Imagine this: Before the 2008 election, the devil appears at a meeting between Democratic and Republican leaders and presidential hopefuls. Now imagine that the devil makes a deal with the first politician - the prize is guaranteed party power and unity for the next 50 years, and the price is the cost of one single American life. Now ask yourself, who doesn't make that deal?
Out of Clinton, Obama, Romney or McCain, Republican or Democrat, the devil's political proposal would be impossible to pass. Whether it's Clinton, the experienced woman, or McCain the veteran, or Obama the forerunner of Hope and Change, the truth still simply remains: It's all political. At the end of the day, all of our leaders are politicians with their own (and party's) agendas to fill.
Even as Obama and his legion of supporters poured into Bender this past Monday, chanting and screaming for hope and a new America, history and human nature watched idly. The truth is, Obama really can't save you. Yes, I said it: Obama can't save you. Despite his charisma, his youth and enthusiasm, Obama is just another cog in our bipartisan machine. While it is easy now for him to preach change, once elected, Obama simply won't be able to run a government the same as he ran his campaign.
Simply put, because of our bipartisan structure and system of checks and balances, Obama won't be able to complete anything without yielding something in return. In short, he'll be just like any other president we've had in the last 40 years: a figurehead politician gracing newspapers and magazines, promoting bills and reforms doctored up and watered down by his handlers.
Don't get me wrong, I love Obama as a person. I shook his hand, and he signed his book for me at his 2007 rally at George Mason University. But as a realist, I also understand that politics and public policy are rarely, if ever, run and made based solely on passion and hope. Politicians are just as human as we are.
The truth is that somewhere along the line, for their own political survival, all politicians sell out; all politicians are faced with a proposal, some from their opposing party and some, probably, from the devil himself.
But forget them. I propose this: Forget politics. OK, fine, maybe that's a tall order. But at least forget that politics and politicians are going to save us. A true democracy's politicians are supposed to serve the people. Today's politicians claim to do so, but behind their public personas, they serve their party. Instead of playing into the politician's agenda, serve yourself. We don't need politicians to create a better world. The responsibilities of being a better citizen, of being a better person, lie in our hands and our hands alone.
Allen Xu is a junior Finance major in the Kogod School of Business.
