Here we are, just one week away from the midterm elections of 2010. I think that these elections are the most anticipated since the 1994 midterms. No matter what your political persuasion is, I think you'll have to grant that next week will see a sea change amongst the electorate. I have not seen this level of anger since 1994; I myself have not had this level of anger since 1994; however there is one significant factor in this midterm that did not exist in 1994: and that is, the Tea Party Movement, as they are called.
The Tea Party is not a political party in a strict sense that the Republicans or Democrats are. Yet they are a movement that has galvanized millions, and inspired people from all walks of life to run for office for the first time in their lives. The Tea Party is ridiculed by the Democrats and the so-called "Mainstream Media", but what you are not being told by either the Democrats or the MSM is that both entities fear the Tea Party. And they're not the only ones. The Tea Party movement is also feared by the Establishment Republicans, and likely more so. Make no mistake, the Tea Party is here, the Tea Party is real, and the Tea Party means business.
Whether or not you agree with them, I think you'll have to agree that one week from today, you will have an opportunity to bring about real change, provided of course, that you're qualified to vote. I am not going to, in this post, tell you how to vote in terms of specific candidates, but I will make my very best attempt to give you something to think about.
Are you fed up with the direction that the country is going in? Are you concerned about double digit umemployment? Are you worried that your job, whatever it is, is going to be outsourced to China? Does the amount of the federal deficit concern you? Does the amount of the national debt concern you? Do you know what your share of the national debt is? Do you want to do something about some or all of the aforementioned? Do you want to read on, and ask yourself the same questions that I'm about to ask of you now? If so, please read on. What you're about to read are some questions/musings from someone who is a registered independent.
Has the person that you're about to vote for contributed to our national debt? Has that person, in Congress, voted for, at any time in his her career, for an increase in the statutory limit of the national debt? If so, then you may be part of the problem.
Is the person that you're about to vote for, sympathetic to illegal aliens who are overrunning my state, my neighboring states, and possibly your state? If so, then you may be part of the problem.
Do you think that in general, Congress is a corrupt institution stuffed to the gills with practicing criminals, but you somehow think that your incumbent Congressman/Congresswoman is one of the "good" guys? If so, then you may be part of the problem.
Do you think that we need term limits, in order to ensure turnover in our Congress, but you yourself are too lazy to vote out your so-called representative? Do you simply rubberstamp your representative back into office out of party loyalty, or because you think the person you're voting for is one of the "good" guys and not one of the "bums" that need to be voted out? If so, then you may be part of the problem.
Did you stay home in the last election, thinking that your vote did not matter? In that case, you're definitely part of the problem, and I would rather that you stay home next week and sit on your fat lazy ass and stay out of the way of those of us who give a damn about what's going on., and shut the H E double hockey sticks up the next time Congress does something that you don't like!
Now let's look at some other questions.
Is there a candidate, incumbent or not, who you feel accurately represents your values? If you do not vote for that candidate, then you are part of the problem!
You have a choice next week. It's right there in front of you. If your choice is the lesser of two evils, and yes that frequently happens, then vote for the lesser of the two. If you sit that one out, the worst of the two is likely going to get in. Even if that other one is way ahead of the polls, what if everyone who felt the same way that you do shows up to vote the same way that you do?
In the meantime, get ready for the robo-calls. Get ready for the gaffes. Prepare yourselves for the literature in your mailbox that smears someone. Prepare to get harassed by the exit pollster who demands to know how you voted, even though how you voted really isn't anybody's business but your own.
Before then, know this: if you do not participate, then you are most definitely part of the problem!
As a corollary to your question as to whether anyone you have voted for "increased" the national debt, how about whether anyone you have voted for has "decreased" our government's ability to pay off that debt?
ReplyDeleteI had to laugh, I watched this one clip from the Daily Show that had John McCain, going back almost every single year for 20 years, saying how broken government is and how change is needed. So John, what have you done about for the last 20 years, or even lately?
The corollary is easy to visualize but difficult to execute without the Law of Unintended Consequences kicking in. If you raise taxes on corporations, you might think you're raising revenue, but if corporations lay off people to be able to afford the new taxes, then that might be offset by the newly unemployed not paying income tax.
ReplyDeleteThere was a "yacht tax" passed by Congress in 1990 and within two years a yacht building company in Connecticut went out of business since their sales went down after the new tax kicked in.
That of course brings up the argument that revenue collection can be increased by lowering taxes; I think one of the southeastern states is giving this one a try.
I've also read, but not verified, that the Kennedy administration cut some taxes and saw an increase of revenues.
What concerns me is that if you give the Congress one dollar, they'll spend two. Give them two additional dollars, and they'll spend five. Ten years ago each person's share of the national debt was $20,000. Today it surpassed $44,000. (source: usdebtclock.org).
As for Senator McCain, I will not be voting for him tomorrow. He's changed positions so many times over the years that I think he's running against himself more than he is running against Rodney Glassman. Every position he has now is the result of an "election year conversion".
No, I won't be voting for Glassman, but I will be voting for the Libertarian. If the Libertarian were not on the ballot then I'd be writing my own name in.....and I've done that before. I voted for myself for U.S. Senator in 2004.
Hmmm, maybe I'll vote for myself tomorrow after all. We'll see.
Well, it'll be interesting to see what, if anything, happens over the next 2 years (or really only 22 months).
ReplyDeleteI don't mind government spending money, but what they spend it on. And considering how far the wealth gap has increased in this country over the last 20-30 years, I really have no objections to anything that reduces that gap.