The Problem Of Politics

OK y’all, put on your thinking caps ‘cause Bubbie’s gonna take y’all into the deep end. Remember when your teacher would tell you to put on your thinking caps when she wanted us to really pay attention? She was forewarning us that she was about to lay something on us that we’d have to think on for ourselves, lest we sit there with blank stares, some a sponge and some a brick wall. When little Bubbie heard his teacher say that, he’d get lost in his imagination thinking about his thinking cap, what it looks like, what he looks like wearing it, and miss the dang lesson! But that’s a story for another day...

OK, one more aside before we dive in; one reason I love hanging out with Uncle Bubba is because he’s so easy going. He’s kind and thoughtfully quiet. When he has something to say he can be quick with a quip yet one gets the impression that he chooses his words carefully. Hanging out with Uncle Bubba is easy. He’s fun, he’s interesting, and seemingly simple. Yet if you want to talk about meaningful things you’ll find no more willing participant. The following is one such encounter:

The problem of politics is that it’s a hypocritical process of duality. To explain the basis of this postulation, let’s build a computer. The computer, arguably the most powerful and world transforming technology operates on a binary number system that dates back to the I Ching from the 9th century BC in China. It is based on Taoist duality of yin and yang and represents numeric values using two different symbols: typically 0 and 1. So our computer looks at everything as a 0 or a 1, no matter what data we put into it, or that it spits back out to us it's innards are all zeros and ones. This basis of yin and yang, or to quote the philosopher Alan Watts, can be interpreted as “Is you is, or is you ain’t?” In other words, if something is a zero, then its not a one, and if something is a one then it’s not a zero. We can transpose that into all areas of life, for instance if you are alive then you are not dead, or if a statement is a truth then it is not a lie.

What is truth? For starters, the correspondence theory of truth is often traced back to Aristotle’s well-known definition of truth (Metaphysics 1011b25): “To say of what is that it is not, or of what is not that it is, is false, while to say of what is that it is, and of what is not that it is not, is true”—but virtually identical formulations can be found in Plato (Cratylus 385b2, Sophist 263b). Confusing, huh? Bubbie prefers the summary of the correspondence theory of truth provided by English philosopher and physician, John Locke: the truth is that which corresponds to reality. Now obviously reality is subjective because two people can share the same experience and perceive separate realities. This verifies the existence of God due to the fact that we've needed His higher truth to survive. His truth is the Word while man-made reality is fickle and ever-changing but God's reality has been consistent since the dawn of time. Older, smarter folks than us hillbillies knew this and that's why our country was founded on Godly principles: In God We Trust. (Literally stated in binary code: 010010010110111000100000011001110110111101100100001000000111011101100101001000000111010001110010011101010111001101110100)

This is also why politics is a dirty business, because it is always trying to be a zero and a one at the same time and it is a man-made religion. And We The People cry out for a good person to run for office when by the very nature of the office is to conduct hypocrisy. The forefathers knew it. That's why they designed the system with three branches of government, a construct of checks and balances. They tried but perhaps trusting our corrupt human soul is just too much for the system to bear, after all look at the centuries of human struggle and corruption in the Bible; and yet what lesson is ever learned? Each party speaks the truth as they believe it and because of the duality of politics it is often the same truth spoken from opposing sides. But we realize that conformity to a party is a compromise of one's own personal truth and that cannot be avoided in a society. So we muddle on, sitting on our butt and complaining about how someone should really do something.

In Bubbie's view, what can y'all do to remedy the problem of politics but take care of your piece? Do your part by first carrying personal integrity in your heart. Look after your own place and see how the yin and yang is operating in your own life. Don't worry about the truths of others but only your truth first. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Speak what you think today in hard words and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today.” The objective is to improve your life and the lives of others through association. Bubbie rocked back in his chair and sipped from his glass with a wry look and we laughed as he sang his final comment on the topic... Soldier on lest we befall the fate warned by Michael Jackson's mother who always told him, "And be careful of what you do 'cause the lie becomes the truth."(Billy Jean)