Our Nation Depends on Us - Vote Wisely

Less than three weeks from now, this year's Political Silly Season will be over - except for the inevitable analysis of why we voted the way we did.

According to the "experts," my fellow independents and I hold the key to this year's election. It's predicated that our anger and frustration about the poor state of the economy and lack of jobs will cause us to vote to "throw the bums out." Unfortunately, in doing so we may sweep some "good players" out of office, replacing them with extremists who will continue to obstruct positive moves to improve our country.

I intend to do as I've always have done, and examine each candidate individually and attempt to determine which ones would be best for our country. It's a tough task with so much disinformation being produced.

One thing we've seen over the last few decades is that, in politics, half truths, misrepresentations, and outright lies seem to rule the day. This has been fuelled by self aggrandizing bloggers and supposed news organizations more interested in promoting controversy to drive ratings than in encouraging reasoned debate and accurate reporting. Every day during the Political Silly Season, most of the political ads seem to consist of misleading statements, if not blatant lies. After a grueling political season, it's no wonder that so many politicians are ultimately believed to be dishonest. To get elected, most have started with "misleading" ads. It's maddening. We deserve better.

I continue to watch and read as many differing opinions as I can, even the ones with which I strongly disagree. Ironically, some of my subscriptions once resulted in a major political party attempting to recruit me to be a poll watcher for them (I declined, while keeping to myself that I found most of their views hateful and wrong).

Unfortunately, many of us don't bother to listen to different opinions. Instead, we tend to listen only to those we most agree with. Anyone who disagrees with our opinion is an irrational zealot (or whatever derogatory term we choose to label them). I wonder if the majority of us would still believe that the earth is flat, if the Internet or Fox Newz ("It's like the news, only different") existed at the time that that belief was widely held. I long ago learned that the notion that the "collective wisdom of the public is always correct" is usually flat out wrong. Wall Street continues to make big money from those who follow the "collective wisdom" of others. Typically, those who follow the herd - without thinking - end up buying high and selling low, a recipe for losing significant sums of money, while further enriching Wall Street brokers.

I fear for the future of our country. Collectively, we seem to have become a nation of lazy idiots. If we read something in a blog, or hear it repeated (over and over and over) on an alleged news channel, we automatically believe it to be true. If we receive a "chain" email with a message which seems to bolster what we've seen on the Internet or an alleged news channel, we believe it - we even pass it on to our extended circle of friends. We don't analyze anything. We accept as true anything we hear from our "news channel" of choice. Because we're "true believers" we never fact check most of the opinions we see or hear.

Ignoring the truth was not a lesson I learned as a child. And, it's not a lesson I'd teach children today. Instead, my children were encouraged to not only learn the facts, but also learn how to verify and interpret those facts. Unfortunately, many choose to teach their children only what they believe to be true - even if it isn't - then blame the public school system when their child fails to learn.

It's been reported that the nation as a whole believes that the Health Care Reform Act is "bad" for the country. Starting with the angry shouting matches about "death squads" and other such lies, and continuing through the lies surrounding attempts to use abortion politics to defeat it, there was little reasoned debate before it became law. One side absolutely refused to offer any meaningful solutions, instead labeling (incorrectly) the legislation as a "Government Takeover of Health Care" (it isn't). Many continue to mislead the American public. They don't give a rat's ass about what's best for the country, only that private-sector businesses can make huge profits, while we continue to overpay for our healthcare.

Some politicians have actually produced ads exploiting the public's misconceptions (which they had helped to promote) about the Health Care Reform Act. One ad supporting a Wisconsin Republican candidate for Senate even attempts to use rising health insurance costs to show that the law isn't working (even before fully implemented) - His Democratic opponent, who voted for the law, should be thrown out of office, to be replaced by the Republican candidate, just because insurance costs went up again this year. This, of course, is ludicrous.

