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In the aftermath of the election, I’ve seen a variety of surveys and listened to the inane commentary of a wide variety of pundits and other talking heads.  Among the most disturbing things I’ve seen and heard are indications that many people voted for Barack Obama in large part because they believed he cares about them.  That’s right.  Their vote for President of the United States was in large part influenced by the belief that Mr. Obama—a Chicago Machine Politician–cared about them.

Let’s put aside, for the time being, all of the evidence to the contrary.  One need not work very hard to come to the conclusion that the only human being about which Mr. Obama truly cares is Barack Obama.  Would any rational being hearing a man speak about his wife the way Mr. Obama speaks about America believe he loved her?  And for a man who supposedly cares about individual Americans, there are a great many groups and classes of Americans he unquestionably loathes, including the wealthy, bankers, those who drill for oil, those who didn’t build their businesses, those who work on Wall Street, the police (who act stupidly), those who cling to guns and God, etc., etc, etc..  But as I said when I started this paragraph, let’s put that aside for now.

The very idea of voting for a politician—an employee I have a hand in hiring to do administrative work for us—based on whether I think he or she cares about me—individual American citizen at 123 Any Street in Anytown, USA—strikes me as very odd indeed.  I want my wife to care about me, and my family and friends.  I’d like my co-workers to care about me in a general sense (anything more is very odd indeed too), and having the respect of my employer is also a good thing, but why would I want someone I’ve never met, probably will never meet, and if I have half a brain will fundamentally mistrust and watch like a hawk, care about me?  That’s actually pretty creepy.

I know some will say that what they mean is that if a politician cares about people like them, that’s a good thing and they’ll vote for him because he will somehow be motivated to do things that are good for people like them.  This too is very odd.  I want and expect politicians to do what is legal, ethical and necessary, even if every little thing they do doesn’t directly benefit me.  In fact, these days, I hope to find politicians who recognize that America is the brokest nation in human history and who are willing to make the hard choices necessary to drag us back from the brink.

I assume those excitable, tingly souls who vote their emotions will not only not share my hopes, they’ll be dragged, kicking and screaming, back from the fiscal abyss and will likely be those in the streets, violently protesting when the gravy train stops and free stuff is no longer available from politicians who “care about me.”

What I want, what I care about, is politicians who care so much about America and the Constitution, they actually obey the law, take responsibility for their actions, and do what is necessary to ensure that there will be a United States of America in four more years and that nation will be in better financial shape than it is now.  I want politicians who will actually say “No, we can’t do that.  It’s unconstitutional.”  I’d get a Chris Matthew-like tingle up my leg to hear a politician say “No, we can’t do that; it’s unethical/immoral.”  Hell, I’d be giddy to find politicians who say “we have to drill for oil and natural gas so Americans can afford to drive to the grocery store, stay warm in the winter, cool in the summer, and actually have jobs so they can go to a grocery store that actually has food!”  They can hold press conferences and announce to the world that they don’t care about me—by name—if they wish, as long as they uphold the rule of law and see that everyone else obeys the law.  You see, in a nation that operates under the rule of law, most everything else pretty much falls into line, including the United States Senate which doesn’t violate the law by refusing to do things like actually passing a budget.

Instead, too many of my fellow Americans apparently buy into a socialist/communist cult of personality, a utopia in the making where the smiling dear leader cares so very much about each individual citizen, just like in North Korea, where people eat grass and tree bark to show their appreciation for the love of the dear leader, and the dear leader shows his love and appreciation by having them shot or slapped into a gulag and tortured to death if they stroll too near the country’s borders.

But hey, Barack Obama cares about me too!  I know, because he said he wants to give me skyrockets—or something like that…