful imprisonment, and/or murder of MILLIONS of innocent human beings. And those same voters have the gall and hypocrisy to laugh at Miss South Carolina. Amazing.

Sincerely,
Larken Rose

Maybe I’m allowed to expound on one of Larken’s thoughts. If – just IF – we would become able to recognize dribble as dribble whatever the form, we also might be able to see that instead of Hillary Clinton we elect Lauren Caitlin Upton for president and have at least something nice to look at during the speeches.