I guess I don’t understand politics unless I assume that politicians think we’re a lot dumber than them. A small example; why would anti free-traders rant about the trade deficit. It has virtues, too. A surplus, say by the Chinese, enables them to lap up those strong, safe US Treasury bonds. (Would you rather have a ten year Treasury or a Bulgarian note?) and other bargains in American assets. Great, let them finance America. But the anti free traders never dwell on that.
But maybe the Pols are right about Joe Voter. How many Americans understand that the flip side of our trade deficit has this blessing. But still, I don’t understand politicians. Elizabeth Edwards feels the breath of death on her cheeks; fanned with incurable, but treatable cancer. John Edwards’ reaction? “The campaign goes on. The campaign goes on strongly,†and poses with his chin up and a grin that outshines the flashbulbs.Well, his reaction, to this observer, speaks poorly for a warm and empathetic heart, and loudly advertises a flaming ambition that makes Macbeth look like a rural Scottish postmaster. Here’s a sick woman who needs sympathetic attention and the husband throws himself into the arms of his own vanity: a 24/7, grueling devotion to his soaring dreams of grandeur. Selfish, most of us would call it. I bet if you select a hundred plumbers and a hundred politicians – put them in a similar setting – career vs familial responsibility (plumbers have dreams, too, you know) the politicians would shrug away their mates at a 3 to 1 clip over plumbers; or poets, or accountants, or computer programmers.
It’s the worm of vanity at their heart. Politicians, Hollywooders, and rock stars, I’m afraid, see two versions of that universal set of rules based on the decalogue. One for them and one for us. I’ll bet that Edwards never even suspects that John Voter wonders about his moral normality. The candidate, with a politician’s mind and heart, is utterly blind to the negative shadow on his character. And worst of all, how many hypocritical allusions will we hear about his “brave and battling†wife? Be prepared for buckets of self-serving tears and vomitous truckloads of hypocrisy. I still can’t believe he’ll go through with it. Too much – even for a politician.
And how will his handlers explain such egomania? Won’t voters perceive vanity defeating love? “I got it,†says the campaign maven – 3-time consecutively elected Dog Catcher in Hilltop Height, North Carolina. “John’s a superman intensely devoted to both the public and poor fragile Elizabeth. He Campaigns by day – sits by her bed reading inspirational poetry by night. Sleeps at the foot of her bed.â€
Maybe I’m too hard on him and his vanity-stricken colleagues. But anybody who shakes hands with the devil waves goodbye to the family. Even we voters should understand that.
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Did Abigail Adams have a worm of vanity at her heart? More likely, she wanted rid of the British so badly that she was willing to put her husband’s life work and mission ahead of her own tragedies.
Much is being made of Senator Edwards’ choice to continue the the campaign despite Elizabeth’s recent setback. It troubles me to see the spin the media is trying to put on this to paint John as an uncaring husband/father. The idea of continuing on in the face of tragedy is not new nor will it be the last time we see a candidate doing so. When we hear people dismiss Senator Edwards as selfish, please remind them of these facts from American history:
- John Adams spent the majority of his political life away from his wife and children. At one point he did not see them for four years while he was in Europe working on behalf of our new nation. Abigail Adams suffered personal illness and the death of two children while he was a public servant, yet she did not ask him to quit and come home. She believed in her husband’s work and mission as much as he did.
- Andrew Jackson’s wife died immediately after the election of 1828. She didn’t just have cancer, the woman died. Did Jackson run away from the call of duty? No, and in turn we received Jacksonian Democracy, one of the only Presidents who actually had an entire era named for him .
Continuing for the purpose of furthering the case…
- Franklin Pierce lost his son on his way to his inauguration!
- John Tyler lost his wife while in office.
- Calvin Coolidge lost his son while in office.
- Lincoln’s wife was seriously mentally ill and both he and Kennedy lost children while they were President and that didn’t seem to hurt their ability to govern.
Now understandably not all of these men were terrific presidents. The point of the matter is that both mediocre and great men were able to make it through tragedy to serve the country they love. John and Elizabeth Edwards LOVE OUR COUNTRY.
Leaders like John and Elizabeth Edwards press ahead and stay focused in the face of tragedy. People with extraordinary commitment and fortitude, when called to serve our country when its faced (and now faces) formidable problems, can do this.
Courage and fortitude are still alive in this country.
Citing other pols who have done the same thing only proves the point really.
