It's Simple, Really
This from Ronni Bennett a few days ago (thanks to Frank Paynter for the tip):
Candidates can be specific in laying out their goals for the United States without producing 80-page, footnoted position papers that will be outdated by inauguration day. It’s not hard.
[Ronni] would be heartened to hear Clinton and Obama (and McCain) say:
- the Constitution has been trashed and must be restored
- the U.S. has supported and committed torture and it must end
- the economy has been wrecked by the power elite in both government and corporate America and that greed will stop, regulations will be enforced
- the Iraq War has been a disaster and we need a way out while acknowledging that we bear responsibility for bombing that country back to Ur
- universal healthcare is a human right and we’ll find a way to provide it
- our infrastructure - bridges, roads, water, sewer systems - will be fixed
- No Child Left Behind will be canceled and we’ll figure out how to improve our schools
- unwarranted searches and surveillance of citizens will stop
- there will be no more fooling around about the environment
- a fair solution will be found for immigration
- government ethics legislation will have real teeth
- separation of church and state will be restored
- every last political hack (thousands of them) appointed by the Bush administration to government agencies will be fired, replaced with non-partisan competents
- earmarks will disappear entirely from legislation – let them be properly legislated
- the wealthy elite have had it their way long enough, reaping collective trillions of dollars on the backs of the middle and lower classes and now it is their turn to pay it back
There is so much the candidates could talk about instead of giving exact dates for a pullout from Iraq, bickering over who said what about NAFTA to Canada along with declarations of who is best qualified to take a 3AM phone call… no one is.
If these issues concern you too, why not publicize them?
Comments
Sounds good to me!
We are talking about politicians here, aren't we?
You know, the people who can only get into positions of power by taking lots of money from vested interests?
Maybe I should call myself "cynicsareus"!
cynicsareus: I'm as much a cynic about government and politicians as any thinking person can't avoid, but the flip side of that is always idealism and the time has come for us cynics to show our other side.
The country and the world, as a result of U.S. policies, is in the deepest trouble I've seen in my 67 years. Now is the time for us cynics to speak out.
The stupidity of making Obama's pastor the lead political story for days now is beyond reason. And somewhere this morning, I saw a news headline about how badly Senator Clinton dresses. Puh-leeze.
The worst part of our troubles is that even if the candidates address anything on that list, it is still 10 months until someone new takes office and it will only get worse in that time.
But if we hide behind our oh-so-clever cynicism, we are not helping.
well, we're helping ourselves- see definition of "hiding"- which is the first step toward helping anyone else. :)
cynicism is not 'that' clever.
It's merely the state one attains after 60 years of paying attention to politics. I have, through my life, been associated with, a member of and a supporter of various political and trade associations, including the Communist Party , the Labour Party, three Trade Unions and, latterly, the Liberal Democrats (as opposed to the Conservative Democrats that you have in your country). I am now a fully paid up and active member of The Buggerit Party (which has a membership of one). The old saw "If you are not a socialist by the time you are 20 you have no heart. If you are still a socialist by the time you are 30 you have no brain" can be extended to - if you are not a cynic by the time you are 50 you have no experience.
The candidates have said a lot about these things. It reminds me of Tom Tomorrow's jab at voters who complain after a 2 year campaign, "When are they going to start talking about the issues?" Both Clinton and Obama have given pretty detailed proposals on health care, the environment, the war, the economy, taxes, and to some degree on civil liberties. There are accessible media analyses (salon.com is a good place to start) on these if you don't want to read the "80-page footnoted" version or visit the campaign websites. Both campaigns have some pretty exciting good ideas.
Repealling NCLB is not a good idea. It is in its basic approach no different from any number of liberal attempts to pump more resources and provide national oversight into education through categorical grants. To repeal it completely because of Bush-disdain is perverse.
To use the classic OGM aphorism, cynicism is a symptom of the fear of being decieved rather than the genuine search for what is true. People who are confused about the world and hurt that they've been lied to in the past frequently fall back on cynicism rather than trying to evaluate claims individually, each on their own merits.
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