With all the attention going to London this week, the political coverage as well as the attention span of the American people has been quite weak. There’s been more attention paid to Michael Phelps’ rivalry with Brian Lochte than was noted concerning Obama and Romney. If the subject matter weren’t as tedious as it’s been on either side of the aisle I’d say news coverage has mainly been a snore more than a daydream.

The Olympics roll around roughly at the same time as our presidential elections: in four year cycles. Olympic gold supplants the campaigns’ foothold in the citizens’ minds. The program shows the dearth of respect most people have for the presidential candidates. It shows the immaturity of the average person but moreso the lack of caring people have for the comparative processes. One competition holds no importance over the other. They’re both vacuous endeavors for the most part.

People are intrigued by the competition when it gets started. They hold hope they’ll be allowed to be a part of a victory even if it’s only vicariously. In the political sense, they’ll debate and argue for their favorite. It’s important for a few months. Then somebody holds up the shiny gold coin (the Olympic Gold Medal) and the country as well as the world goes bonkers chasing that reflected glory.

Some say I’m a spoil-sport. I couldn’t care less about the latest sports related golden boy or girl. They have NO effect on my life other than a vapid attempt at entertainment. And in this year’s case of Olympic class cheating by the Chinese in Badminton, I found my only glimmer of hope in their try to beat the system. We see this proves the Chinese’s viewpoint it’s better to cheat than to compete fairly. Their little swimmer alleged to be a steroid freak is another example of what to watch out for in the future as we engage in trade with these folks.

The Olympic Games are a sterling metaphor for politics. We’re in competition for the same rewards: Ragging rights. I could have said bragging rights but the end result is the country with the most gold, silver and bronze plated scrap metal gets to claim Ragging Right. They get to “Rag” on the people they see as losers. It’s a chance to show off somebody’s smug, faux superiority.

Meanwhile, two men are hammering the American people like campaign planks as if they really believe anybody’s listening. Romney went to England and pontificated concerning the security issues for the games. That ticked off the British who really haven’t gotten over our invasion of their shores during World War II. It would have been better to keep his mouth shut about the Olympics and started talking about security from terrorists and evil-doers skulking around the world. This would have brought an ally onto the same page with us. Instead he came off looking a smugly self-centered know-it-all.

Then Beaurat Obama slavishly kissed Israel’s backside by dedicating more monetary support while Romney’s praying at the Wailing Wall. These games of one-upmanship have been more important than any water-logged boy toy competing against another. It’s more important we see the personal electoral avarice being exhibited than watching somebody ascend a plywood platform to get an alloy badge on a ribbon.

The Olympic Games more represent a global war with rubber bullets than the joy of sportsmanlike competition. This program represents battle-surrogates dropped onto desert islands like some futuristic sci-fi story. They’re assembled to do battle “man-to-man”. They’ll save millions of innocents the horror of understanding what real war is all about. They misrepresent the nature of war. This is merely play acting at best. The realities are far more barbaric.

Westernized cultures like to homogenize and pasteurize their conflicts. It’s easier to lie about the importance of the competitions when they involve discuses, shot-puts without powder charges and javelins without broad-heads. It’s easier to distract folks footing the bills.

Bread, wine and games kept the Romans entertained. The pageantry was specifically designed to take the peoples’ minds off of their troubles.

Does anybody remember how they ended up?

Thanks for listening.