Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The Triumph of Politics

Today is sort of cold, sort of snowing, and very politicky.

Like the weather, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is trying to decide what it wants to do with itself. Do we want to elect the heir apparent to Sen. Ted Kennedy, our present Attorney General Martha Coakley, or will we choose the Republican candidate, State Senator Scott Brown?

This race has been watched carefully across the country for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the enormous message it sends to the White House as a tell-tale sign that the country does not support President Obama's health care plan and other enormous spending programs. In a state in which a Republican has not won a US Senate seat since 1972, Scott Brown's enormous surge in the polls has spelled out a very clear message to the Democrats that a great many people think, "You're doing it wrong."

After Martha Coakley became the front runner in the Democratic primary, debate about the campaign more or less fell out of the news. Both the public, and certainly she, assumed that this was a done deal. A "walk through" as it's been called. In Massachusetts, the Democrat party owns elections. The actual vote is something of a perfunctory technicality that passes without much note.

But not this time. This time, people seem to have something to say. I know I certainly do.

On behalf of the millions of voters here in the People's Republik of Massachusetts, I'd like to offer the following:

  • We do not want a "public option." The Federal Government has no place whatsoever in competing against private companies in any sector of our economy, let alone one as important and gigantic as health care and health care insurance. If you want to run an industry as a politician, go run for office in France.

  • We are sick to death of your "bailouts". Handing over our money to enormous companies as a reward for failure only prolongs the inevitable and drains money from the places where it should be used to repair our economy -- in new, agile, competitive, smaller, entrepreneurial companies.

  • The vast array of pork-barrel spending that the White House pretends is going to solve our economic woes is serving only to mire us deeper and deeper into this depression. Jobs are not being created. No government program has ever created a job. Jobs are created by companies and companies can best work when the government keeps its hands off.

  • Martha Coakley's expressions of concern for women's "right to choose" aside, abortion is still murder. Moreover, the notion that you are going to force me and millions of others to pay for your elective surgery, your elective murder, is patently offensive. There isn't a single other elective surgical procedure (at least that I know of) that can be paid for with public funds. Where do you get off suggesting one as abhorrent and hotly debated as abortion should be paid for in such a way? You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Martha Coakley.

The future is quite clear to every thinking person today. If we continue on the path we are on, taxing and spending and feeding an ever-increasing culture of entitlement, we are only a decade or two away from complete collapse as a country. The US dollar will be devalued, foreign countries that are currently buying up our debt will cease doing so, and we will not have the ability to even pay the interest on the debt we've rung up. Things need to change, and they need to change fast.

I'm voting for Scott Brown. I'm doing so, not because I am a Republican. I am no longer a Republican. Frankly, the Republican party disgusts me. George Bush & Co. had a mandate and eight years to do something great for this country and they completely dropped the ball. They accomplished next to nothing that helped this country and have caused a great deal of harm. The backlash to the Bush presidency is what helped bring on this Socialist regime of Barak Obama.

Scott Brown's election doesn't fix a thing in this country. It's merely one small step toward stopping the damage. But it's an important step that needs to be taken.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I am surprised that the Republican party has managed to find a candidate that is not embarrassing. I like Scott Brown. I am also surprised that the Democrats put a candidate out there that appears to be running on the platform that she should be elected because she thinks the other guy is an idiot. I do not like Martha...not even a little.

I pretty much agree completely with this blog entry. This is an opportunity to send a message to Washington as well as an opportunity to have the Republican party actual do something.

For your enjoyment...an Obameter:
http://glenoterica.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

One thing that drives me crazy about politics in this country is that both parties think they have the answer. We had eight years of a Republican administration and it was a complete disaster. Now we have a Democratic administration whom I am afraid bit off more than it can chew. Republicans tell Democrats "Your doing it wrong." Democrats tell Republicans "You have have idea what you are even doing." A couple things to note:

1) I have found that when it comes to abortion, most people are pro-birth not pro-life. If you are pro-life than you better be willing to help out the mother and child. If not, it goes to prove that you only support the birth and could care less what happens after the mother and child leave the hospital. Secondly, if one is anti-abortion you better be anti-death penalty. Death is death. The Commandment "Thou shalt not murder," does not say "Thou shalt not murder, but......"
2) The last eight years we let companies, organizations, and individuals do pretty much whatever they wanted and look what happened. Enron, WorldCom, the financial meltdown, the mortgage metldown, etc. There needs to be some sort of oversight because recent history has shown us that we cannot trust these groups to work ethically. Millions of people in this country lost everything they had, and why? Because we let folks and companies do whatever they wanted.
3)I am getting a little tired of people blaiming Unions for our problems. If companies would pay employees a GOOD wage and provide GOOD benefits, Unions would be non-existent, its that simple.

