The state of US politics

I have been listening to a lot of Bill Hicks lately, after reading his biography by Cynthia True. What strikes me most about this fantastic and phenomenal man, is his intense frustration at US politics. In the UK, our anti-Americanism is too often aimed at the American people, and I fear this is misdirected anger. Hicks made his belief in humanity and in the ultimate good of people clear through his body of work, and the bulk of his wrath was for those who created the consume-now, pay-later society that encouraged greed. The corporations, the corrupt governments and the televangelists took the brunt of most of Hicks’ wonderful stand-up sermons.

So now, some 14 years after his death, it makes me sad to think that US politics has barely moved on. Corporations still dominate lobbying in politics, religion is still a driving force and consumerism goes on unabated. What worries me more is that the two front-runners in the Republican party are both driven by religion. Mitt Romney, a devout Morman and Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist Minister and employee of a televangelist. Both of these men are over-influenced by their churches to be running a country that dominates the global scene and will find it impossible to offer a more internationalist approach required after the legacy of George Bush. Bring on Obama.

And anyway, anyone who approves doing this with their family shouldn’t be allowed to run a cake stall, let alone a country - Mike Huckabee and matching family (is she strangling the dog? That’s wrong too) :