Aug

New Designs From The Past at Retro Campaigns

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JFK, Obama, Reagan, Thatcher, War, political t-shirts, politics tshirts, retro campaigns, retro political tee, retro t-shirts, retrocampaigns.com

RetroCampaigns.com have added new political campaign t-shirt designs to their collection, featuring ex-presidents JFK and Reagan amongst others. Retro Campaigns, Inc. is a small, Los Angeles-based company, whose aim is to recall unique characters from American politics, with style and fun. All of their designs are printed on high-quality, sweat-shop free American Apparel shirts and notably, a portion of their profits are donated to a very worthy cause at SaveDarfur.org.

Again they’re featuring some US political icons from the past, it would be nice to see them expand their horizons and venture beyond the shores of America, perhaps it’s all down to supply and demand, I know that Margaret Thatcher (ex UK PM) has had as much influence on political history as Ronald Reagan, in fact they were close allies and friends for many years, and even Ronnie remarked upon the importance of Britain’s first female Prime Minister on the world stage. Even today, at least in a majority of European political circles, the term ‘Thatcherism‘ is still widely used to describe the trend towards privatisation of most privatisation of public services and infrastructure, entrepreneurialism in a perspective of the aggregation of personal wealth and self-responsibility, be it on an economic level or one’s interaction within society and state.

I grew up through the Reagan/Thatcher years, and learned to hate that time, it was oppressive, materialistic, politically paranoid and filled with grand gesture which in the long run failed to achieve much. The Star Wars Program was one example of Reagan the actor ousting Reagan the politician, another was the Falklands War and in particular the furore surrounding the sinking of the Belgrano overridden by a cult of personality, a more sophisticated circle of political pr experts and high economic forecasts for the UK at the time. But the worst of all must have been the infamous recording of Ronald Reagan announcing the beginning of WW3 for a laugh. Prior to his weekly radio address on August 11 1984, Reagan uttered this on what he assumed was not a live microphone. “My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”

It might have seemed funny then, but when you place this kind of thinking in a modern context (consider the current situation with Russia and Georgia), it doesn’t take much imagination to assume there are plenty more world leaders who secretly think on much the same lines, (including Putin). Power corrupts, there’s no avoiding it, this goes beyond breaking promises, essentially, to think you can lead your country, good or bad, you’re an egomaniac. If all people behaved like politicians, there’d be no constructive conversation; businesses and friendships would collapse left, right, and centre, and we’d all be declaring war on this, that, and the other at the very first possible opportunity.

I dream of a world of collective self-responsibility, where we rely on the neutral advice of a body of recognised experts in everything, be they great scientists, creatives, business tycoons, humanitarians, diplomats, and so on. But the final vote on everything should be left to the people. We have the technology already, consider interactive TV, more people vote for American Idol than the US elections. Many wouldn’t vote for every issue, that is human nature, but the right to vote on each and every law should be the future of democracy, not the past. Britain hasn’t even been allowed to vote on our future in the European state, without real democracy their is no real accountability.

If Blair and Bush were tried for war crimes I’d then believe that democracy as it stands, works. If they’re left to their own devices from now on and even treated as heroes for the rest of their lives, something has gone seriously wrong within the heart of modern politics. Hence the clamour for Obama, a seemingly just and righteous man who for all appearances seems to wear his heart on his sleeve. I’d love to believe he will be different, a president unlike any before, someone who tells the whole truth and nothing but. It’s an unrealistic expectation, it would take super-human control and nerves of steel to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, to all of the people all of the time; an omittance is a lie, a half-truth is a lie, ‘dressing the truth’ rather than the naked truth, is always the more viable option for any leader past and present. There will be a time when even Obama will be tested, I doubt it will be any different. I am sure that one day the spectre of truth will ruin politics, in our recent collective cultural history, the rise of the spin doctor has put paid to that; if the people don’t like it rewrite the terminology, if they’re still not happy, lie. The future will be far more difficult for all politicians, the people are informed and empowered by their knowledge, and what’s more they share it with each other (unlike politicians).

What’s most depressing (for me) about politics, are those who stand out from the rest and put their moral backbone on the line, their head on the proverbial chopping block, and swear to improve life for one and all. Few ever achieve much, and those that do are least able to accept when they’ve lost their magic touch, Tony Blair (ex-PM of the UK) was riding a crest of a wave of adulation until he decided to back Bush and his illegal and pointless war against Iraq. Remember this is the war that Bush had to get his secret service agents to defraud the world in order to gain a little legitimacy, there were no weapons of mass destruction, Iraq had no connection with Bin Laden, and essentially the whole thing was a horrible mistake. If you want to take out a tyrant, pay a hit man, it will leave the country in chaos, but at least you wouldn’t have had to kill a hundred thousand people first.

There are no angels in politics, some have done more good than others, although I’m speaking from a humanitarian viewpoint, not economically or tactically in a world-wide theatre of war, I mean food, health, human rights, dignity, fairness. The problem is none of that makes money, what does make money are weapons technologies, energy concerns, heavy industry, the money markets, and the rich.

Politicians by nature exist between a rock and a hard place, they have to persuade a raft of nobodies that they will represent them, and then spend their term in office negotiating with overlords of an international economy to cut them a break and help them save face in front of their increasingly impatient public. Promises are cheap, breaking a promise ruins credibility, but dithering and fudged reports and vague press announcements can last until the next election comes round.

I truly believe that historians of the future will view our current age of war and exploitation with the disdain it deserves, the gullibility of the voter, the recklessness of political use of military power, corporate greed, the ongoing and savage decimation of our natural environment. Perhaps if enough time has passed they’ll even be amused by the hypocrisy of this highly politicised age, where every thought and action is bombarded by an alternate view, demonised by those who believe otherwise, and in turn rejected by the intelligentsia for fear of cultural retribution.

State and religion must never mix, yet as the so-called War on Terror drags on another year, the evangelical nature of politics becomes ever so apparent. I’d rather live in a society that instilled self-belief, not an enforcement of a belief of convenience, a biased diktat, or compliance to an economically-inspired credo of intolerance and short-term gain.

We cannot live by inspired speeches alone, they can initiate change, and sometimes, if the argument is far and just and a true reflection of a changing public consciousness, society does improve. I recently created my first full-scale artwork for sale online, it’s called Black Christ and is available at ImageKind.com – I was referring to the future of Obama’s career, and the prospect of yet another media martyr, the economy survives off contrition not appeasement, court controversy, stir public opinion, boost ratings, sell products. However politicians can push the agenda into a far more powerful echelon of society, the movers and shakers of all they survey, the sellers of dreams, the economic giants of the world, they are (for now) all we have to influence change in this world where less ‘have’ than ‘have not’.

“But suppose God is black? What if we go to Heaven and we, all our lives, have treated the Negro as an inferior, and God is there, and we look up and He is not white? What then is our response?” (Robert Kennedy).