Health care premiums have been rising at a rate far exceeding the inflation rate for years. When the Republicans were in power they did absolutely nothing to help reform the system. Unless, of course, one counts enacting an unfunded Medicare drug benefit while refusing to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, as an example of reform. It's also important to note that businesses have a habit of raising rates/fees right before laws looking to curb their excesses take effect (have we already forgotten what the credit card companies did before the law to reform that industry took affect?).

Our founding fathers designed our government to have three co-equal branches - the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. For at least the last three decades, one major political party has done its best to destroy what the founding fathers created - all while waving the flag and declaring that they support the Constitution.

They've attempted to starve government, lowering taxes for the wealthy, while giving a blank check to big business to do whatever they want with zero accountability. They've tended to ignore any law or constitutional dictate they didn't like (Warrantless phone taps? Equal protection? Torture? Seriously?). They've attempted to undermine our country's faith in its government and in the nation's judiciary. They've done this by labeling any law which which aims to directly improve the life of its citizens as socialism, any law which attempts reasonable regulation of business as "job killing," and any court decision they do not like as being the work of an "activist judge." Hogwash.

For the last three decades or so, the Republicans have preached "Trickle Down Economics" (whether or not they've called it that). They've enacted laws to reduce taxes for the wealthy, while attempting to eliminate reasonable regulation and oversight of business. If nothing else, the last decade should have clearly demonstrated that "Trickle Down Economics" DOES NOT work. Greed trumps theory. While Republican policies have helped to further enrich the wealthy, every one else lost ground.

The Republicans have nearly destroyed the middle class. Poverty has increased. The Republicans turned their backs on the working class while companies shipped millions of good jobs overseas. They turned their backs as company after company cut or eliminated defined benefit retirement programs in favor of 401(k) plans (which were never intended to be a primary vehicle for retirement savings). The net result has been a loss of economic security for the typical worker. Corporate executives, however, fared quite well. Their economic security increased. Executive salaries surged, as did stock options, and executive retirement funding. Quite a few walked away with multi-million dollar severance payments after they destroyed the companies they worked for - with more jobs lost by people who lacked such "golden parachutes."

Sure, some executives were forced to take pay cuts as the economy soured. And yes, their net worth may have declined a bit. But, their salaries still exceeded the salaries of their workers, making it easier for them to survive the temporary setback than it was for lower paid workers. Besides, many companies offered extra stock options to their executives, allowing them to reap huge rewards when their company's stock price rebounded.

As our country's economy declined, and millions of jobs were lost, and our deficit soared, the Republican message has never wavered: "Lower Taxes." They would even further increase the Country's deficit and debt, so that the wealthiest 5% of our population can continue to enjoy their historically low taxes.

This election (as with most) is vitally important. The Republicans, and especially their Tea Party fringe, would have us return to the failed policies of the last decade. They would further erode the middle class, while preaching that they'll lower taxes to create jobs. In fact, no politician can create private sector jobs. As the last decade showed us, historically low taxes did not create private sector jobs - they were shipped overseas in droves. A further continuation of the failed policies will surely result in more people reaching the Republican Nirvana of "No taxes" - When one can't find a job, and is living in poverty, their Federal income tax liability does tend to be zero. But, I don't see the unemployed rejoicing in the fact that that they don't owe Federal taxes. I can't imagine many would want to live in poverty, to avoid paying Federal taxes.

I pray that my fellow Independents will look beyond their anger, frustration, and fear and vote for the candidates who will best represent all the people of this great nation - not just narrow special interest groups preaching greed, fear, and intolerance.

Please think carefully. Attempt to learn the facts. Attempt to analyze them correctly. Vote wisely. Vote for hope, not fear. Vote for the future, not the past.

Our nation depends on us.

The Fox Newz Effect

Recently, a study found that nearly 25% of Americans believe - Incorrectly - that President Obama is a Muslim.

I see this as part of the Fox Newz (It's almost like the news, only different) Effect - after hearing the same lies over and over again, Fox Newz viewers start to believe them.

It's unfortunate. Many Fox Newz viewers are arguably otherwise intelligent individuals. But, by only listening to a single "entertainment" source for their news, they tend to be badly misinformed. They are slowly being brainwashed by a "Big Business" agenda which has also managed to buy the lock-step allegiance of a major political party.

