Elections get dirtier and dirtier every year, and the race to 2012 is no exception. Right now it’s hard to tell who is firing poo harder at Republican front-runner Herman Cain (considering recent allegations, it’s aka “Her Man” Cain in HotLanta, “Miami Hermancain” in Florida and “Kokyne o’ CoCaine” in parts unknown). Is the guilty party Bush, Jr., Jr., or maybe  just an enemy of his enemy? Either way – and as usual – there is no candidate that passes the “Can he measure up to Ron Paul?”(common sense/experience) test. Without wanting to sound like a broken record (but more than happy to emit a stringent hiss of vinyl), there is legit intent and obvious potency in the “government generally sucks” crowd – painfully known as ” the Tea Party” or other childish names… inelectibility notwithstanding.

The problem is that this little faction is split in two due to either glaring hypocrisy or general misunderstanding of freedom and/or “smaller government”. The stark ideological contrast between Ron Paul and Herman Cain highlights the intellectual divide between the real-life grassroots and really fake astro turf so-called Tea Party movements. Ron Paul has spent most of his political career inside the Republican Party, and stayed there even when his viewpoints didn’t align with any other members of that crowd. He has consistently voiced his anti-Federal Reserve, anti-corporate welfare and anti-cronyism viewpoints for 30+ years. On the other hand, Cain has served as both lobbyist and Federal Reserve chairman, and apparently has no problems with the Fed or lobbying. For tea party people to think of him as a political outsider shows how misguided many of them are, although not nearly as misguided as OWS. Cain undeniably has business know-how, but the U.S. government is not a business.