French Fries, Anyone?

I have to laugh when I hear some of the current political labels. I realize that a lot of people take these labels very seriously. A label can literally make or break a candidate. Sometimes the labels are self-assigned and sometimes they are assigned by others, either friend or foe. The labels vary from the sublime to the ridiculous and the effects of the labels seems to determine the outcome of any given election. Given the kind of power that labels can wield in an election, is it any wonder that people work so hard to establish labels either for themselves or their opponents.

A few years ago my husband and I became involved in local caucus meetings and found ourselves filling positions of service very quickly because we were young and willing. Most of the people in the community were sort of lax about the meetings and about politics in general. We had decided, as a family, that we wanted to be as involved in the political process as we possibly could because we believed it was the right thing to do. People were always saying, “If you don't like what's happening, get involved and be a catalyst for change”. So we did...we thought. What really happened was that we were introduced rather forcefully into the world of political labels, cliques, games, names, endorsements, compromises, promises and lies.

We discovered that there is a spectrum of labels to begin with and, depending on where you fit into that spectrum, you are considered 'mainstream' or 'fringe', (still more labels!). As beginners, we were a little naïve so we chose to be involved with the supposed 'mainstream' of political life which was given to us by our parents and based on some research into the stated views of the group we intended to join. These stated views are called a 'Platform' and each individual principle in the platform is called a 'Plank'. So we studied the platform and compared it to our own views and decided that they were pretty well in line with each other. We avoided extremes of either end of the spectrum and felt comfortable in our decision to be a part of a group that seemed to be making a difference.

I suppose our mistake was that we actually read and believed the party platform. I mean, the longer we were involved in the local political scene, the more we realized that politics was not about what you believed or what you were trying to accomplish, nor was it about making a difference, nor was it about honestly representing your community, state or country. None of these worthy goals was the real heart of the political scene to which we were introduced. In the end, it was all about the labels.

The only thing I can compare it to is grocery shopping. We go to the store and buy the items we desire. We read the labels and expect to purchase a product that is faithful to that label. In other words, we expect to eat what we read on the label, not something else. My daughter works at a potato factory. The other day she came home and said that she had something funny to tell me. She said that they had been packaging french fries for a large food chain. Boxes and boxes of those french fries went sailing through the machines. Then, after the order was finished, there was some new packaging brought in. It was for 'super-ultra-organic-amazing french fries' of some kind. The packages were very small, and we all know how much more expensive they are going to be. She said, “Guess what, Mom. They are the SAME french fries!”

That's politics. You shop for a label. You look for the one who's got the label that fits most closely with your views. You support, you cheer, you vote and finally you hope that he will deliver the goods as promised. But I learned first hand that they were all pretty much the same french fries. Some of them wanted to be labeled 'super-ultra, amazing, right-wing', some 'mainstream' and some 'hard-line left' but in the end, it wasn't a public platform upon which they were standing but it was a special interest money bag upon which they stood and to whom they owed almost exclusive allegiance. But they know that people want labels, so they use them. Just like people who buy french fries, I suppose you FEEL better if you THINK you are buying something amazing. I think I don't like french fries or politics any more.