Please understand that I am a simple man

by Walter Bull, Voice of NC, February 11, 2016.

Fox News and TV mega-host Bill O’Reilly likes to remind his guests that he is “a simple man.” The phrase brings an overly complicated discussion about some obscure matter back to the reality of time, place and a ranking in world history. I especially like to watch the change in the tone of the debate where often a humbled expert has to put aside his intellectual dung in favor of simplified O’Reilly principals.

The current right/left ideological battle for governing policy at all levels in this country is being bogged down with a level of analysis that leaves the news consumer and voter unsure of the right course of action. Broad policy is made up of thousands of interlocking determinations that are impossible to extrapolate in any rational way. Straightforward words will separate the wheat and chaff.

Results are driven by unintended consequences and, more importantly, results reflect the personal measures set up in the minds of millions of individual people. It is at this point that the “simple man” approach takes over the thinking of the public which, in turn, delivers to the governing class the people’s authority to continue on course or to change direction.

The Democrat party supports collective decision making by a combination of professional administrators (bureaucrats?) and elected leadership. Economic and social policies have to be blessed by a combination of these folks despite the fact that the risk of any decision is born by others. Individual failure is lost in the volume of the economy and the impact of individual distress is masked by collective success.

The appeal of collectivism is its structure and the structure is self-fulfilling and difficult to reverse. General levels of living standards rise or fall slowly. Generational behavior is a quiet delimiter. A simple man notes that approval or disapproval of this system performance resides only in the intermittent use of a ballot box.

Generally speaking, the GOP is driven by a classic principal known well to the business community. It goes that “to the victor belongs the spoils.” People and organizations who win more battles than they lose have an increasingly greater impact on public policy in the view of this simple man. Enterprise compounding-or something like that phenomenon drives successful policy makers. As one president remarked some time ago, “The business of America is business.”

The simple man’s choice in today’s political America is between collectivism and the free market. Either choice to the extreme does not seem to work over time, if one looks at history. Still the choice of a sales technique to win public voter support involves slogan dominated communications and a carefully edited message board. Elections have consequences in today’s complex world.

Just recently, cheering crowds of young people listened with rapt attention to the pronouncements of Senator Bernie Sanders. A socialist, the Senator from Vermont, will transform government into a delivery system for life’s every need without cost to the consumer and with no program to replenish the goods and services that are being consumed.

The cornucopia or horn of plenty is an historical symbol of abundance and nourishment. The source of this abundance is rooted in Greek mythology. Like the famous “Fountain of Youth”- a spring that supposedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks or bathes in its waters – the idea is born in man’s imagination. Even the simplest of simple men cannot prove the existence of these myths in the real world. Still man’s imagination often sets the real world goals.

Conditions in a totally free market reflect the unequal distribution of human capital, situation based results and the shadow side of any concentration of power. Opportunistic overshadows fairness and economic activities mirror corporate or individual self-interest. Class based organization is a result, even in the short run.

Built in class based organization reflects American society and so the political players have to factor in religion, race, ethnic roots, urban dwellers, rural families and education as a political message is crafted. Predictability is measured and likely voter turnout is blended into a forecast. The only certainty, a simple man notes, is the ending vote count.

In the current year, there will be many months of politics, national policy discussions, real and unreal results analysis in an environment of world conflict, long-term weather analysis, human suffering, economic and currency conflicts and, of course, terror events. Simple men will reach simple conclusions, change their minds and reevaluate prior simple solutions using simple policy.

Then there will be a general election, collective goals will be reset and, finally, the process will begin all over again.

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