"Shocking" Solution.
I have finally finished the book and after all that reading the authors have finally stated what they believe it will take to begin the process of solving this crisis in America. They believe that it will take a viable 3rd party candidate to run for president on a platform that addresses all these concerns. They think that even though a 3rd party candidate has no realistic chance of winning, that they would be able to motivate the Dems and Repubs to move off their entrenched radical positions and begin a serious conversation about what needs to be done to bring America back to where it needs to be.
After all the preceding chapters of discussing the gerrymandering of districts, the untruthfulness of today's media and the movement to the far left or far right of the parties, I simply don't believe that anyone is going to even bother to run as a 3rd party candidate and if some billionaire decides to spend his money in a lost cause, then I don't think the media or the current parties are going to give him or her a chance to make their case, no matter how reasonable it might be.
I have hope for another solution. I am hopeful that someone will be elected President who will not care about getting reelected. We need someone who is not beholden to special interests. Someone who can address the American people in an intelligent, rational manner and educate us on the problems we face and the difficult steps that must be taken in order to fix the problem. Politicians refuse to address Social Security, Medicare, or raising taxes, because they know if they do, then they will not get re-elected.
So far this blog has been very non-partisan and I am not trying to get in an argument, but I am sure that most of you realize I am talking about Obama. I realize that he has not been a perfect President, but I think he has a chance to do good things with a 2nd term. I would be interested to hear your comments.
Based on what has happened in another local school district,the one I live in, I think that we are all just a little careful on what we blog about.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you our govenment needs to try to do what is best for the people in the country and stop worry about not getting reelected. Look at the NRA. They have some much lobby power that semi automative guns are legal in many states and if a bill would come up to make them illegal many members of Congress would still vote no since they need the money and the support from the NRA. I don't hunt but I don't get why you need a gun that shoots that many rounds as quick as they do to kill a deer or bear.
Joel, I've always been intrigued by the possibilities of a president in his second term. He's not running for re-election, he's running for his legacy, and presidents often want the legacy to be more wide reaching than partisan. In my memory, most second term chances have been squandered, lost or taken away. I don't know how much I remember about Reagan's time, but since then we've had a one termer, a two termer who was ironically made impotent due to his sex scandal that stopped any progress he might have made, and a two termer who had two wars and an economic crisis to stop any chance he had at doing something positive for those of us in the middle.
ReplyDeleteAnd for mbc, I agree 100 percent that the lobbyists are a major impediment to progress. Although I have always been dismayed byt the NRA's power (and I have some very close friends who give lifetime memberships to their nieces and nephews when they are born) I was surprised that the AARP was even more powerful. When I see this and think of the reforms needed in SS, Medicare, etc. with all of the baby boomers coming into the program, I think we have little hope for restructuring things to save the system.