Finding digital characters in the Pokemon Go frenzy sweeping the nation is causing electronic gaming enthusiasts to stumble into trees and fall off cliffs as the virtual app is used on smart phones to find fictitious creatures that may appear anywhere. Pokemon characters have the appearance of reality causing people to enter a trance-like state on their GPS-assisted quests.
Identifying political actors is similar to the game. Aspiring politicians become cartoon characters as they devise a treasure hunt in determining where they stand on key issues. One second they are over here; the next they are over there. On some difficult issues, they are nowhere to be seen at all. On other issues, they suddenly appear on your TV sets and are heard on the radio.
Voters busy with their daily lives become catatonic and tune out elections that are a game for candidates, consultants and donors. Except the real-world consequences are that our country is declining, our children’s future will be worse than ours, and we are losing our way. Political cartoon characters desperate to get attention are often ignored in this arena, and rightfully so.
I respect my Republican primary opponents in this election – what they have accomplished in their careers, their dedication to their families and a desire to offer an alternative vision after two terms of President Obama. I watched the damage of the Obama years unfold as a Secret Service agent where the Washington D.C. insider class deceived the American public. My job was to protect the President, and I was powerless to end political games. But I left that rewarding career so I could do something. It was the only way, and in the intervening years I developed a grassroots following of regular people, patriots actually, who grew tired stumbling around and wanted to march in a coherent direction towards liberty and freedom.
It is with that purpose, that I am asking every voter in southwest Florida to keep an eye on my opponent, Francis Rooney. The problem is not Democrats versus Republicans; it is the D.C. insider class versus the American people. Too much is at stake to elect a congressman who will morph into any character he wants the instant he arrives in Washington.
Here is why I say that. Mr. Rooney is running commercials in what political experts call “heavy rotation,” which means they run a lot. In these commercials, the candidate puts on a hard hat and construction vest and wants everyone to see he’s a tough guy with a hammer. Such is the allure of paid advertising: become any character you want; no questions asked. But when talking to a local media outlet where questions are asked by a good reporter, another Francis Rooney emerges, quite different than the one seen on TV or heard on radio.
Mr. Rooney told the News-Press he wants “to study whether to build a wall” on the southern border. But wait, you ask. Don’t his commercials say he will build a wall? Yes, they do. But you see, the D.C. insider class wants cheap immigrant labor for businesses like construction and agriculture. By studying the issue, candidate Rooney appeases establishment Republicans who attempted immigration amnesty ten years ago. While his commercials don’t say he was part of a pro-amnesty group, the public record shows he is. Will Rooney advocate building a wall? It depends on whether you believe him or his TV character.
In another example, Rooney says he will end taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood. Most people upset by this organization’s abortion practices do. But in comments to the News-Press, the candidate says some Planned Parenthood organizations deserve funding while others do not. Presumably, Mr. Rooney will investigate every clinic in Southwest Florida and allocate funding according to criteria that nobody understands.
On crony capitalism, Rooney says he is opposed to subsidies for large industries. Good for him. Except he favors decades-old farm support policy that props up a cash-cow agricultural sector he favors. That too is in the public record, courtesy of the News-Press. Thank you Farmer Rooney, but that’s called carve outs, and the tax code is riddled with them because members of Congress in both parties want them for industries where they want to curry favor.
Doduo, an Ostrich-like bird with two heads, is a Pokemon character. Described as having two heads with an identical brain, it is believed that on “occasion they may possess different sets of brains.” We can accept false realities in games. Let’s stop doing so in Congress and with single-minded purpose and determination, focus our attention on improving our nation.
Dan Bongino is running for Congress in District 19
