Welcome to Circus Circus, where everything is possible and most things probable. A look at the trials and tribulations with great expectations of the American political system. Look at the two-faced vote snatcher — unlike any ever seen in the wild or in captivity, but here in the world of Circus Circus, they abound.

They are of both parties. Creatures that will snatch your vote with the promise of hope and greater days.

I must agree, there will be greater days. They come when we elect these politicians who stole our votes with lies. These better days I speak of are for them. These lies come from both parties.

I know that in the beginning, these hopefuls’ hearts are in the right place. In the very beginning, that is. They all tell you that they are for all the people. That’s true, their people — those in their immediate orbit. Not us, the lesser people, as the politicians see us in time.

We are the peons who propel these men to greatness. They break our backs with the senseless spending of our overtaxed dollar. But as I said, they help people. They pay back favors to the wealthy. Give enough money to either of the parties, and watch your status grow. Be someone within the party. Back them — cash donations always work real well, again with all the parties.

So now we have elected our choice for senator. It’s great, he goes off to Washington. This man is working for his constituents. Like I said, that’s all in the beginning. Then things change. This knight in shining armor is attacked. He is attacked by a hideous creature known to all as the professional politician.

So hideous is this creature with his or her white hair and humped back that, in most cases, the young knight falls and fails in his first battle.

It’s simple — a man who has been in office for more than 30 years tells the young senator: “You play ball with us and you will get things done. You buck our system and you will go home after one term, with nothing done, during your time in office.”

This takes place in all of our parties.

I’m sorry, they do not work for us. They work for their friends and their families, but we do get the occasional nod. That makes me feel fuzzy and warm all over to know they throw us the bones from their grand tables.

I’m happy — my stomach is full my bills are paid. These are the thoughts of the worker bee.

Mark my words, there will come a day in which the worker bee will strike out and sting those who would take all the nectar for themselves.

There will come a day when the bellies are not full and the bills are not paid because the professional politicians have taken all from the people — that being the ability to have a free and safe life. This is all brought about by their wasteful spending of our money.

It comes down to this: Our founding fathers never wanted for there to be men who made their life long living off of the people. The politicians of those days were for the people.

I am not so slow as to understand they also made a living from the people. It was in most cases that these men had already been successful in businesses of their own.

This was in the form of farms and shops of all types. These men had things to fall back on. The politicians of today also have something to fall back on: Stolen money.

That’s right, stolen money from a system that will put you and I in jail for insider trading, but it’s totally legal for Congress. Great perks — you can be a legal thief within our government.

I would like to go back to the early 1960s, that is when I first started paying attention to politicians. It was a sad day for America, a day in November of 1963. President Kennedy had been assassinated.

He was the first political figure I was to remember. I hate that it was in death that I would remember this man first. Then of course, Johnson comes to mind. I don’t remember much about the elections of 1964, I just know that Johnson won.

By the time the elections of 1968 came along, I knew what was taking place within these presidential elections. I know that Nixon won.

Again in 1972, he took the race. By this time in my life, I was a young Marine. I also remember Watergate and what a few minutes of tape recordings did for his last term in office. The end came, I think, in August of 1974 or thereabout. That makes me think of Hillary and her missing email.

We see what brought down a standing president. Smells the same to me. The reason for the timeline was to just say this. Back in those days, if I remember right, the politicians — the creatures of Circus Circus — did not come out of their cages until about the year before election time.

I do believe in the case of Ford and Carter it had not changed either. When Reagan came along, it seems to have started a bit earlier. I just want to say that Reagan, in my book, was a good president. Some will say he wasn’t, and that’s fine with me. It is everyone’s right to disagree.

I just think he had a lot of backbone — he was good for America. He scared the hell out of the Russians and the rest of the world. That is in short supply these days. We need a return to those days of power.

The first Bush in office was just great all across the board. I like the fact that he was a World War II vet. He was a good man, one you could believe in. The only reason he did not come back in for a second term was the fact that he was out of touch with the American people.

Bush the senior was a world politician, of which you have to be to be a true president in this country.

That brings us to Bill Clinton. That was about the time when politics never went away, it stayed in the media almost all the time, day-in and day-out. All I can say about Clinton is this: I think he was a good leader. I will not say he was the best, but he got a lot of things done.

My only real problem with him was NAFTA, it killed the job market here in Richmond County. That all started in 1993.

For the best leaders, you have to go back to the time frame of the ’30s to the ’50s. I know some people will not agree with me on that, but again, that’s OK.

We all have had our likes and dislikes. That is the way it is and the way it’s going to be until the end of time. People are just different, and that’s fine.

First term for the second Bush was great, he was a good leader. He brought the country together — it was short-lived, but it did happen. The second term was his downfall. The economy started to come apart.

It was not all his fault. Now we come to Dodd-Frank, these two and all their wisdom started the true downfall of our economy. They were Democrats. Look them up.

There is not enough space here to go into it all. I know I will get bit by my critics with this, and so be it. All I ask is come in and we can debate this in person. What will it hurt? One on one. Me and you.

Now we come to today. This is the whole reason for this column. Enough is enough. Now we are in the time frame of the never-ending election. It never stops. For the last seven years, it’s been nothing but the backbiting of endless politics. We go to sleep with it. We wake up with it.

Just to let you know, I do not blame Obama for this. It is the nature of Circus Circus — we, the people, are being smothered with politics. The media, as it appears, has nothing else to do.

In closing, as I’ve said before: I have no problem with the man Obama is. It’s just his policies, foreign and domestic, that’s where I do not agree with him. For people to say I hate this man because he is black is just a damn lie. They tell this lie to run me down and to try to make me look bad. It does not work.

I just feel he could have done more with our economy. I know he could have, but he chose not to.

The president of this country is nothing more than a figurehead, to stand before us all and look pretty.

The ones who stand behind him in the shadows are the ones who truly run this country. We will never see their faces or know their names, but they are the ones who run this country and make policy.

This has taken place, for the most part, in the last 100 years. It’s all about the circus of politics.

Robert Lee is a concerned citizen and former U.S. Marine who owns and operates Rockingham Guns and Ammo. His column appears here each Saturday.

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Robert Lee

Contributing Columnist