Would you or any one you know pursue any personal goal that took you away from your sick spouse? The real sacrifice in this case would be to put your own plans on hold and act with love and support to the family member who needs it.
If John Edwards had announced that he was withdrawing from the campaign I would have said “there goes a good man”. As it stands I say “there goes another egomaniacal buffoon”.
Here’s what I say I want (and I am vain enough to think this matters more than what you think I want): Please don’t take anything more away from me. Cancer may take so much of my life. Don’t take, too, the work I wanted to accomplish in whatever life I have. I am not a sick wife in need of sympathy. I am a wife living with a disease inside her in need of living as full as life as my adoring and compassionate husband can manage to help me live. And one more thing I want: I want you to stop judging us.
If you’re really Elizabeth Edwards, then maybe you and your husband can read some of the basics of Austrian economics from this site and help spur debate and discussion of the real facts on inflation, trade deficits, minimum wage, and other such economic topics that politics likes to touch upon and interfere with. Otherwise, why should we sit back and be happy if your life’s work is to cause more economic damage to this country, however inadvertently?
I don’t believe I will be reading the opinions on this site further. I don’t know what your opinion is of the minimum wage, but I suspect it doesn’t respect the value of each human being. Sadly, your post above told me all I needed to know. And instead of using my post as an opportunity to push your opinions on economics (and all economics is opinion in my view), perhaps you should actually read my response and think about it.
Mrs. Edwards,
If you are who you say you are, then along with offering my condolences, let me take this unexpected opportunity to say that were I to vote (though I agree with Emma Goldman that “If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal”), I’d vote for Ron Paul, as no other candidate, your husband included, has the slightest respect for the Constitution. This includes constitutional money, the corruption of which — http://www.csamerican.com/stuff.asp?k=25 — is what has allowed an erstwhile limited government to metastasize (yes, that’s the word) into the welfare-warfare colossus that tramples on our liberties and treats the rest of the world like its personal property.
You will not have the slightest appreciation of this sad fact, however, being far too heavily immersed in partisan politics to see the forest for the trees, i.e., to understand that Democrats and Republicans are but two sides of the same (increasingly worthless) coin.
You don’t understand, in other words, that America is lost. And were he a real democrat, your husband would be fighting for the vote that has in fact been made illegal, for the simple reason that it WOULD change things. Which is precisely why these fine Americans are fighting for it — http://www.vtcommons.org — and why your husband, were he a real American, would be fighting for it as well.
All I can say to Marsha is that John Edwards aint John Adams, but I’m indebted to her for that lesson in US history. Didn’t know that.
As to the other comments – I hate to deprecate your husband, Elizabeth. He may be a fine man. (Who knows the heart of a politician.) But I doubt he has the energy and talent to be a 100% campaigner and a 100% caregiver to you. We’ll see. I still can’t believe he’ll persevere in his political quest. ted
Hey Elizabeth, two things:
1. Go on a regiment of vitamin B-17.
2. Educate yourself about the real cancer: socialism.
Sorry, that should read “regimen.”
“Elizabeth Edwards” said:
all economics is opinion in my view
I had the same view of physics till I fell flat on my face. Ouch! Save that I had no desire to impose my opinion of gravity on rest of mankind.
I want you to stop judging us
And yet you chose to stand before an entire nation and be…judged? Can you get any more inconsistent?
If your posts are anything to go by, all you have to offer your country is illiteracy, incoherence, and humbug.
MCLA
I agree wholeheartedly with the views expressed by Ted Roberts. I can’t imagine neglecting someone I loved, in circumstances that can only be described as sobering and final, to pursue my quest for coercive political power. And then citing my behavior as evidence of my rare public virtue. Only a politican hooked on the surge of pseudo-self esteem he’ll get from the next cheering mob could do this.
However, I can’t imagine characterizing this behavior as “selfish”. No sane self-regarding person would sacrifice the well-being of someone essential to his happiness for the sake of a destructive habit. Is a heroin addict who wrecks his prospects for authentic happiness and fullfillment really properly looking out for his true interests? Is he really “selfish”?
To Maybeelizabeth. I don’t understand maybeprobablycouldbeelizabeth.com. Stop judging us she says. I thought that’s what the democratic voting process was all about. As a voter, I MUST judge your husband – thats my job as a voter. I must judge his intelligence, his character, his honesty. When you run for office you ask for it. Strange that you wish me to suspend my judgment. Get well soon. ted
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