The Great Pretenders
Here we are in the midst of another political season, and I have to admit I just don’t get it. We’ve been at this game now for 225 years or so, and this is the best we can do? Let’s face it. Our vaunted two-party system really is doing it right this time. Here we are, trying to kick off a new millennium. But what have we got to show for it? A choice [again] between two guys nobody wants, forcing us to pick the one we dislike least to have any chance of relevance at all in the selection process? How long have we listened to the talking heads blabber on about how bad our schools have become. When are they going to start looking at the dumbing down of our political system? It’s not like our Founding Fathers planned it this way. We started strong enough. Heck, George Washington was so widely admired they wanted to make him king. Good thing Martha knew how to put him in his place, or we’d all be on our knees today. Then again, maybe we are. Because the powers behind the throne have convinced us to pay homage to the real royalty of today – Lord Buck, the Almighty Dollar. Otherwise, why would we be so impressed by two guys who promise to give us back a little more of our hard-earned dollars, while running around passing it out like flower girls at a wedding? To top it off, they have the audacity to act like they’re doing us a favor. Some favor. There they stand, in our faces day in and day out throughout the entire election season, railing about how bad the other one is and talking on all sides of issues they pretty much agree on anyway. To add insult to injury, they think we buy it. Take Iraq, for instance. King George stands firmly behind his troops as they try to put down an insurgent host. Way behind, probably 5,000 miles or more. Those in his camp conveniently lose count of the body bags so long as they aren’t filled on this side of the ocean. Prince John, on the other hand, tries to usurp power by crying about how we were duped into a conflict he won’t commit to end. I think he mumbled something about preserving our credibility. And of course, his supporters pretend not to notice he wasn’t opposed to a little muscle-flexing when it started, particularly when the polls showed the rest of us wanted to do a little friendly butt-kicking. And now that we’re tiring of this game, he wants to change dealers without shuffling the deck. But I sure can’t blame either one. They’re only doing what we pay them to do - stand up there and wave to the cameras, driveling little sound-bites that their media friends dutifully dole out every hour on the hour. To boot, the political hacks that put them there hate each other so much they can’t wait to stick knives in each others’ backs or poison their drinks. As if there were more than a hair’s difference between them. Lucretia Borgia would be proud. They’ve put so much effort into spinning their yarns that they’re starting to believe their own rhetoric. Worse, they think we do, too. And maybe we are. Or at least pretend we do, so we don’t have to face the truth. What a fine mess we’ve gotten ourselves into this time. It’s not just the war. Nor is it an economy on the brink, where free enterprise means moving jobs offshore so they can afford to charge us the prices we want to pay for stuff we don’t need. No, it’s much more than that. It’s our great American Dream that’s at stake. The one to which we all cling when we give these so-called leaders blanket authority to run rampant around the world. And ignore the real problems in favor of the window-dressing that gets them elected. And what do we do about it? We hold our nose at the stink coming from the rotting system we’ve allowed to be put in place, and look winsomely for a place with some fresh air to breathe. All the while we they keep playing their high-stakes poker games for our future. Where the deck is stacked in favor of one side or the other, trading seats periodically so we can delude ourselves that the system is working. In return, they get to pass the scepter back and forth while we play musical chairs, hoping that we’re not the ones left standing when the music stops. Hiding behind a smokescreen of tradition that we pretend continues to serve us. Someday, someone will wake up to see that it’s not the Emperor without the clothes. It’s us. But even then, we won’t have to worry. We’ll just have them blow the smoke a little higher. Then again, I don’t know how much higher it can go. It’s already blowing where the sun doesn’t shine. Copyright 2004 by John Dennison. John is a voice for those who do not hear or know they have an inner voice. Author of Whispers in the Silence: Living by the Light of Your Soul, he can be reached at john@WhisperZone.org or visit him at WhisperZone.org, home for those who know their own way. |
Other Trading System Articles
