"I don't really want to stop the show,
But I thought that you might like to know," That the choice becomes clearer.
"So let me introduce to you
The one and only" Carole Kaye, Candidate for Florida House District 86
Local Election Days are upon us. For months now candidates for elected office have roamed their regions. Everyday people have had ample opportunity to meet, greet, and yes, even eat a meal with aspirants. Often, one challenger's name is better known. He or she may be an incumbent, or closely associated with one. Consider the Florida House race in District 86. Dissimilar Democratic candidates Carole Kaye and Lori Berman appear on the ballot. Who are these office seekers? What will they do for my community, commerce, our children, and me? Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, and parts of Boca Raton constituents, who have not made politics their lives, search for answers as they travel to the polls.
Citizens are inundated with "information." Posters dot the landscape. Banners fly on Boulevards. Constituents don pins and place placards on their lawn. Windows and automobile bumpers have not escaped unscathed. Today, the message heard on avenue is "The time is now." Indeed, it is. Early voting began on August 9 and will continue through August 22, 2010. In Florida, while technically Primary Election Day is August 24, 2010, in reality it is today. In Palm Beach County House District 86, Primary Election Day is the final deciding date. Democrats with different styles compete for state House 86 seat. There is no Republican challenger in this race. The winner of the Primary will represent South Palm Beach County communities. Yet, many people do not feel equipped to decide. Whom might I cast a ballot for, the much lauded Lori Berman or the lesser known, highly qualified, Attorney, Educator, and person who for years has shared and cared for my backyard, Carole Penny Kaye.
The day was Sunday, August 1, 2010. Former Fed Chairman, Alan Greenspan appeared on Meet the Press. When asked to discuss the Congressional debate on tax cuts, the man known to move markets, a person who leans to the "Right," offered a decisive decree. In direct disagreement with Republican officials and the profitable corporations that fund countless political campaigns, Mister Greenspan declared, "Look, I'm very much in favor of tax cuts, but not with borrowed money. And the problem that we've gotten into in recent years is spending programs with borrowed money, tax cuts with borrowed money, and at the end of the day, that proves disastrous. And my view is I don't think we can play subtle policy here on it."
This statement was as a slap in the face to corporations, or more correctly to the tycoons who head these firms. Multi-millionaire media moguls might understand this best. These television and radio Executives experience firsthand that influence over an industry can translate into influence over an outcome. Cable News Network Chief Officers are among those who actively make use of this truth. Tax cuts expired? "Never;" say network Administrators and the newscasters such as Allan Chernoff, who do their bidding.
A recent change of the guard in the Massachusetts Senate race force the President to reveal he is working. We, the American people, are waiting, just as we have been for months and months. For a full year, countless citizens have felt as though they were patient. Yet, the President did not seem to have their interests at heart. True change has not come. Countless constituents anticipate none is forthcoming. Three hundred and sixty five plus have gone by and the American people are tired of being patient.
The circumstances in their personal lives have proven to be critical, worse now than in 2009. Oh, some remain hopeful. They continue to believe. Several are waiting for Godot, who as we all know, never comes. Millions await the Messiah. Many thought Barack Obama was the great liberator. This human was perchance, a deity, devotees continue to declare. He is a divine being, or was in the eyes of the electorate before he entered the Oval Office. Now, Americans are wasted, wanting. They trusted and waited for him to transform the nation. Today, the people wonder; is it too late.
In a private conversation reported in a new book, Reid described Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign as a "light-skinned" African-American "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."
I have to be honest that I am always a bit skeptical when white folks feel compelled to step up and defend black folks from other white folks. I am even more cynical when it is white Republicans doing the defending. This would be the same Republican party who has since the 60's run on the southern strategy, whose conventions look more like all-white country clubs, and who have from his election sought to de-legitimize this President. Now we are to believe that they are so concerned with the delicate psyche of African-Americans that Senator Reid's remarks rises to the level of Trent Lott?
For those who don't remember Trent Lott was the Republican majority leader who stated that the country would have been better off if unrepentant segregationist Strom Thurmond had won the presidency in 1948.
On the eve of what was thought to be, perhaps, a sign of progress in the six-decade long health care reform debate, joblessness mounts. Depression increases. The intensity of illness is on the rise. Few if any can afford to visit a doctor. People are unemployed, under-employed, and if an individual has an income, hours are reduced. There is barely enough to pay the most basic bills. let alone insurance premiums. Yet, staffers have been asked, no told, by business owners, workers must pay a larger portion of their health care coverage. Bosses bellow in unison; with profits down, certainly the corporations cannot continue to offer perks. Medical indemnities are a privilege, not a guarantee. If you feel ill, if you are injured, take two pills and call no one in the morning.
