Republicans On Steroids

Many wordsmiths have cut their teeth exploiting gold and all its ancillary aspects such as greed, avarice, crime and poverty. The higher message all along has been that “money can’t buy me love” or health, dignity and the like – and that it often works to the detriment of the finer virtues.

When talking about gold and/or money we essentially talk about ‘value’. What is valuable in this day and age? The ‘rarity’ of any given commodity is certainly a factor. Gold is rare; as is talent, know-how, hard work, innovation, inspiration, etc. When the political class tells us that everyone is equal, it denies the notion of rarity as well as individual pursuit of excellence. It denies value at its core. The only thing left, then, is gold.

The rise in gold prices reflects the disillusionment with the political class world-wide. Nobody appears to be standing up for value. Bailouts signal a dangerous trend. It means that failure is on par with success. This is not something that inspires confidence. It means that nothing we do can lift us above the average mean; that we are in essence trapped in the prison of the ‘common good’; that all that is left for us to do is to hoard gold - a fleeting reminder of a golden age when America was exceptional (the gold standard) – to build it into shining but soulless pyramids to sit atop in watch out for equally soulless thieves. Eventually we will feel inclined even to abandon our golden perches as the impulse to exercise our bodies becomes increasingly compelling.

The skyrocketing price of gold signals our misgivings about where we are heading. November elections are routinely hyped as our salvation. But what is the alternative? Republicans? American voters are not impressed by the prospect of Republicans taking up the reigns either. They’ve tried that before and it only managed to get them Obama – Republicans on steroids.