It's sad. The country - and the world - has numerous problems. None will be solved by ideologues pushing extreme agendas. Yet, while ignoring their own extreme view, Fox Newz supporters have been trained to label any view which differs from the prescribed view as extreme (or in the case of the courts, activist).

For any Fox Newz viewer who happens to read this, I would encourage you to explore actual news outlets to obtain your news. While addictions can be tough to break, I'd encourage you to swear off Fox Newz for a month while seeking out objective news sources.

At the end of the month, I'd expect you to be better informed, and probably much less angry than you are now. But, you'd also probably know that President Obama is not a Muslim. And, weapons of mass destruction were not found in Iraq.

I know it's a hell of a challenge. But, America needs all of its best minds to work together to solve the problems we face. We can't afford to continue following loud mouthed "entertainment" ideologues more interested in ratings than in promoting truth and accuracy.

Kudos to Fox Newz

Yesterday, Fox Newz (it's like the news, only different) interrupted the entertainment programs on their broadcast stations, to cover President Obama's signing of the recently passed Health Care Reform law.

It was quite a victory party for the Democrats after a brutal battle.

Fox deserves kudos for covering the event live.

The three major network news organizations, as has been their standard practice, also interrupted the entertainment programming on their broadcast networks to cover the event live.

The main difference seen between the three real news organizations and Fox Newz (not to be confused with any real news organization) came after President Obama's speech. ABC, CBS, and NBC each offered a brief, balanced, analysis and summary of the differing views on the new law. Fox's analysis was decidedly negative. There was no hint of balance.

To be fair, I didn't switch over to watch continuing coverage (if any) on cable TV. It's possible that Fox Newz managed to come up with a balanced analysis and summary on cable.

I doubt it.

But, hope springs eternal. Just like health care reform must begin with the small steps included in the new law, perhaps Fox Newz is taking some small steps to attempt to become a real news organization.

Tiger Woods News?

Not long ago, there was a brief dust-up between Fox Newz (not to be confused with any real news organization) and the White House after Fox declined to interrupt its entertainment programming to cover a White House event live.

The real news organizations covered the event. They then offered some brief, fair, balanced, analysis and commentary. Then, they went back to their entertainment offerings.

Contrast that to this morning.

The Tiger Woods (non-news) apology was covered live by the real news organizations AND Fox Newz (not to be confused with any real news organization). Fox interrupted their entertainment programming to cover the Tiger Woods apology live.

Such is the sorry state of news reporting these days. News organizations pander to the public's obsession with celebrity, while failing to deal seriously with major issues of the day. And, one pseudo news organization panders to an ideology, often refusing to report real news.

It's no wonder this country is in trouble. Far too many tend to believe everything they hear, yet listen to only one source. We do not think. They do not question.

Only if we attempt to balance the sources we listen to, open our minds, think and question, will we once again return to the ideals of our forefathers.

Fox Newz Shows its Stripes Once Again

Fox News (aka Faux News or Fox Newz) has shown its true stripes once again.

Yesterday, President Obama held an afternoon news conference to talk about airline safety and the failure of the nation's intelligence and homeland security communities to prevent an attempt to blow up an aircraft on Christmas Day. As with the failures of 9/11, there was a failure to "connect the dots."

I would have preferred that President Obama be more honest with the American Public. The truth is that any determined individual, or group, can bring down any airliner, or commit any other act of terrorism, and the government can do little to stop them. But, I recognize why he couldn't say so.

What did strike me about the news conference, however, was that the three major news organizations (ABC, CBS, and NBC) interrupted entertainment programming on their networks to cover it live. Fox (Faux) News chose to ignore it. Their regular programming ran without interruption.

I enjoy Fox News. I sometimes watch it for its entertainment value. But, more often I watch it to learn what Big Business, the Republican Party, the wealthy, and their Anti-Tax lobby are doing to brainwash the public in support of their agenda.

It would be a real hoot, if the ramifications for the country weren't so serious.