All is fair in love and war, especially during an election year, which is why the Republican Party never misses an opportunity to inform the American people that the rapture is near. Telling the nation that they are doomed to perish in a nuclear holocaust is election gold. The greatest irony in wartime politicking is that the majority party is able to summon heaps of votes by telling people how unsafe they are…on their watch. You would think that the American public, after continually being told how vulnerable they are, would vote to throw out the party in charge, yet this is not the case.
The current administration deliberately bombards the American public with apocalyptic rhetoric in order to frighten people into voting republican. Republicans, being the self proclaimed “tough on terror” party, have actually done very little to secure the continental United States; they have merely provoked a firestorm of anti-American sentiment and violence around the globe by fabricating an Iraq – al-Qaeda connection in order to invade Iraq.
In the five years since 9/11, American borders have not been secured nor have our shipping ports; with those being the two best ways to smuggle in a “weapon of mass destruction,” it seems as if the Bush administration would actually prefer another attack on American soil. After all, with poll numbers this low, they could really use some of those post 9/11 approval ratings right about now.
Despite tremendous lapses in homeland security and a highly dubious war in Iraq, the Republican Party is far from cataleptic. As with pop music, the republican mantra is lucid, seemingly unambiguous and easy to swallow; one can passively bob their head to the beat, but a closer look at the lyrics reveals the uninspiring mediocrity behind the catchy jingle.
Britney Spears and President Bush have little in common but their successes are based largely on the manipulation of mainstream Americans being too indolent to question the validity of the media being shoved down their throats. The products they hawk are flashy, over-produced, diluted, written by someone smarter, deadly efficient and above all, soulless.
So, what are your alternatives, you ask? Why, heavy metal and the Green Party, of course. See you at the next Morbid Angel show, dude. And don’t forget the vegan brownies.
Rodger Thomas Holst is a senior majoring in literature.