Do not dare telephone the Democrats. They have made their peace with the health care crisis. Republicans will not respond to the cries of a public, and Independents are, as you know independent! The decree; health care reform was dead on arrival.
On this fine day in February 2009, President Barack Obama submitted his budget blueprint. For the first time, in near a decade, transparency is built into a national financial plan. The tremendous costs to wage the two wars America is engaged in are no longer hidden. Outlays for military offenses have been written into the ledger, and not in the traditional invisible ink. While one might think fiscal and political Conservatives would be pleased, upon receipt of the document, Republicans immediately pounced. Senator Judd Greggspoke on the Grand Old Party's behalf when he asked, "Where is the restraint in spending?"
The new President of the United States addressed a joint session of Congress for the first time, on February 24, 2009. Republicans were all a twitter. Grand Old Party Legislators, thumbs and fingers in flight, sent text messages to their constituents while Barack Obama stood before the nation and its leaders. Senators and Representatives from the Right were careful not to have their hands seen on camera. The persons elected to represent the people preferred to obfuscate the truth; they cared not what the Commander-In-Chief might say. As they anxiously awaited the voice of Grand Old Party, Governor Bobby Jindal, the person who would offer the Republican rebuttal, those on the right of the aisle refused to listen.
Somewhere in America, a man loses the job he has held for more than thirty years. Somewhere in America, a woman cleans out the office she had occupied for close to a decade. Elsewhere in the United States, a teen unsuccessfully tries to find work. He knows he needs to help his Mom and Dad; each toiled in the factory that closed just down the street. A young woman searches for a professional position, just as she has for the two years since she graduated form the University. Each of these individuals is not startled by the headline, Economy Shed 598,000 Jobs in January. All ask, where have the "experts," Economists, and elected officials been?
Update . . . A bell rings. The sound reverberates. A sentiment shared aloud resonates within the heart, mind, body, and soul of persons who heard the message. No matter the actions taken afterward, sullen statements are not easily erased from memory.
Days before Congress was asked to pass the stimulus package, the President uttered the now famous phrase; "I won," Republicans, as could have been expected, expressed resentment. Immediately, subsequent to President Obama's statement Democrats were said to have followed the Chief Executive's lead. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was asked if he thought Republicans might block the initiative. Empathically, he replied; "No." Today we know differently. In the House, the measure received no support from the Grand Old Party.
As we await approval from the Senate we may wish to consider, the past. Words that evoke division have a lasting effect.
Please peruse a missive penned shortly after President Obama reacted to pressure from the "Right."
There was a break in the news. On Cable News Network Wolf Blitzer was noticeably moved. He excitedly reported; Dick Cheney confessed. Broadcaster Blitzer's words were a bit more tempered. He said, "This just coming into The Situation Room. The Vice President, Dick Cheney, has given ABC News an interview and confirming now publicly that the Bush administration did engage in the very controversial interrogation tactic of waterboarding." The Commentator then asked America to listen to the clip. ABC News Correspondent Jonathan Karl inquired of the outgoing high-level government official, "Did you authorize the tactics that were used against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?" Without hesitation, the Vice President responded. "I was aware of the program, certainly, and involved in helping get the -- the process cleared, as the agency, in effect, came in and wanted to know what they could and couldn't do. . . . (T)hey talked to me, as well as others, to explain what they wanted to do. And I supported it.
Viewers vented. Some shifted nervously in their seats. However, The Judicial Watch was not amused. Nor were they elated. The answer was not the one this Conservative organization, hoped for, groped for, and searched for though the courts, for all these many years. Vice President Cheney did not confess to sins conceived long before September 11, 2001. He told said nothing of the maps and charts of Iraqi oil fields. Foreign suitors for Iraqi oilfield contracts were not discussed as they had been in March 5, 2001, six months and six days before the infamous September 11 attacks.
Conservatives clamored; if Americans elected Barack Obama as President, unthinkable change would transform the planet as we know it. Republicans warned, there would be war in the streets throughout the land, people would respond violently. An international incident would certainly occur. World leaders would test the "inexperienced" Commander. Certainly, the Illinois Senator would be stunned, awash in angst. If Obama were in the Oval Office, it would become more obvious. He was not prepared to command a country as great as the United States of America. The people, from every nation would take advantage of the inexperienced leader.
