Letters from Linden
by JACK LINDEN
It is 2011, but one wonders what year and month the politicians are thinking it is.
With the means of communication in today’s world, must we have a campaign that is already at least nine months old – and some say almost two years old? It is not so bad in the House and Senate races, but the presidential race is already in full swing. The Republicans began the campaign with the opening of the Senate when Senator O’Connell made the statement that his sole job was to make Barak Obama a one-term president. He has made a valiant battle to keep that pledge.
While the Democrats have their candidate, the Republicans are putting up candidates like it is a shooting gallery at a carnival. I have tried to watch some of the debates, but have not figured out exactly what any of the candidates really believe. It appears that they are campaigning to what most people believe is the Republican mini-base – the Tea Party.
It seems that the current crop of Republican candidates is a group of contradictions when it comes to the beliefs of the base of the party. We have a candidate who is Mormon and has had only one wife, and a Catholic who has now had three. The one with only one wife is not acceptable to the party; apparently but the other is going great guns.
The Tea Partiers were screaming about big government, yet virtually all of the candidates have been financially enhanced by monies from the federal government. One even to the tune of some $1.5 million for helping advise Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae while he has advocated abolishing them.
We have heard much about repealing “Obama care” from the candidates. One of the candidates was quite proud of the fact that the healthcare bill that Congress passed was based on the one he instituted in Massachusetts. Another advocated universal coverage and mandatory coverage a few years ago but now finds it bad. None of them have criticized Medicare but want to cut it back while saying it is socialized medicine.
It is becoming all too apparent that the campaign season is much too long – based on some of the incongruities that are coming from the candidates’ mouths. Why can’t we have an honest debate about issues that truly concern the average American? Americans are concerned about jobs. What have we heard from the Republican candidates about creating jobs except giving tax breaks to the already wealthy? What have we heard from them about cutting the cost of health care except reducing payments by Medicare? That is not reducing the health care costs.
Have the candidates advocated anything that would ensure that American banks would not put us back in the financial crisis of the past three years? The only statement about the economy is to have less regulation; that’s what got us into the crisis in the first place. Why are the candidates talking among themselves rather than to the American people?
Yes, I want an honest debate among the candidates, but beginning a campaign in 2011 with the election almost a year away does nothing to enlighten the people. We can only draw one conclusion from the current campaign: the Republicans are in a conflicted state. Do they want America to be better or do they merely want to defeat the president?
