With the elections coming up in a few days, it’s hard not to notice the tired old standards the politicians are rolling out in order to get the faithful (party and otherwise) out to the polls. And when they’re truly desperate to take attention away from their records, they trot out the old smoke and mirrors routine.
You know, the one where they appeal to the base (or at least, some people’s baser instincts) in order to get votes from people who feel strongly about one particular issue, but who don’t pay attention to the candidate’s views on other issues. PoliSci 101, people: the theory of intense minorities. People will vote for the politicians who claim to represent them on that one issue they feel is most important.
Before you pull the lever, color in the arrow or hit the touchscreen on your voting machine, take a moment to ask yourself: does this candidate agree with me on this one issue, or does this candidate agree with me on many issues? Regardless of your political persuasion, don’t vote for someone just because you agree with him or her on one single issue.
Because, if you’re voting for someone just because you think they agree with you on one issue, you’re very likely to get government that does things you’re adamantly opposed to on other issues.
Let me put it another way: gay marriage, abortion and “family values” are just things politicians talk about in order to get certain people to the polls. But the candidates who do so don’t care about those people or their values, they merely care about acquiring or retaining power.
I realize some of you may feel very strongly about any or all of those topics, but ask yourself: aren’t there other, bigger problems that we need to deal with?
If these are the most important or pressing issues of the day, when did we solve the government’s debt problem, and when did we manage to solve the Iraq problem, and when did we win the “war on terror”?
Here’s the dirty little secret about the current debt our government is running up: The Chinese government is loaning us the money. That’s right, a country that may not be our best friend is loaning our government the money it’s using to wage war and to fund the tax cuts that are near and dear to many folks’ hearts. Worse, we’re outsourcing the production of many of our high tech gadgets to China. So imagine what would happen if (God forbid) we ever get into a serious conflict with the Chinese.
First, they could cut us off financially. The impact of that move alone could be devastating to everyone — rich and poor alike. Second, if we ever go to war against them, they’re the ones who are making the computers or the components within our high tech military weapons. Imagine what happens when we run out of weapons or spare parts. Outsourcing is not just a problem for the workers whose jobs get displaced, it’s a strategic problem for our country should we ever get into a military conflict with the people who make all those outsourced goods.
Here’s another dirty little secret about that debt: No matter what the Republicans say about the Democrats raising your taxes, in effect the Republicans have already done so. OK, so maybe you aren’t paying as much right now as you once did. But some day (and it could be soon) one of two things will happen: either taxes will go up or government services will go down. And that could include such essential services as providing for the defense of our country.
Because one day, just like you and me, when the debt gets to a certain point the creditors are going to come calling and want their money back. And at that point, it’s going to be a matter of how the government can raise the money to pay the piper. For the average schlub, when creditors come calling it may mean cutting expenses or getting a second job. For the government, it will mean cutting services or raising taxes. At a certain point, services can be cut no further and taxes will inevitably go up. When that happens, you can thank the current crop of politicians running the show.
Iraq is, I’m afraid, the Vietnam of this time. Just like that war back in the 60s, the situation in Iraq appears to be turning into a quagmire that we can’t possibly extract ourselves from soon enough. I’m not talking “cut and run,” I’m talking about salvaging the situation and finding a way to get out gracefully, while accomplishing whatever the hell it was we were trying to accomplish in the first place.
And the so-called “war on terror” is likely to go on for some time to come. But it needs to be fought much differently that we’re fighting it. We have to adapt and fight these bastards using unconventional methods. I’m not suggesting suicide bombers of our own, but trying to fight these guys using a conventional military is akin to the way the British tried to fight the colonists back in our Revolutionary War days. We already know how that went: the team using unconventional tactics won. We need military and political leaders who can actually lead our forces in an unconventional war.
So when you go to vote on Tuesday (you are going to vote on Tuesday, aren’t you?), think long and hard about whether the candidates you’re voting for truly represent you on a wide range of issues. We need a government that better represents the vast majority of this country on the vast majority of issues.
It’s not good enough if the Gallup Poll or some other poll says Americans favor this or that, if we don’t get out and vote, and we don’t support the candidates that best represent us, then what the Gallup Polls and others tell us doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.
This election is a chance to change the tone of political discourse in America. And the tone has gotten so shrill, it needs changing. So ignore the smoke and mirrors and vote for people who truly represent you — and not just because they represent your opinion on only one issue that’s near and dear to your heart.
