Look Under the Hood, and Kick Some Tires
AARON JAMES
Spare Change News
What do you want in your president? Put political ideologies and terminology aside. Put the names of current candidates in the back of your mind. Start backward with an independent frame of mind. It is a tough question that should require some thought.
I can narrow down my answer to one word, independence. I want my president to be independent from the party and special interests. I want an open-minded president willing to change as facts and circumstances change. I want a middle of the road president. A president who understands the necessity of federally funded programs like the EPA, Dept. of Education, and Commerce. At the same time I want a president who is not power hungry and understands that this nation was founded on the principal that government closest to the people works best.
You may disagree. You may believe the EPA is a waste of taxpayer money. You may want a strong religious president who, regardless of circumstances, always holds to the same beliefs on every subject. You may want a power-hungry president. You may want a president focused on LGBT rights. You may feel that previous military service is required. You may even want a president who does pay back the party and special interests.
If I were to buy a car, I would not rush to the car lot. I would make a list of what I was looking for. I would likely be focused on the price. And being focused on price I would also want a good average miles per a gallon. You get the point. And once I knew what I was looking for then I would get online and do some research. Finally, I would go to the car lot.
Yet many out there will put more thought into purchasing a car then researching potential presidents?
In 2008, it was an easy choice on my part. Sen. John McCain was an American hero. He was not calling for the elimination of federal programs like most Republicans are now. He walked a somewhat middle road, which veered more often to the right than the left. However, when he crossed to the left, it was remarkable to see. He worked well with Democrats. Being American was much more important to him than being Republican. There is no doubt in my mind that throughout his life he put country before politics.
That was then. Today, it seems to me, the divide among the parties is growing even deeper. They are similar in that special interest groups run the show. Money influences both sides. However, there is quit a noticeable difference between the views of Planned Parenthood and the National Right to Life. Or say The Brady Campaign to end Gun Violence versus The National Riffle Association.
Lesson one about politics is that there is no right and there is no wrong. What is best for me may not be the best for you. The best solution no one will ever really like because it is always a compromise.
When we look at the Obama Health Care package, which does not go into full effect until 2014, there is a lot to scream about on both sides of the aisle. Broadly speaking, Democrats wanted the package to resemble something more like Canada’s system while Republicans felt like it was a government takeover of Health Care. The fact remains, if Republicans had their way nothing would have changed. This would have been a worse outcome. If Democrats had their way…let me warn you my liberal friends, the Canadian system or anything of the sorts, can not, should not, and would not work in America. What we the American people got was what we always have gotten from our government, a compromise. The Constitution was a compromise.
You may feel like I am leaning toward Romney. I was, maybe a little back in September. Now, I am not. And while certain special interest groups have brought light to the true corporate thug that Romney is, this is not my main reason against him.
I am against Romney because he fails in my “independent” criteria. As Governor, he implemented a health care mandate. I think our state system has flaws; however, we are much better off than many other states. Romney insists he signed a state health care law not a national one and never would. Fine. However, national, state, or city, Romney believes in mandating health care. Yet, he is running from mandates during the campaign, scared of his God-given independence from his party. Independence is a key for me. And while the Republican base may be weary of the man, Romney is clearly just as weary of them. Unlike McCain, I cannot say with confidence that Romney values his country over his party… or his money for that matter.
Currently, I would support Obama. I may change my mind. As of now he is the most centrist. What do you think? Middle is best? If you agree, voting for either party should be difficult this year. The middle is on fire and very few politicians are willing to be that hero and fetch water.
To me, America is about independence. Local governments are independent from the federal yet still connected. If a local government enacts a law that is unconstitutional, the federal government has a responsibility to make sure the constitution is upheld at every level of government, including its own. Our founders knew times would change and the need for a stronger federal government could arise. It would be the people’s job to ensure the government never got to large. That is our role in America.
It is also our role to run for office. To me that is what America is about. We the people form our government. We are an independent people.
We are independent from our government yet we are the government. You and I, we are America. As we scream at our elected officials, understand your role in the problem. There is no right, there is no wrong, only politics, Americans politics.
AARON JAMES is a Spare Change News writer and vendor.
Comments
Comments on the replies
I appreciate the reply Mark. Just a note on your comments. You mentioned that Humphries, 'always talked about the role of government being to help people who couldn't help themselves.' As far as I am concerned a major problem in this country is seperating the roles of the different levels of government. I agree, local, state, and federal governments should view its role as helping the less well off. But, what is the local role, versues the state role, versues the national? Again, taking ideologies out of it, I'd like my mayor, whom I can literally walk into his office any day of the week, to have a larger role in my daily life that the Governor or President of whom a face to face meeting with is much less likely. So how do we give local governments more control? And what is too much control? Too often, this basic disucussion with no clear right answer, gets lost within political pisitioning. If a senior who recieves 600 a month donates 50 dollars to a democratic cause, it quickly becomes...'damn those republicans,' and likewise the other way around.
And thanks Kevin...I believe you made a committ awhile back to a sobrity piece I wrote, I apprecite it.
It is surley tough being President. And of course, a democratic or republican president naturally will have the broad support of his party. Lets look at the whole Keystone XL pipeline debacle. I am convinced Obama wanted to move forward with it. There has been a bit of back and forth from his administration. Obviously, Obama cannot upset the environmentalist within his party and really, if the President wanted too, he simply could not move forward with Keystone and still think his re-election would be fesible, specially after surly losing a good chunk of the jewish vote (and I am half Jewish and will leave the subject of negotations in the Middle East to rest). But I say Obama may have wanted to move forward with Keystone because...where is the smiling President saying he defeated the dirty polluters? It was barley covered as an exciting event in the media. And we did not get much if anything of a celebration from the President. He basically postponed the decision to hold onto his liberal environmentalist support for the election and spoke nothing of it. The republicans allready have and will continue to hound him on this. All of a sudden, a legitmate project for the nation with legitmate concerns is now a party line issue. Honest debate on the subject is not longer possible, Republicans- build it, Democrats, stop it...again, the middle is on fire and in this case, Obama could have and still could demostrate more leadership, I think...
Thanks for the replies, keep the disscussions going, this is out country!
Presidential election
Great article Aaron, lots to think about. my fear is that the way our politics runs on boatloads of money it is hard for any politician to be really independent. I'd love to see term limits and campaign finance reform -- but I doubt it will ever happen because these jokers don't want to give up any of their power.
what i would like to see is some politician -- any of them -- talking about what the role of government should be. I grew up with Hubert Humphrey in Minnesota; he always talked about the role of government being to help people who couldn't help themselves. And he always mentioned the elderly, the disabled, and children. If you look at what our politicians are talking about today, we seldom hear anything about these folks unless it is derogatory.
I think that's why Occupy has been so exciting for me. People are standing up and saying the status quo is not right, the rich 1% can not keep getting richer at the expense of the 99%. Let's demand our politicians tell us what they are going to do for us -- housing, hunger, jobs. And let's vote them out of office if they are not doing the will of the people. peace and love, Mark
electing a president
independant from all party politics is a great idea and i think many people would agree but, we have a president who needs to work with two houses of government. that a president would have no one from the two parties to back him up is suicide.Look how difficult its been for president Obama.
People think when they elect someone and that many changes are going to happen easy but that is not possible. I have had to look to someone I think is a decent and honorable man or women and go from there. I cannot do any better than that AT THIS TIME.
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