George Soros Today, as a 70% owner of $2.1 billion Quantum, the world's largest offshore investment fund, Soros and the other six managing directors split 15% of the annual profits.He spends most of his time in his home in England and helping fellow Hungarians and other Eastern Europeans reacquaint themselves with capitalism. To bankroll that effort, ...eBay Consignments: The Giant Opportunity Hiding on eBay (Part I) More and more, people are becoming aware that they have potential cash sitting in their closets, attics, and basements. But not everyone has the time or the know-how to tap into it, so these items remain where they are or are given away. Or worse, they're tossed out with the trash. eBay is about to change that.eBay Consignments are a Grow ...North America’s #1 Ranked Fund Manager Names His Favorites StockInterview: How do you feel about uranium, which fuels nuclear reactors and generates electricity, and the uranium bull market for stocks that we’re in right now?J-F Tardif: We are very bullish. We’re extremely bullish on uranium as a firm, not only for uranium, but we’re also very bullish on energy. Everything is inter-connected beca ...B2B Connections With One of the Planet's Biggest Markets Alibaba.com is a Hong Kong based online business-to-business commerce and auction company that has developed into a substantial resource for both Asian businesses and Western corporations. Originally designed to connect Chinese businessmen with Western buyers, Alibaba manages a bilingual format that both Chinese businessmen and English speaking ...Dutch Auction - Every Mans' Capitalism - The Essence of Fairness The Dutch auction, also known as a descending price auction, uses a bidding process to find the optimal market price for the stock, the highest price at which an issuing company can sell ALL the available shares.An alternative to the traditional negotiated pricing process used by Wall Street investment bankers to set the price of a corpo ...Fibonacci Retracement Trading - Take Advantage Fibonacci, Actually named Leonardo of Pisa, was born in Pisa, Italy about 1175 A.D.. Today, he is recognized as the greatest European mathematian of the middle ages. Fibonacci is credited with introducing the Arabic-Hindu numeral system to Europe. He also introduced the decimal system. Both became the basis of mathematics we use today. Enough ba ...Learn To Like Your Losses Sounds almost morbid doesn't it?Well, maybe it is....but losses are a fact of life and your ability to take them systematically without fault is key to your long term success.You see, every system ever designed and traded has suffered losing trades and most have had several losing trades in a row. Even short term systems that pur ...Choosing A Forex Trading System – Part 2 In the first part of our series – Choosing A Forex Trading System – Part1 we covered a few quick tips to get you a few steps closer to choosing the Forex trading system that’s right for you.In Part2 we will take a look at a few other do’s and don’ts for choosing a Forex trading system. With that in mind here is “don’t” number 1.1) ...Currency Trading – 5 Steps To Trading Success Currency trading is all about trading the right way to achieve currency trading success. It’s a blend of various inputs that will make you successful. Get just one of them wrong and you will lose.This article is for both novice traders who have never traded before and seasoned traders who want to achieve greater profits.Here are th ...How To Profit Trading Forex If anyone has ever told you it’s easy to make money in Forex they are misleading you. Successful traders have discipline, the ability to manage their money and understand the psychology of the market. Trading is not done by guessing which way the market will move, but by using either fundamental analysis or technical analysis.To make an ...Forex Course: A Quick Forex Guide for Traders In this Forex course we will review some steps you need to take care before you venture into your trading journey. Most traders venture into the Forex market with little or no experience in the Forex market. This results in painful experiences like loosing most of the risk capital, frustration because it seemed so easy to make money, etc. ...Forex2u Forex Strategy On Successful Forex Trading The essence of the FX2u Forex strategy is that it does not have any Forex trading system but could forecast the market trend accurately.Every set of Forex trading system available has its disadvantages. The market trend could not be forecasted. If the market could be forecasted, by depending on the RSI, PAR, MOM analysis techniques and so ...The Secret Method to Selecting a Winning Trading System Every successful trader has a winning system. There are of course, as many systems out there, as there are traders. Some systems get you to buy on strength and sell on weakness others do the opposite.Some investors succeed as value investors , a la Warren Buffet ; others make their millions in moment ...How to Evolve a Financial Success System More often than not, people associate success with money and wealth. While that is a lopsided view of success, it is true that success often brings with it financial rewards; it is also true that many people who aspire to success are thinking of the financial rewards that will follow when they succeed. But what if your idea of success is purely ...Professional Stock Market Advice Reveals Most Common Trading The best Stock Market advice you will ever read is to learn from mistakes when someone else has made them. So, this stock market advice list I made a list of some of the most common trading mistakes that are made. Even I`ve made some of these. If you have already made some of the mistakes, you can rest assured that you aren`t alone in making the ...Building Wealth – Gann Made $50 Million Here's How W D Gann was one of the most famous investors of all time and a portrait hangs of him in the New York Stock Exchange in recognition of his achievements.This article is all about how to build wealth and how to do it quickly.Let’s look at Gann’s methods and how you