From Iceland — Quit Fucking Around

Life
Editorials
Quit Fucking Around

Quit Fucking Around


Published March 9, 2010

I expect nothing of any politician. I do not believe in them. In fact, I cannot remember actually expecting an elected official to behave in any manner that wasn’t specifically aimed at promoting and preserving his or her own best interest. And I am not the sole proponent of this view. In fact, from what I can tell, this is a feeling indigenous to the whole Western hemisphere, shared by all but the most naïve of my generation.
I cannot remember an election in which my vote was cast for anyone but the least glaringly evil party or candidate on offer. Save for the elections where I turned in blanks.
It is a sad and laughable fact that nobody really expects politicians to fulfill their pre-election promises once in office. It is equally sad and laughable that nobody really expects politicians to take responsibility for their actions, to step down when they’re caught with their hand lodged firmly in the proverbial cookie jar. It is sad and laughable that politicians are able to raise their salaries regularly while at the same time speak loudly of the need to keep inflation at bay, and it is sad and laughable that they can shamelessly appoint their friends and nephews to any and all available posts in the governmental system.

Politics is a sad and laughable game, where the players aren’t idealistic or even socially responsible citizens, so much as jaded rhetoric experts that have effectively mastered the art of never saying anything meaningful at all. Politics is sad and laughable.
I wrote the above back in January of ’08, several months before any ECONOMIC MELTDOWN action hit Iceland, with its subsequent political turmoil, protest-fun and absolutely no change at all whatsoever. I believe the words still hold some truth to them. Hah.
People. Politicians. This has gone on long enough. It’s time to get serious. Quit fucking around. Quit protecting your own ass. Quit protecting your friends. And maybe just quit, period.
Please?

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