Thursday, October 14, 2010

From "Have An Idea For A Topic"

Anonymous said...

I have been contemplating two titles for a piece: Asleep Behind the Wheel or Polite Politics. It really is driven by recent experiences with three women close to me totally opposite yet common in the approach they take with current event's. My closest confidant is always saying "Well what are you really going to do about it anyway?" Second says "all you can really do is pray about it." Third person's approach to issue's is censorship "I find the news depressing so we only watch select documentary's and uplifting movies, we don't watch the news." I want to laugh and cry at the same time. It is their choice but from my perspective I function on getting through life being informed and having a plan, a goal, I have always used survival skills to get to where I am now. Not entitlement programs. The point of these titles are pushed by what my child was coming home telling me about conversations in class among teacher's and peers. A child in college who announced her political affiliation who can vote and has no idea what her party is doing or stands for. She didn't know that Snoopy, felon's, and deceased voted in the last election. And defiantly could care less. I am passionate about where our country is going because I have children. What is their lives going to be, will they find work? Why do I as a parent have to pay for my child's healthcare until they are 26. (Shake my head, eye roll, and laugh- is this responsible?) I have a parent who told me 7 years ago "well changes in Social Security aren't going to affect me." It is now because second year no cost of living increase and she is hurting, the decision whether to eat or put gas in her car. Question? If Jay Leno showed up in town doing the 'Jay Walk' would we as a community be able to answer mundane political questions correctly? What do you think?

4 comments:

  1. There are some very logical reasons that people have become apathetic about the political process. It's becoming more difficult everyday to sort out the truth. With billions of dollars in contributions used to produce pure propaganda, and politicians who refuse to set the record straight when faced with lies and half truths, who and what is an average voter supposed to believe? It's like trying to find that proverbial needle in a haystack. Unfortunately there are too many people who assume they have found the needle as soon as they have been poked by a single sharp piece of straw.

    A prime example of the sharp straw syndrome is the rumor "that Snoopy, felon's, and deceased voted in the last election." There is no verified record of anyone voting fraudulently as Snoopy, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck or any other fictional character. There have been cases where voter registration cards have been filled out with those names, but they are regularly rejected and eliminated before they are processed by election officials. There are thousands of cases every year of those same names being entered on junk mail forms, but they do not get processed and they can't be counted as legitimate sales. The rules for voting by convicted felons varies state by state. In Nebraska persons convicted of a felony are automatically permitted to vote two years after completion of their sentence for all convictions except treason. There is very little evidence that anyone convicted of a felony is voting fraudulently, but there are thousands of people who have been denied the right to vote by misguided and sometimes corrupt election officials who have purged their names from the lists of registered voters because they have names similar to other individuals who are unable to vote because of felony convictions. The few cases of deceased individuals who have had their votes counted are mostly cases where an individual dies after having cast an absentee ballot. The days when corrupt political machines routinely cast votes in the names of the deceased is long gone. The chance of an individual committing voter fraud is less likely than being struck by lightning.

    Another group of sharp straw arguments is all the disinformation about the health care reform legislation. Insurance companies can no longer refuse to allow parents to insure their children until the age of 26, but parents are not required to purchase that insurance for those children.

    My pet peeve is all the people who claim they didn't need any government assistance to get where they are at today. Anyone who conducts any business by mail is using government services. Anyone who went to a public school used government services. Virtually all colleges are receiving some form of financial help from the government and their students are receiving government services. Anyone who travels on streets and highways is using government services. Utilities and trash removal are frequently government services. In most rural areas the electrical systems were developed by the REA, a government program. We pay less for most of the groceries we buy because of farm subsidies that are paid for by the federal government. Many of the medical advances we take for granted were discovered through government research. Government owned hospitals like Box Butte General provide much of the health care in the United States. The railroads were built with financing provided by government subsidies. Much of the agricultural land in the United States was distributed to individuals virtually free of charge by the federal government through the Homestead act and other government welfare programs of their day. Anyone who uses our city park is benefiting from projects financed by the federal government through depression era programs like the WPA. The simple truth is that very few of us would survive without the government services we take for granted.

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  2. It's unfortunate that our democratic system has devolved to a point where moneyed interests can finance disinformation campaigns that skew the process. Politicians now serve the interests of large campaign contributors and not average Americans. Foreign interests are now being allowed to influence the process. The way to reenergize all those people who are apathetic about the democratic process is to make the system more transparent. That will require campaign finance reform that eliminates the groups that have the ability to anonymously support or attack candidates. The Supreme Court got it wrong. Corporations are not persons, and the unrestricted use of money is not equal to free speech.

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  3. You almost cross political correctness rules with this.
    A. you speak about women in a way that isn't exactly appealing.
    B. mention of prayer is a big no-no!
    C. you sound conservative questioning liberal ideas.
    That is how Political Correctness is being used. Prime example is the mention of college independent thinker.
    At first I didn't understand your point. What I see is that you are playing with the concept of freedom of speech. Your encounter drove you to express nothing less than to help shape the intellectual character of society. No matter. Blogging may not gain responses. I will offer tolerance in favor of First Amendment Rights. It sounds like you care. Which is worse criticism or no response?

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  4. You make your point! I love it, but don't forget who put blood, sweat, and tears into building and developing these gov't programs. THE PEOPLE! Don't forget the vision of how they came about and ultimately as you said benefits from them. THE PEOPLE! Most important how did the gov't get the money to implement all these programs. THE PEOPLE! American's (THE PEOPLE) had and have a dream of the country we want. Rich or poor everyone pays and experiences a price of their circumstance. However even when you are down and out being an American you don't have to stay there if you work hard believe in yourself, you can follow your dream. Even if the gov't tries it is you who can define the dream of being free and American! Gov't can keep taking yet be smart put something away they can't touch for your dream.

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