Pimpin' Ain't Easy

As the saying goes pimpin' ain't easy -- but it sure is profitable! Politicians, public servants, and preachers have become the new pimps in the American experiment. Some may object to such a characterization but lets look at it for a moment. The one thing that makes a pimp a pimp is the ability to exploit human beings for near monopoly profits. The pimp is different from a broker, a manager, or an agent; each of these social functions extracts a proportion of wealth (income) relative to their ability to reduce the time between gigs. Brokers, mangers, agents and, at one time, politicians were socially valuable for their ability top maximize efficiency. Their primary value was in their ability to get done, in a relatively short amount of time, what would take either the producer or consumer more time than was profitable -- establishing and executing a meaningful exchange of energy and resources. Pimps, on the other hand, generally, neither facilitate exchange nor increase the efficiency of the exchange (more bang for time or money).

The role of the politician is to be the voice of the demos in the polis - to articulate, advocate and achieve gains for those positions that the people deem necessary or desirable. For this service, of being an efficient and effective advocate for the will of the people towards some desired objective, the politician would receive some form of remuneration, whether it be in some titular honor or some form of compensatory stipend. Though, to be sure , in the ideal form of representative government, compensation was not the end towards which one aspired (bribery of a Roman Senator was punishable by death) to service but, instead, the well being of the community -- the commonwealth.

Today we have quite a different development. The devolution of advocacy to a base form of exchange has turned politicians and public servants in general into pimps. Their functional social location is rooted in galvanizing the general public to support them into office (vote for me and I will . . .), while simultaneously pandering to money interest (vote for me and I will . . .). The resulting social interaction results in a pimps and hos scenario in which the demos (you remember the "We THE PEOPLE") is exploited for their vote and their value as a base for proportional, though often disproportionate, allocation of revenues extracted from the mass populace through taxation.

While, ideally, the function of a public servant is to reallocate wealth toward the interest articulated by the population whom they represent, the current situation results in public servants allocating collective revenues to those few individuals to whom they are indebted for maintaining their campaigns. The result ends in a scenario where the mass votes for a person who pushes the interest of a small few. Often reallocating the resources reserved for the people into the coffers of the rich and influential.

Do we really need another "McBox" (Starbucks, GAP, Chipotle), how long does asphalt endure (certainly more than a year or two)? What ever happened to the TIFF? How many $ and hour jobs are improving the conditions of the community? Why can't grandma afford the taxes on the home she worked 40 years to own? Why is junior getting yet another educational program, complete with non-recyclable books, when his teacher is drifting closer towards welfare? Why is junior being taught by a teacher who's knowledge base extends a page ahead of him? I guess these things really don't matter. What good is real literacy (the ability, to read, comprehend and synthesize new information after critical evaluation) when it would only lead to anger and resentment? Why question a politician or preacher about the new arena, when the membership is taking on larger amounts of debt so that they can tithe more? Why ask the politician why there are no jobs, shit schools, increased drug traffic and more police brutality?

All is well. The preacher got paid, the politician got his contribution along with the new legislative package he is expected to pass on behalf of his benefactors; the contractors are rich; the vendors have a new contract; the teachers take cuts in benefits, extensions in hours, increases in class size. The students get less activities, less time, less attention, less instruction, more burnt out or underqualified teachers; the house you lived in will cost more in taxes than the mortgage -- but don't you worry all is well. Just get your ass back out on that corner, commute for half the time you work, figure out when to sleep, and don't even think about family time.

In closing -- Bitch better have my money!