The only question is as to sustaining the change [to higher taxes] before the people.
I believe it can be sustained, because it does not increase the tax upon the "many poor" but upon the "wealthy few" . . . ~ Letter to William S. Wait, March 2, 1839, reprinted in Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, volume 1, p. 148. Rutgers University Press. (1953, 1990).
I go for all sharing the privileges of government who assist in bearing its burdens. ~ Letter to the Editor of the Sangamon Journal, June 13, 1836, reprinted in Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, volume 1, p. 48. Rutgers University Press. (1953, 1990).
The chap was well-dressed as was his wife. She expressed her distain with her husband's choice. He would cast his ballot for John McCain in this election year. Taxes were his only concern. This lovely lady declared herself an active Democrat. She had been a Clinton supporter, Hillary that is. Now, she was decisively behind Barack Obama, and proud of it. I might not have known this or much else about the couple of strangers; however, in the year 2008, everyone seems anxious to share political concerns.
They trust in the rights afforded by the United States Constitution. Yet, Conservatives, committed Republicans, will vote for change. Countless on the Right have openly endorsed Barack Obama, a Democrat for President. Numerous established and esteemed dynasties remain steadfast and staunchly devoted to what are commonly thought to be traditional mores. Yet, persons within these same lineages say aloud and in print the Democratic Obama Biden ticket will best represent them, their long held values, and the country they love.
CC Goldwater, granddaughter of the renowned Republican, Arizona Senator and a Presidential aspirant Barry Goldwater illustrates this veracity.
Today, citizens of this country are confronted with a record realized under the Bush Administration. Karl Rove, "The Architect" of the Bush campaign claims no responsibility for the cause or effect of his chief candidate's actions. Nor does he acknowledge that his Grand Old Party might be answerable for accounts receivable. However, others, those common folks less connected to the current Administration might disagree. In an ominous moment, on a San Francisco stage Americans were given the opportunity to look into the future and remember earlier days and dictums.
Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat the cry is the same, "We want change!" For well over a year Americans have heard the words. Barack Obama is "The change we can believe in." Currently, the cry is McCain is the change candidate, and certainly, he is. This Presidential aspirant, a celebrated "maverick," has altered the conversation and transformed his candidacy. More than once, the media counted the former prisoner of war, John McCain, down and out; yet, the Arizona Senator rose as a Phoenix from the flames. Many Americans trust that the formidable fellow who fought for his country with blood, sweat, and tears is the best person to serve as President of the United States.
What is black and white and read all over? Associated Press reports written by the "respectable" albeit some would say disreputable Ron Fournier. Few Journalists foment interest in this Presidential election in the way this whimsical writer does. His prose is not dry. Detachment does not define the Washington Bureau Chief. Conventional standards, set by the information industry, might label this laudable lackey as less than logical. For logic is rarely found in flaming rhetoric. Fournier describes his approach as "accountability journalism" and "liberating . . . the truth," as well it should be.
Someone once described courage as not never being afraid, but going on in spite of the fear. As a nation and as elected officials we seem to be running dangerously low on courage. Oh we have the tough talk down, we have the posturing, but do we really have true courage? Since 9/11 when at least 2,985 people died from the terrorists attacks I think that what has been lost in all the hype is some perspective. While this was surely a tragedy, the population of the United States in the year 2001 was somewhere around 290 million people. Based on those numbers the terrorist attacks killed less than .02% of the population, yet since the attack we have responded by invading sovereign nations, torturing our fellow human beings, and gutting our Constitutional protections.
Democrats are divided. Progressives once certain that they would support the Party nominee, are now, no longer sure that they can. People on the Left for the first time in their lives are looking to the "Right." Staunch Liberals state they will vote Republican in 2008 if the candidate of their choice is not the Party's nominee. Many Democrats say they will not vote at all. Much damage has been done. The political process has become a play for power or an attempt to create chaos.
As the Democratic primary continues to drag on I am reminded of a book I read a long time ago. The name of the book was, "All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten". Obviously the candidates and their campaigns didn't read the book, if they had maybe there would be a lot less of this incessant snipping that has overtaken the issues in this campaign. In the book the author states that the most important lessons in life the Golden Rule, honesty, clean up your own mess, and say you're sorry when you hurt somebody he learned in kindergarten. These valuable lessons would be a welcome change on the campaign trail. For many of us, kindergarten represented our first foray into the social experiment we call society. It was important to learn the ground rules of interpersonal communications to learn how to navigate the many pitfalls that await those who don't learn them.
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