Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Political commentary regarding the American two party system

It's the day after the elections. It was not a presidential election year, but a few mayoral and gubernatorial seats were up for grabs. We have a democrat in the White House, but republicans won the governor's race in New Jersey and Virginia. I was listening to a few minutes of a right wing political talk show this morning. The host said that since these states will be led by republicans, that this shows that people are tired of Obama and it was a vote against him. Sometimes I wonder, how much difference does it really make who is in charge? Politicians on the left and right make empty promises just to get elected, and once they are in office those are forgotten. Did Bush do everything he had promised to his supporters once he got into office? I don't think so. Did he put prayer in every school or overturn Roe vs. Wade? Did he resolve things in Iraq and Afghanistan and capture Bin Laden? No. The aftermath of 9-11 provided a convenient excuse for ushering in a big brother society where liberties are taken away under the guise of not letting the terrorists win. Who are the real terrorists? Did Clinton do everything he had promised to his followers? No, he did not. Clinton or Obama did not outlaw all guns, or ban capital punishment in every state, or make gay marriage legal in every state. What did they do to help minorities? Liberals claim to be anti big business and they stick up for the little guy, but NAFTA was passed under the Clinton administration. I think that the free trade agreements have hurt this country in many ways. Good paying manufacturing jobs have gone overseas due to cheap labor. Not everyone is an intellectual who will want to go to college. Some people want to have a job where they work with their hands, and those jobs need to stay in this country. When factories and machine shops close and go overseas, it has a ripple effect on the rest of society. Those people get kicked out of their homes because they cannot afford them, and they do not contribute property taxes to the economy, and they do not buy as much so the sales tax is not contributed to as much as when they were employed also. Clinton, Obama, and democrats in general claim to be a friend to the unions but they have seen the power of unions erode significantly, and what have they done to help? Unions claim to be so powerful, but they can't keep jobs in this country, so how much power do they really have? I voted for Obama since I had issues with Bush regarding his handling of 9-11, Katrina, starting a war with the wrong country, and the economy going down the drain due to the housing mess and other factors. We still have people in New Orleans who were devastated by Katrina living in FEMA trailers that are making them sick. I thought that McCain would be 4 more years of Bush. Obama has claimed to be against the rich and for the poor, but what has he done in his time in office to help the downtrodden? He bailed out the "evil" rich companies in the banking and auto industries, and still some of them continue to flounder. I have issues with his fiscal policy and I don't think that punishing the rich is the answer since often they are the ones who provide the jobs in our country. The out of control deficit needs to be addressed and putting health care in the hands of the federal government is not the answer when it comes to getting the country on the right track financially. I think that politicians only look out for one person, themselves. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and their cronies profitted off the war in Iraq, but I don't think that Clinton was any more of an honest person. It seems like we have a republican in office for awhile, we get frustrated with them, and think we need a democrat leading things. Then it goes back and forth ad infinitum. I am not a liberal, or a conservative, I'm just someone who is disillusioned with the whole process. Are there any politicians who really care about helping our country?

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