the stench of yet another presidential year

“…the minority must surrender up their judgement and will to majority…private opinion must give way to public judgement…he must be a vain, conceited individual who can think himself capable as to judge of what is necessary for the support of government s those whom the nation has chosen & entrusted for that very purpose…it is the duty of the citizen to submit to it ( the majority ); and to give up his private sentiments to the public will…the false patriot is the man who willfully misrepresents his government ,and the conduct of its officers, or, without just cause, creates distrust and suspicion of the legislature, or the executive, or of the principle officers of the government, and openly opposes, or secretly foments and encourages opposition to the execution of the laws.” Supreme court justice Samuel Chase in a charge sheet to the grand jury investigating Thomas Cooper, editor of the Sunbury and Northumberland gazette for violation of the alien and sedition act of 1798 on 12 April 1800____________ Of course all this federalist flummery in favor of majority rule turned to abhorrence of mob rule when Jefferson won the 1800 election and set a president for whining political losers that has confused the electoral process since and has surely been in evidence over the last few years…if not since 2000…one can easily question the “public will”…stop and ponder on some of the people you know, and group-think ( politicians love a mass rally ) and in-group bias can easily be manipulated by a cadre of debased and lying political whores…no one is objective so setting an objective benchmark for political behavior has always been a problem…pragmatic naturalism ( have a shufti at pragmatism by William James, my copy is only 134 pages long ) is the quintessential American philosophy and that situational ethic says whatever works is good…so whatever it takes to win is ethical…ends justify means…and in the end Chase’s vaunted “public will” is secondary at best…whomever manipulates it most efficiently is the winner…buckle up people, things are getting more interesting by the minute.