“Politics” is rotten … period.

The form of government the American people chose at their founding was unique. It still is. Many have sprung up around the globe in imitation of the American constitutional “representative” republic. None have yet hit the mark — though they have come close.

Ours is an imperfect form of government. It is a government “of,” “by,” and “for” the people. The key word, of course, is “people.” And therein lies the problem.

Welcome to “Who Wants to Be President” America’s newest reality show where we bombard contestants with insipid questions from a panel of intellectual pigmies. Watch these men and the obligatory woman pander to the audience and dance around the questions in the hopes of advancing to the “Popularity” round. This initial phase consists of several “ranking” rounds wherein the contestants vie for position and funding potential.

“It is the American vice, the democratic disease which expresses its tyranny by reducing everything unique to the level of the herd.” – Henry Miller

Respect for legally constituted and honorable authority is good and proper for any society to exist in peace. Resistance to authority which abuses or exceeds its authorized powers is a virtue, patriotic and a wise course of action for free men of intellect and courage, if they have any hope of preserving and maintaining their freedom. When authority begins to exceed and abuse its powers, as all authority is destined to do, a culture of resistance in the people must be established to set the authority back on the track from which it was empowered. To do otherwise is to allow the authority to grow in power until it holds absolute power.

In the movie, “Cool Hand Luke” the warden of a prison camp utters the now famous line, “What we have here is a failure to communicate” The decision of the Democratic members of the Congressional Super Committee to refuse further discussion of revenue issues is a failure to negotiate.

I have a friend, Jim Camp, who is one of the world’s authorities on negotiation, a coach to international corporations and others that engage in multi-million dollar deals requiring major negotiation skills. When the news was reported on Wednesday that the Democratic members had walked away from the negotiation table, I picked up the phone to ask for his reaction.

Another mission accomplished, or so it seems. Israeli navy ships have managed to thwart yet another civil society ‘provocation’ (as described by a spokesman for the Israel Embassy in Dublin, Irish Times, November 4).

Thus the 27 activists from nine countries aboard two boats were rounded up and hauled, along with their ‘provocative’ medical supplies, to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

It was a successful operation conducted by a well-equipped navy, one that is credited for sinking numerous Gaza fishing boats, while forcing fishermen to swim naked back to shore. Of course, one can hardly address such valor without mention of the May 2010 attack on the Mavi Marmara, which killed nine Turkish activists and wounded many more.

A friend sent me some interesting information which I thought should be passed on to one and all (just as a little reminder of how screwed we have all been.

Here’s a quick look into the three former Fannie Mae executives who brought down Wall Street.

You really gotta love these guys.

Jeremiah Wright’s longtime congregant Barack Obama wants to tell you what God desires for America. At a recent speech in Washington, the president proclaimed that “God wants to see us help ourselves by putting people back to work.” Obama’s rather tired revelation however is worth considering for several reasons.

First, Obama’s White House spokesman Jay Carney seems to have squirmed a bit when trying to unpack the president’s somewhat confusing proclamation. When challenged by reporters about the propriety of bringing God into the current political fray Carney responded by saying:

I believe that the phrase from the Bible is ‘the Lord helps those who help themselves.

The trouble with Carney’s response is that it is simply wrong. The phrase is not biblical in origin, and more importantly, the president said nothing about people who “help themselves.” The president in other words wants the federal government to expand in size, scope, and power in order to put certain constituencies back to work.