Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Saturday, September 13, 2008

At this point in the process I am utterly sick of politics in this country. Both campaigns and the parties that run them have devolved to the point of merely uttering babble. The mainstream media takes positions and passes them off as news and these positions basically have nothing to do with what's really important. What are the issues that really matter?

Restraint of Government Spending and Debt Creation
The Future of Energy Production and Use in America
Regulation of the Financial Industry
Avoidance of Economic Stagnation
The Role of America in World Democratic Expansion

Right now there are really only two of these issues that the campaigns need to be focused on and that's the first two. The problem is that both campaigns have dropped any pretense towards balancing the budget or tax reform at any level. American businesses are taxed at the highest rate in the industrialized world. Republicans have overseen the greatest expansion of government spending in modern American history. The discussion, according to various groups independent of both campaigns, is not whether we will deficit spend but by how much over the next 10 years. Neither candidate is willing to tell the American people that it's time to tighten their belts and that the government is going to do the same. Neither will take on some entrenched group and say, "I know your cause is important but, you know, it's not as important as getting our debt problem under control." Especially senior citizens. Conservatives are ready, willing and able to rail against anything that looks like socialized health care or welfare assistance until it comes to seniors (or veterans). What to you think medicare and medicaid are? Why do we do a better job of providing government benefits for people who can still work to provide for themselves than we do for children who can't? Because kids don't vote and seniors no longer care about anybody, and I mean ANYBODY, but themselves.

I wanted to believe in Obama. I liked his message of hope, at least when that was the focus of his campaign. That's really what won Reagan the election in '80. Both men painted a picture of an America that could be believed in. But Obama's campaign has lost that message and is now involved in a snipe fight with McCain over who will change Washington more. Without some sort of major shift in the legislative branch, neither will do much changing at all practicing a politics of division as they are doing now. I'm not voting for or against McCain because I believe that he's in cahoots with the banks and financial institutions that have caused the mortgage and credit meltdowns and that cancels any "maverick" status he might have had. Besides, he won't survive eight years in the White House. If you look at what those eight years did physically to Reagan, Clinton and Bush I can't vote for McCain because I honesty believe he has less than a 50% chance of surviving to his 80th birthday. With Palin I see a complete continuation of the Republican politics of the last eight years. Sketchy insider deals, abuse of power at the edges, lack of oversight in the middle. I'm a Republican but I believe my party has lost it's way in the last 10 years. There is no longer any restraint amongst those in power in the GOP but rather a sheer lust for power and it's continuation. I honestly wonder what Reagan would have thought about the expansion of government under the Bush administration.

There are times when the only way to affect political change is to throw out the people in charge and make everyone step back and think things through. With as bad as things are in the the GOP, I'm considering the possibility that now is that time. Yes the Republicans say they support my views against abortion but are we any closer to restricting abortions that we were when Clinton took the White House? No. It's an issue that's used to scare and rally the party faithful and then forgotten for four years until such a time that it's taken out and dusted off to get a Supreme Court justice some support or to tar another election opponent as a baby killer. Each time I see it I feel used and dirty. The Republican Party will no longer pay the political price for standing what it claims to believe in because it exists now only to perpetuate itself.

On the issue of energy, it's really quite sad that the only reasonable energy policy is coming from an oil tycoon who sees the dependence this country has on foreign interests and doesn't have to depend on campaign contributions from those who stand to benefit the most from the status quo and the slow, inexorable bleeding of our country. As this price spike we've seen due to hurricane Ike has shown, we are not just at the mercy of oil producing countries but also from the companies that process the sludge for our use. These companies are multinational in nature and stand to benefit from weak governments fighting over non-issues or who's electoral system can be bought. Over the last three or four elections, our systems shows evidence of becoming both. The only issue between the Democrats and Republicans no is how much drilling they're going to let the oil companies do and how much more they'll try to delay the inevitable while the mantle of world economic leadership shifts to governments foresighted enough to realize that the age of petroleum is over.

And where's the fourth branch in all of this? Obsessing over teenage pregnancies and "lipstick on a pig." It is truly sad that the most credible journalistic voice in this election season seems to be the host of a comedy program. But we're too selfish and too self-centered to see past the crap. Americans still cling to the idea that they can drive their gas-guzzling cars hundreds of miles per week and not suffer the economic fallout from it. We still think that it's always someone else's representative to the Statehouse or Congress whose causing the problem and not our guy (or gal). It's too inconvenient to ride our bikes, walk our own streets, learn to get along with our own neighbors and cook our own meals and so we turn to a government that's for sale to solve those issues for us.

I believe in the values and promise of America but I'm not sure I believe in us anymore.

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