If you’re younger than sixty you probably don’t know anything about the “Hupmobile”. It was sleek for its time, which was from 1908 to 1940. It was considered a really great car right from the first showing at the 1908 Detroit Auto Show. The Model 20 was a two seater, four cylinder runabout. Robert and Louis Hupp’s baby was so well received they sold over 1600 the first year.
Success breeds success as the old saying goes and throughout the ‘20’s the Hupp brothers were well known in the world of autos, and sales increased up until the stock market crash, especially with the 1928 model of which almost 69,000 were sold. With so much prosperity the Hupp brothers felt they were unstoppable. They developed newer, more powerful, and more expensive models even with the depression staring them in the grille. Sales started dipping in 1931 and continued in spite of collaboration and the introduction of a brand new sleek style in 1932.
With dipping sales, Hupp reduced prices but not the size of the engines, nor did they make them more economical from the accessory standpoint. People may have wanted them because they did look so good and were so luxurious, especially for that time, but no one could afford them. Hupp stuck by their plan anyway. By 1940, even with a new model, internal turmoil in the boardroom tore them apart, and sadly they ended operations.
I see American politics as The Huppmobile Corporation. Politicians want to be known for great accomplishments and with some success under their belt they plow deep into the soil of the American psyche and economy with little care of the outcome as long as it benefits them. All the while, they believe they can overcome all obstacles and win out so they can stand, Rocky like, at the head of the political stairs cheering themselves on, and further expanding their already huge egos, and in turn expanding their power and wealth.
I understand a good leader has to have a certain level of confidence, and to some degree, ego. General MacArthur notwithstanding, many of our past very successful leaders achieved their greatness without pressing their egos on the public. Many had little ego at all, but instead had a deep desire for America to succeed. We see little of that in American politics today. John Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you” mentality no longer appears to exist even on the smallest levels of government.
The sad part is I don’t see it changing any time soon. American apathy is still rampant and it appears politics has beaten us down to the point we as citizens no longer want to fight back. Bruce Springsteen said it perfectly in “Born In the USA”. “You end up like a dog that’s been beat too much, ‘til you spend half your life just covering up.”
Those of us fifty and older remember a time when, although there was corruption in government, it just didn’t seem as though we had to be so afraid of our officials. You never would have seen the bumper sticker “I love my country, it’s the government I’m afraid of” when I was a boy. Of course, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution changed all that for many. Lyndon Johnson’s opening of the war in Vietnam wasted all the trust built by previous presidents such as Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower. The shock of a president just having been assassinated didn’t help, especially with a thousand questions about the actual murder of John F. Kennedy.
Then came Nixon.
It all suddenly burst open and became so obvious. Nixon was a crook in spite of his denials. The government at the highest level was incredibly untrustworthy. No longer was deception at the local permitting agent level taking grafts, this was the president, and he was doing whatever he had to in order to win and keep the power.
Although we were angry and shocked about the debacle at that time, months of the behavior turned into years and it has now grown on us. We not only have become accepting, we now expect it, we understand it, and we apathetically choose the lesser of the evils in order to do our civic duty and vote. This is what we have been reduced to as citizens. They appear to have won. Like a runaway nuclear reactor of politics we now have the unstoppable China syndrome of power, bringing with it the egos, and lies that burn through our earth. Now, unless you’re rich, you can’t even run for office. It just takes too much time and money for the average person to serve his community in a political position.
I am acutely aware I am complaining without providing a resolution to this incredibly large problem. It’s gotten so out of hand few know how to address it.
We have politicians driving us into debt with China, sinking us down so far, it will only be paid back by future generations. We are losing social security. We have a terrible immigration problem. Most of all however, we have egotistical corruption, with little care for the public they serve. Even if there were only bad choices in a lot of cases, we elected these people that care nothing about their duties other than how it looks, and we have to pay the price for our bad judgment.
The first step to recovery is to admit the problem. We need to admit the problem, scream it from the mountain tops and make sure we are heard. It’s time we vetted our politicians like we do our supreme court justices.
Certainly we can’t have specific hearings, but we need to get involved, ask these people questions, check out their past, and their characters, and not just go to the polls accepting there are only bad choices. It’s all up to us. We will remain beaten and under the front porch of our society until we rise up and say no more. We have to find a way to get good, honest, intelligent people into office, even if they don’t have the money to run. We need a revolution in our political system. The present system rules out all but the power hungry, and does it on so many levels, the system has its own built in security.
I don’t have answers as I said, but I know there are people out there much smarter than I and have ideas to resolve these problems. All I can do, and know to do it shout it from the mountain tops, and try to eliminate the oppressive apathy into which the system has beaten us. Either there is an answer, or we are on the verge of our own fall of Rome.
Lee Clymer is a writer for West Orlando News Online. He can be reached at: [email protected]
