"The People." The catch-phrase currently coughed-up by every semi-conscious politician who can muster up enough élan vitale to walk up to a podium and recite the phrases scribbled on their forearm. That's right, partisans: EVERY politician. Don't think for one second your precious little party is exempt from the lowest forms of political manipulation!
Who are "The People?" What are they? When will they get here? These are some questions one must immediately ask when that sickening phrase escapes the orifice of the suave-suited politician: his or her mucus-lined lips drooling out whatever thought comes to mind. Ah, but what a potent entity they conjure! What a remarkable illusion they have cast before the gathered crowd, drenched in it's own perspirant while letting out whoops of joy violent enough to tear a vocal chord! "The People!" shouts the bureaucrat over the cacophony, "We will fight for The People! We will help The People! The People will have a voice! The People will be heard!" And the gathered crowd, flattered by the thought they are actually being acknowledged, lose every last shred of sanity they have left and flail around like rotten fish on a schooner. Can there be a more potent phrase in the politicians bag of cheap magic tricks? "The middle-class" comes to mind - but that's the exact same thing as "The People." "Low taxes" is reserved strictly for the kiddie pool that is Conservatism. Ah, I know! "Jobs!" "Jobs" gives "The People" a definite run for its money!
Following my solemn duty to be an absolute bigot, insulated from the trials and tribal units of the average human, let me disperse the cloud of dust that has gathered into every nook and cranny of our intellectual system: There is no "The People." "The People" do not exist. Are there humans? Yes. Do they wish to be heard? Obviously: you can tell by the way they're always prattling on. Do they shift and slide around like pebbles on the beach into little groups that have a shared interest in maximizing their influence for their own personal well-being? Yes; but the pain of conformity is almost certainly intolerable. No doubt this plays a role in why humans are always so miserable, particularly those smack-dab in the middle of the middle-class: who isn't emotionally unstable after using Facebook and shopping at No Frills? But no matter where you land on the class hierarchy, rest assured there is no need to get all worked up every time you hear "The People" uttered by your local MP - he's not talking about anything in particular, anyways! (What else is new?)
People are always bickering over mundane issues with each other. Have you seen them when someone accidentally sprinkles some snow on "their" property? Or how about when the price of Coca-Cola rises by fifteen cents? Worse: when there is NO Coca-Cola at all! How frail the bonds of "The People" are held together! You best believe that "The People" can all agree on one thing: they can't agree on anything
Post Scribble: Do you realize Conservatives worldwide are a party of deluded socialists straight out of 1918? The irony is succulent! Here are all these overweight accounts and lawyers, shouting into the musty halls of Parliament about "the workers" and "the working people" and "the working man:" I expect Lenin's corpse to walk in at any moment and announce the proletarian revolution! (Which is the very LAST thing this society needs: how many more Mcdonalds would pop into existence after a proletarian revolution is something I leave the erudite to ponder.)
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I always thought
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