In my latest column I write about various con artists, including those who seek election to government offices. Two slices:
But where is this horse sense at election time? With the November election fast approaching, websites, television, radio, newspapers, and local streets are bursting with pleas from perfect strangers asking me to trust them with my wealth and liberties.
“Vote for me and I’ll make your life better by building more roads for your use – and at no expense to you! Under my plan, only people richer than you, who now don’t pay their fair share in taxes, will pay for the roads!”
“Elect me and I’ll improve your well-being by reducing the cost of medical care and improving its quality!”
“Once in Congress, I’ll work tirelessly for you and all Virginians!”
These television and website ads are also filled with clips – obviously staged – of the candidates talking with school children, shaking hands with senior citizens, listening earnestly (usually while wearing hard hats) to factory workers, commiserating with ordinary townsfolk at the local diner, and playing touch football at community picnics. We’re supposed to believe that these office-seekers are singularly special and caring servants of others. We’re supposed to feel confident that we can trust these individuals with power as well as with access to our purses.
…..
Strangers asking for bank-account numbers do differ in some ways from strangers asking for votes. But I’m struck by the similarities. In both cases, individuals who we don’t know and who don’t know us seek to gain our trust so that they can then gain open-ended access to our wealth. In both cases, the strangers seeking our trust proclaim there to be a special, personal connection between them and us. And in both cases there is every reason to distrust these proclamations.
