A Republic, if you can keep it…

I was reading a short article today by Paul Jacobs about fear and how it affects us as it relates to gasoline prices. A good point to remember in more areas than simply fuel pricing, is that fear makes everyone do things that they haven’t fully reflected upon. In short, reacting emotionally to anything is usually something we will live to regret.

I was thinking about that concept and how it relates to so many other political issues in our time (Iraq War, Patriot Act, Immigration Reform, Gun Control, etc.), when I received an email from the Obama Campaign, asking for donations. This campaign is itself one of the most emotional and least rational of any I’ve ever experienced. I wondered if fear and irrational hatred might sweep Obama into the Presidency.

I guess this concept of irrationality also encompasses the “cult of personality” concept, doesn’t it? Barry certainly has achieved that status. Here is a candidate that announced recently that he was going to accept the nomination on the final day of the Democrat Party’s National Convention. That in itself is a departure from all of the previous candidates I’ve ever seen. Isn’t Obama still the presumptive Presidential nominee? A bit presumptive of him to announce that he will accept said nomination on the final day of the convention, isn’t it?

He also announced in the video accompanying the donation pitch, that he wants as many supporters as possible to be present when the announcement of the nominee is made (after all, the party that holds fast to ideas such as “Super Delegates”, would want anyone left out or treated as less than equal, right?). So they are going to move the entire convention to a stadium for that final historic day. I’m sure Obama will have his new presidential shield placed in an appropriately advantageous spot for this occasion.

Even if this candidate was suitably prepared to seek the Presidency, I would have to conclude that the hysteria involving his candidacy (Hope and Change being emotional concepts)and the manner in which he and the party continue to play upon voters fears and hatred (of Bush and McCain’s Third Bush Term), illustrates a need for a pause and a reflection before jumping into the feel good flow. Post a Danger sign: Here there be Hype.