Connecting the Dots

Both the USA and Thailand seem to have one thing in common at this point in time. The politicians that are out of power are doing their very best to repackage going backwards as a good thing. So under the heading of Please let me know when typewriters are popular again, Connecting the Dots decided it would be a good topic to explore.

To say that the pro Thaksin Pheu Thai Party (PTP) have similarities with the US Republican party may quickly cause gastric distress in some readers, but essentially that is the case. No Doubt the Republicans will take great concern and want to hide this article, however the PTP will probably do their best to highlight it.

Both the Republicans and PTP are out of power, and both will face the voters in new elections, and both have no forward moving new ideas. Both put an emphasis on helping the rich, and both tend to piss on the poor whether the poor know it or not. How each party got out of power is irrelevant to this entry, but how they are trying to get back in has identical themes.

In the US it is more the case of wanting the horse to run back into the burning barn hoping the horse will not notice, and in Thailand it is all about self serving greed and corruption.

In the US the Republican desire to go backwards is simply based in the fact that where the world is going is simply in direct conflict with the old school ways of the Republicans. All the networking and money connections with big business will simply rot away because they are no longer compliant with the needs of today. So in a last ditch effort to confuse the voting public about the changes already voted into law, particularly so in the new health care reforms, the Republicans look to remove the educated decision from this vote with misleading information.

In Thailand it is very similar except that a significant number of Thais do not have sufficient education to sort things out themselves. So a campaign is being mounted by the PTP that requires no education. They are simply targeting memories of a time gone by and suggesting that they can bring all that back.

Absolutely no mention is being made that they did their best to block, hinder, or otherwise thwart their political rivals from being successful doing the things they are now saying are exclusively theirs. The defense was so much that politicians from other parties were in mortal danger and risked injury or death should they wander into the pro Thaksin parts of the country to help the people there. The effort by the PTP to defend their potential votes with violence should not be forgotten.

The summarizing point is both the Republicans and the PTP find the present path of change toxic. Corruption is being significantly challenged in Thailand, and the US has moved past the ways of the century gone by.

Delaying this evolution has only caused more problems than good. Former President George Bush delayed or stopped the needed changes, and now the price is being paid on a global scale in economics and climate change.

Seeking votes based on raw emotion is exactly what both the US Republicans and Thai PTP are doing. So when you stop and think about it in that light, that gastric distress may be coming from an entirely different thing.