With the election on Tuesday I am thankful this will be my last national political piece. I have some regrets about living in Colorado–a swing state–only because the hotly contested election races draw more money from both parties to television advertising and telephone soliciting. Even a quick finger on the remote cannot avoid the onslaught of misrepresentations, half-truths and personal attacks marring the integrity of both campaigns. This is one reason highly qualified people stay out of politics and remain in private industry.
The negative campaigning brings to mind a number of questions I need to ponder before making my final presidential selection. If you have some answers, please leave a comment at www.kwmv.org/blog.
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• Why are there 35,000 registered lobbyists in America and only 535 people in Congress (a ratio of almost 70-1)?
• Can either candidate lead us out of this financial crisis?
• Why do we chastise the Cubans for human rights violations and maintain Guantanamo prison on a tiny portion of the same island?
• If we are a racist country, why is Colin Powell one of the most respected people in America?
• Why are such a large percentage of pro-life advocates also in favor of capital punishment?
• What is the difference between Timothy McVeigh and William Ayers?
• What is the difference between Charles H. Keating and Tony Rezko?
• Do the religious leaders Jeremiah Wright, John Hagee and Louis Farrakhan really promote tolerance?
• If we have a minimum age for a president, should we have a maximum age or should there be no age requirement?
• Would formalized same sex relationships really have a profound negative effect upon communities at large?
• If there is compulsory education, then why does the dropout rate exceed 50% in most inner cities?
• If we have immigration laws in place, who decided not to enforce them?
• On election ballots, why aren’t incumbents’ names highlighted making it easier to vote them out of office?
• Why is our Congress able to legislate and determine their working conditions and compensation when we are their employers?
• If most legislators have never run a business, how can they be so arrogant as to set business policies and then delegate the oversight to underlings with even less experience?
I look forward to your answers. Send them my way at www.kwmv.org/blog.
Tags: Election Day, Election Questions
October 24, 2008 at 8:01 pm |
Provocative as usual.
The only answer to all of your question is that the answers are obvious and the country is not going to elect a leader that has the capacity to change a thing.
The answers are obvious/ As you say, no right-minded intelligent person would involve themselves in such a “race”. The objective of the office of the Presidency was lost long before these candidates started their run for office and these candidates have managed to lower the dignity of the process to a level that is beyond comprehension. Clearly neither man is qualified to run a shipbroking company, let alone this country.
A race for the Presidency wherein a candidate’s main goal is to raise enough money to have his face appear on every possible medium and then has the audacity to claim he is for “change” and for the under-priviledged and middle class of this country. What a hypocrit!
Your questions are thought provoking and are probably on the minds of so many people in America who now have the impossible task of choosing the lesser of two evils. Sad.
October 26, 2008 at 2:07 pm |
Good Morning Lou,
Thought provoking as always.
Where will this financial crises lead us? I don’t beleive either canidate can lead us out. Why are we so complacent in the oversight of our government? Are we compliant to be lead?
Are Americans racist? We are jugemental.
William Ayers anti-government politics and violent actions are distorted through the romanticized lens of the 60’s.
Compulsory anything and teenagers will ignite resistance. What are the conseqences? More importantly, what is the reward?
Marcie
October 26, 2008 at 3:46 pm |
Either candidate could lead us out of this mess, but he would have to decide to stand up to the bullying and ignorance of Congress. That takes political courage; the courage to do the right thing rather than the self-interested thing.
The only difference between Ayers and McVeigh is that Ayers is smarter and realizes that rotting the system from within is more effective than trying to blow the walls down.
As for all your questions about Congress, we elect them and sanction their behavior. The Congress is a creature of our creation. As we have become more affluent we simply want a government that will not tolerate change that might interfere with our desire for self-gratification and a free lunch. It is not change in Washington that is goal. It is a change in the thinking of the electorate that is needed and that will not come until we feel that our basic lifestyle and ability to go shopping are really and truly threatened.
October 28, 2008 at 6:59 pm |
Dear Marcie,
The financial crisis will eventually lead to a worldwide comprehensive system that every country will observe. In a global economy the financial and accounting rules must be the same for everyone. There will always be people or companies that ignore the rules and other schemes will unfold to cheat the system. However, I feel the world financial system will be a far better and more transparent place in the future.
We rely on the government for oversight. I feel there are very few people that understand the intricacies of the global system and if one does not understand something, one cannot govern or control it. We need real business people, not political hacks in government controlling the oversight agencies and controlling the entitlement programs.
There are a certain amount of Americans that are racists. That exists in every country and to deny it would be folly.
This country is easily lead and often by incompetent politicians. The same people that thought the housing market would never go down, or that the stock market could not fall 40% in a short amount of time are the same people that vote in national elections, and the same people that keep their representatives in office.
As for William Ayers, I don’t believe in destroying private or government property or taking innocent lives. I don’t think there is a romantic side for that behavior.
Compulsory education is simple another law that is convenient to ignore. The consequences are that half of our teenage children will not be educated and that is more problematic in a shrinking blue collar economy. Bear in mind this ilk of barely literate teenagers will be voting for president one day.
We have lost our way thinking that entitlements should replace incentives or investments to provide opportunities for those that have been left behind. Perhaps the fall of the Berlin Wall helped foster our ever increasing sense of complacency and hard work became walking to the shopping mall instead of driving.
Best regards,
Lou