The Political Circle

I first ran into the political circle in high school, the idea being that if you take any position to an extreme you end up looking like your opponent. I say I am a Democrat and a liberal, but in truth I am more like an opponent of both parties. Obama and Romney and their respective political machines are on opposite sides at the bottom of the circle, yelling their heads off about how evil the other side is because they are on the other side of the vertical line, when they are really closer to each other than anyone else. Me, with my contrary views, I am at the top of the circle, and I expect most of the people I talk to are also there.

I really can't stand to listen to talking heads on TV, it is such an inefficient way of passing information. Besides, you know what they say about politicians: if their lips are moving, they're lying.

I'll vote the Democratic ticket, not because I agree with anything they are saying or doing, but because I continue to belive the fantasy that the Democrats are for the working man, and the Republicans are for the bankers. The working man needs all the help he can get. The bankers don't need any help, they are already in the catbird seat.

On the same page as the above chart, I also found this quote from Ronald Reagan, whom I never liked. I suspected him of being the front man for the banker's mafia. Looked good, well spoken, an actor playing a part. The people in charge let him do a few flashy things (pull a battleship out of mothballs, send troops to Lebanon) but the political machine is too entrenched for anything to really change. Still, I have to give him credit for this:

You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left or right, but I would like to suggest that there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down–up to a man’s age-old dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order–or down to the ant heap totalitarianism, and regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course. - Ronald Reagan