Comment on “Obama, A New Day for Black People…Or a New Face on the Same Set-up?”

(Revolution #123, March 16, 2008)

I have been thinking quite deeply over the last few weeks and a number of things has been pissing me off. One of these things has to do with the presidency specifically and the whole electoral process. I used to be a christian/catholic so I know some of the bible. There is a line in there where jesus says something about putting new wine into old wine sacks. And I think electing new people to office is similar to this. Because the sack (system) is old, the new wine (electee) is spoiled and useless to drink. Another analogy would be an industrial dishwasher. It has three compartments which before washing dishes you fill with water. But after so many dirty dishes has been through the washer, the water used to wash is now dirty and the baskets that catch food are full. Electing new people to the same offices into the same system would be similar to simply draining the machine and refilling it. You have to drain the machine, then take the baskets out and clean them out too. To an extent a total overhaul of the machine or else the dishes will come out dirtier than when they started.

I work in food service, obviously, and a friend of mine years back suggested that when people become managers they take them into a room and do something to them to make them stupid. This change comes about, I think, because when you are a manager you are now concerned with the company and where it is going—not due to loyalty to the company—this is due to the promise of a bonus. And I think the same thing happens in politics: no matter what an individual’s intentions are, once he/she gets into the politics of this system they lose those intentions. Perhaps they feel that they can change the system from the inside at first, but then after being a part of it for a while, they start feeling that it is best to just change small things here and there—then they get to the final step where they just do what other people in their party do so as not to cause waves and to ensure that they stay in office. Their lofty ideals of helping the people degenerate into self-preservation.

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