Baffling Politics

The slate of Republican candidates for the run for the presidency of the United States leaves the impression that the country produces more than its share of righteous windbags whose hypocrisy should leave the electorate cringing in fear, but evidently does not.

The baffling human reactivity to the accusations being flung around by those whose own conduct and values are so lacking in morals and ethics leads an outsider to imagine that if the world continues to depend on the power of the sole remaining global security agent, we're in big trouble.

The social mandate, political position and financial and international relations stances of the two political parties are so diametrically opposed to one another you can only wonder how it is possible for a nation to be so divided against itself and as such so poisonously unwilling to compromise for the greater good of the country?

When, among the candidates, one man stands out as trustworthy, representing decency and integrity, yet is incapable of moving the voters, and demonstrates he is not quite capable of living their perceived reality, the feeling is he represents the best of an unworthy lot.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's firm discipline seems to stand out among the motley crew vying for the final vote elevating them to candidacy. They seem like shallow poseurs, flaunting their fundamentalist Christian credentials. Yet, he seems to the people who have the power to elevate him, to be passive and lacking the passion and anger they seek.

They rally around a demagogue, descended from a position of power, ultimately rejected as unworthy, put out to pasture, then resurrected by his ambition. For a political party that has its feet wallowing deep in the mire of religious fundamentalism, it seems to matter more that Romney practises an outlier Christianity than that Newt Gingrich is a serial Lothario.

The Tea Party prefers the roue to the man of integrity and faithful reliance. "I will show passion and from time to time perhaps a little energy - as I feel it in my heart. But I am a person of sobriety capacity, steadiness. And I think that's what you need in the White House."

Undeniably. Rationally those characteristics are precisely what an electorate wishing intelligent and just representation should be looking for. But they reject him.

For being a Mormon, and therefore less of a 'true' Christian than someone who casually breaks his marriage vows while damning others who do likewise, portraying himself as a superior and exceptional candidate, withal. It is not New Gingrich whose behaviour is despicable, but the questioning of the news media, inviting him to explain the disparity between his demeanor and his values.

In South Carolina, a conservative state, 45% of voters selected Newt Gingrich to represent their futures as opposed to 20% who made a decision for Mitt Romney. Both candidates are representatives of the financial elite and the establishment class. One has gravitas aplenty, the other lacks any vestige of humility.

What is astonishing to the outsider looking in is the willingness, even eagerness of the public to rally to the social, economic and political polarization of America.