Commercialism no substitute for ideals

America and its diversity of life style, opinion, religious persuasion, social constructs and geography has truly the potential to live up to the ideals espoused by the higher natures of its citizens and the vision of its forefathers.

A large hurdle is the mind numbing barrage of pointless consumerism that is so adroitly dispensed upon the populace by the corporate advertising and marketing machine. This consumerism drives the general population to expend its time and personal wealth on the accumulation of "stuff" which inevitably finds its way into the vast system of storage units found throughout suburbia or onto the garage floors, front yards and country fair parking lots used as flea market and barter havens, to say nothing of the ever overflowing refuse dumps.

The principle of these marketing systems cannot escape the blaring indictment of planned obsolescence. Nothing made to last, everything made to be replaced ad nauseum, perpetuating a constant frustration and tail chase as the "stuff" of a throwaway society continually ceases function at the most inopportune of times and generally requiring a lapse in the treasured goal of "getting ahead finally".

We have forsaken the spirit of the term quality and substituted a neutered definition that points in no direction. Those that know the spirited version are generally very wealthy and can afford the fruits of craftsmanship or are in the arts,crafts and trades and are producing and catering to that lucky and elite minority.

To also be considered is the grand espousal of sport rendered vacuous and meaningless with its emphasis solely on winning and being first, at the expense of the character and cooperation building spirit its ideal painfully calls for. Aided of course by corporate logo marketing and blurred by the comfort ingredients of fatty foods and cheap, characterless alcohol.

This cheapening of the ideals of community unity, cooperation, sportsmanship, pursuit of improved quality of life and spirit in the name of capital gains and profit, or often, prurient interest, must needs to be addressed by the people en mass. Our politicians are bought and paid for by the perpetrators and that exact issue is becoming more and more obvious to the general citizenry.

I dwell on what appears to be the negative, but must remind all that without the trials, we would not be involved in the business of honing our personal discrimination and discernment which inevitably leads to our higher natures, better judgment and a more rewarding community life.

In summation, get out and vote with ideals of mind and heart and leave the must win, me first and partisan political frames of reference behind!