can use his tools to make yourself some big profits to.Gann’s ...Why Do You Want to Become a Online Trader? Motivational guru Tony Robbins teaches that the reason for doing something rates much higher than the methods you use to get the job done. In order to make your goal REAL, you need to attach severe, horrifying, intense and profound fear to failure.Open up a notepad either on a desk or on your computer in a quite place and ...How To Develop And Maintain Your Ebay Reputation In any local community your credibility, honesty and reputation are important for making friends. The same concept applies for doing business nationally or internationally.Many professional bodies and businesses add “better business bureau” type logos to their letterheads and website in an attempt to attract a measure of public confidence ...Should Gold Mining Investors Consider Kilgore Minerals? We wrote about Kilgore Minerals this past winter, because it holds prospective U.S. uranium properties. While studying the company, it became evident the company’s uranium would take a backseat to the company’s gold property in southern Idaho. We reviewed Robert Bishop’s commentary in his self-published Gold Mining Stock Report. Mr. Bishop is hi ...How to Make a Stock Market Fortune "Basic Strategies for success"Imagine being able to make a fortune every day from the stock markets by a strategy that's unfailing. Sounds good? However, if experts are to be believed there are no short cuts to making a fortune, although you can follow certain time tested principles to ensure that you come out a winner fr ...Day Trading the Emini - Training Ground For Big Contracts In 1997 the Chicago Mercantile Exchange created a new financial instrument known as the emini futures contract. It started off small but now is a fully mature market with excellent liquidity.Now in 2005, the emini futures contract is an investment vehicle of choice, for beginning and experienced futures traders the world ...Send Birthday Flowers With hundreds of different birthday flowers and bouquet arrangements to choose from, which one would you like to send?Today hundreds of beautifully designed flower bouquets flood the market. Companies and experts in them are all dedicated in bringing forth pretty flower bouquets as gifts. Usually, you get an option to choose from multitud ...Never Lose at Sports Betting or Gambling Today millions of people are gambling online and placing sports bets online. Some win and some lose. I don’t know about you but I always dreamed that I could never lose and just make money. I never had luck at gambling or sports betting. That is why I tried to stay out of casinos, and the horse track. I was always wasting my money, and blowing i ...FOREX or Futures - Where to Trade Our modern futures market originated in the 19th century when farmers began selling contracts to deliver agricultural products at a later time. They did this to attempt to anticipate market needs and to smooth the supply and demand during the off-season.The futures market has changed dramatically since then, in current times the futures m ...Aftermath of Indonesia Tsunami and Environmental Fixes The Sumatra Earthquake and the Indonesia Tsunami that followed proved to be one of the works natural disasters from Mother Nature in our present period and killed over 200,000 people. Billions of dollars of aid funneled into the area to mop and help victims; now that the major cleanup is done what about the environment?Regarding possible ...Online Consumers - What Are They Complaining About? For many businesses, e-commerce represents a tremendous method for generating revenues. To maximize the profit potential, you need to keep an eye on issues that drive your prospects nuts. The FTC maintain a list of the top 10 “dot.cons” complained about by consumers. If your site falls within one of these industries, you must make sure you addre ...The Most Important Article on Day Trading for Beginners - Telling It as It is! The appeal of day-trading and its overwhelming popularity of late stems from its easy accessibility, and promises of easy money.Trading is a game of probabilities and at any given point in time a move may happen out of nowhere that was totally unforeseeable.There are few jobs at which it is more difficult to make a living than trad ...10 E-mail Organization Tips Who doesn't have issues with organizing their inbox!? I receive close to 600 e-mail each day due to the variety of activities and contacts I have online. Some I am truly interested in their content - most I am not.A big part of keeping your inbox and your e-mail organized is discipline. Yep, good ole' fashioned discipline! You need to mak ...Profitable Currency Trading - No Previous Experience Necessary! Profitable currency trading is within everyone’s reach - but only a minority succeed.The reason for this is, most traders don’t treat it as a business, and don’t approach currency trading with a set plan.No Previous Experience Necessary!For profitable currency trading, treat it as a business with a set plan, and you will suc ...Do You Know The Top Teeth Whitening Options? Every one wants a whiter brighter smile. Due to age, smoking or caffeine, teeth can end up stained and yellow looking. Putting up with discolored teeth is a thing of the past and so is hiding your smile. With so many different options available, it is possible to find teeth whitening systems to suit anyone and any budget.Before trying any ...
|
