In just a short period of time, the entire world will finally know what two years of hard-fought campaigning, intense primaries, heated debating and ferocious mudslinging have rewarded us with: the new president of the United States.
To speculate, Tuesday may not even be the last day of this election, because who knows what kind of controversies might arise in the later hours of this evening? This entire process has proven so tiring on the citizens of our country that most Americans are just ready for the whole thing to finish.
In some ways, everybody thinks he or she has a solution to the political, economic and social issues that plague society today. Whether it’s canning the Electoral College or eradicating the two-party system, taxing the rich or cutting taxes on the rich, or pushing one social agenda over another, people fight mercilessly for what it is they believe is the right way for this country to be organized.
In a way, we’ve taken a step back from what society was hundreds of years ago. I’m certainly no Native American expert, but consider the organization of a fictional tribe we’ll call the Alphas that roamed this country long ago.
The Alphas’ main goal of society was survival by any means necessary, and survival was the primitive and only goal. In America today, survival is usually a given, as we have the hundreds of years of scientific advancement to provide that for us.
The Alphas would probably have had a leader, some kind of chief or shaman who was either appointed by the tribe or part of a bloodline. The success of the leader was based on whether the people were fed, quenched, sheltered and safe from any enemies.
If the Alphas decided their leader wasn’t fit, all they’d have to do is shun him. Kick him out of the tribe or demote him and start over. There are plenty of strong warriors to choose from. No long impeachment mess involving hundreds of members of government and media or a two-year election process determining which warrior was best fit. There is no time for that in a society whose solitary goal is survival.
The Alphas don’t have economic issues. They trade and barter with other tribes and do so based off what they need for survival. They produce for and take care of themselves, their families and the tribe as a whole. They don’t have rich and poor issues because they live just to live. They don’t have rent to pay or families to buy clothes for. Need a place to live or clothes to wear in the Alpha tribe? Just skin that deer you caught for dinner tonight and stitch it into something useful. No sales or property tax on that teepee, either.
International issues? No way, they wouldn’t have lived on such a large scale. How about inter-valley issues? The Alphas would probably have kept to themselves, but if the tribe across the valley known as the Betas started taking their buffalo, they’d take care of it. Ask them politely to share the buffalo and if they don’t, find some more buffalo or raid their village until they get the message. No messy war situations across the globe, involving billions of dollars and multiple countries. Just solving it in a way that ensures survival.
The simple advancement of civilization is to blame for most of the issues we have today. Think about it.
Without the complicated economic systems of income and taxation that we’ve developed, there would be no issues of rich and poor, taxes or entire markets failing because of even more complicated loan schemes organized by huge companies of workers.
If it weren’t for the intricate structure of the federal government, we wouldn’t have these kinds of election processes that tear nations apart over opposite methods of organization and efficiency, one of which we’ll see implemented in just months.
If it weren’t for the way the United States is organized as a modern civilization, we’d probably be better off. Not that realistically we’d revert to a technology-lacking, nomadic tribal society.
If we were to do so, we’d be a little colder in the winter, a little less sanitary and a little more bored without the Internet. But society would work together to survive instead of splitting to determine whose philosophy is best, who should get the money, who should be allowed to get married or whether to fight people across the world.
Unless they take your buffalo.
So get ready for tonight. It’s just another step in some kind of progression in one direction or the other and another step away from the simple life of people such as the Native Americans long ago.
It’s about time this powwow of an election ended.
— Oliver Casey is a junior in enterprise management. He can be reached at [email protected].
