Posted on December 23, 2011
By Joel MoskowitzLike most, I haven’t made up my mind yet who I’m voting for in the upcoming presidential election. While of course we wait to see who the Republicans will nominate, most of us have a general idea who the likely two or three left standing at the end of that process will be. Personally, I think Republicans will ultimately choose Mitt Romney just because they feel he’s got the best shot at beating President Obama.
No matter whom the Republicans nominate, I’m going to end up voting for the candidate I believe in least in the general election. Based on the system as it is today, to get the party nomination a candidate has to pander to the base, as they are the most active and likely to vote in primaries. To get the attention of the base, the candidate needs money, lots of it. In order to accumulate cash, the candidate must say things that make the big contributors, usually more affluent voters, happy as well.
All you have to do now is follow the promises the candidates are making and realize that almost everything they swear to do will never happen. For once I’m actually ok with that because none are promising anything more than poll commissioned, focus group tested hogwash. We have a broken political system and in order to win, the candidates must play by the rules of the system which benefits campaign consultants and advertisers only. What we have to hope for is that after winning, all the promises are thrown out and the job of real governance begins.
Obama has already started this narrative by positing himself as the guy who will take on and punish the big banks and be the champion of the little guy. His first term and the people he surrounds himself with, prove he is otherwise inclined, remember “hope and change?” We had plenty of hope we got little change. He has already started to run with a populist appeal and much as I’d like him to stick to some of those things, he won’t. The moneyed interests are too powerful and he has proven time and again that he has no stomach to take them on. As an example, his Justice Department wastes billions of taxpayer dollars prosecuting medical marijuana dispensaries in states where they are legal, yet they prosecute no one for the crimes that caused the financial crisis. Just this week, the FDIC fined executives of the bankrupt Washington Mutual Bank about $64 million, most of which will be paid from insurance policies and where they don’t exist, by the taxpayers. Cost to the taxpayer of the Washington Mutual bankruptcy sale to JP Morgan? $600 billion! No criminal charges have been filed. Actual homeowners who saved their home with the aid of the Obama administration? Negligible!
Republicans swear on the graves of all their dear departed relatives that they won’t raise taxes and still balance the budget and pay off our debt without hurting social security. Bunk! Ronald Reagan raised taxes in a less volatile economy and so will they but they will stick to the script because that’s what they feel will get them elected.
What I’m looking for in a candidate is someone who is going to lie to me and tell me everything I want to hear because if any candidate tells the truth about what needs to be done they’ll never get elected. I’m looking for someone that when Congress ties his agenda in knots follows what Rick Perry did in Texas when the state legislature didn’t take him seriously; veto everything. Congress, with an approval rating slightly under that of Adolph Hitler and the Iranian Ayatollahs, loves to resort to filibusters, attaching bills with unacceptable amendments and super majority requirements to get things their way. It’s time for someone to put the onus on them. Let Congress once again be punished for letting the government shut down. No one likes them anyway. Here’s a suggestion, all bills must stand alone with no unrelated amendments. Want to extend payroll tax cuts? Great, but no oil pipeline amendment tacked on to the bill, it has nothing to do with the payroll tax and attaching it hurts the working stiff.
We need a president not beholden to focus groups or a deadlocked do nothing Congress. We need a president to push an agenda forward and to not have his eyes on re-election or historical legacy. Step number one will be for whoever is elected president to separate the money culture from the political system and institute real electoral reform.
I hope that when the Republican candidates promise to appoint Supreme Court judges in the style of Thomas, Alito, Scalia and Roberts that they are lying. Those guys allowed by ruling for foreign corporations to have free rein to throw money at any candidate they choose and pervert American democracy.
I used to be cynic, now I just have no faith. All I can hope for now is that one of these people who have put themselves out there and offered their service to this great nation will actually run away from their empty promises and do something that will fix our country. The solutions will entail widespread sacrifice and will result in no one being happy, but if gets us out of this mess no one will remember or care. So lie to me all of you candidates, sell me a bill of goods, because I’m voting for the person I believe won’t dare keep his promises
No comments:
Post a Comment