I could go on, but when it comes public participation, accountability, responsibility, and our overall duty to hold our government responsible (We the people....) we would rather cover our eyes with the flag and bury our heads in the sand. There is something seriously wrong with the US and the government (both Republican and Democratic parties) are just the beginning of what is wrong.

Gleno said...

It's a shame that you posted anonymously because I think you have some great comments.

I've recently joined the Constitution Party because, frankly, neither the Republicans nor the Democrats are good for this country right now. The Democrats have the wrong idea of what to do, and the Republicans don't know how to do anything. (In this, we agree.)

As far as abortion, I concur. If a baby is unwanted, there needs to be an alternative to killing it. But, in truth, of the several families I know who have adopted, I do not know of any who were able to adopt a white, American baby. I think we know why. (I need to write a post about adoption reform some time soon.) Adoption needs to be made easier and CHEAPER because there are plenty of families out there that would love to adopt but cannot.

Capitalism is good. Hard work for profit is very good. A CEO taking home scores of millions of dollars is NOT good, not for the stockholders, not for the employees, and not for the country. I don't know what's gone wrong to cause this absurdity, but I know a fix is needed, and I'm one who advocates government non-intervention. How in heaven's name can you pretend that taking $20 million dollars and giving it to ONE person is going to be better for the company than taking that $20 million and giving shares to 20, 40, 100, 500 people in that same company??

Are you telling me that the CEO is really going to work harder at his job because you gave him a $15 million bonus instead of a $10 million dollar bonus? Get real. There's this thing called "diminishing returns" and I think you crossed the line after the first $1 million.

I think it more people had ownership in the companies they worked for, there would be an equalizing of the pay structure. That's not to say that ownership needs to be TAKEN from anyone. That's to say that more people should be starting up their own companies.

Anonymous said...

I agree a lot with Anon.
I also agree with you about adoption. But I also would like to know, of the babies in America who are aborted, what percentage come from healthy white women? And what percentage come from non-white, drug using or otherwise unhealthy people? Not sure you are going to get as many 'desirable' babies as you think. But I do think that a percentage of the women who do abort would like a better option. Perhaps that has something to do with the health care in this country? And the ability of a woman (most likely single) to go the 9 months and at times not be able to work, and therefor lose any health care they may have. Vicious circle there.
I will still support any woman's right to NOT have a baby. Period. If you can offer her something better, more power to you, I have no problem. But if she just doesn't want to give birth, then it's her choice, and I would be more than happy to aid her with my tax dollars to not have that baby. I would also aid her with free birth control. And him.

I want health care reform. I want that done BEFORE the government gets any ideas of paying for it. Get rid of the leaks before you put in the new sink.

Matt B. said...

Gleno

The person who posted as "Anonymous" was me. Gotta love interactive political discussions! The country needs more of it. Unfortunately, the population of the country has become too jaded and believe there thoughts don't mean anything anymore. Just what the "establishment" wants....a non-thinking population.

Unknown said...

It sounds as if people on both sides of the "fence" are tired of their side of the fence. It's nice to see so many people agreeing that nobody (Dem or Rep) is doing a good job making a substantial difference for the better. I honestly hope that today's election makes that difference.

FYI - abortion stats are difficult to interpret. For every white woman getting an abortion in 2008, there were three Hispanic woman getting abortions and five black women. This does not tell us anything about how many woman had more than one or the health of the woman or baby. I have no interest in debating abortion online. It's a messy topic at best. However, I agree with Gleno that I do not feel that we should pay for these procedures. The number of pregnancies resulting from rape or incest are minuscule compared to the number of woman that opt to not have the child. [I'm not standing in judgement] I wonder what would happen if we offered free abortions to women that were raped or were victims of incest as long as a criminal complaint was filed. It's just a thought.

Anonymous said...

In answer to your question, I guess it depends on how safe the woman felt filing the complaint. Knowing the justice system as it is, would you feel safe if you reported that your abusive boyfriend raped you? I would wager very few rapes are rapes of the kind where the guy jumps out at you from the bushes. You are far more likely to be raped by the man you are seeing if you want my opinion. And I'll bet many women won't report that. And hell, why would they? He said, she said. Nothing happens. So while I understand the idea behind your offer, and I whole hardheartedly agree I'd like to see it, the reality is that it's not a realistic offer. (which again is why I believe it is up to the woman and her doctor. Only she knows her circumstances.)