The first word
I happily beat my Democrat friend to the punch and get the honor of the first post.
I'm amazed I didn't burst any blood vessels during the 2004 election year. I felt that the Republicans gave the Donkeys a first-class ticket to the White House, but opted for a Lurch type candidate that would give my kid a nightmare. I honestly thought about voting for John Edwards instead of Bush, and was surprised when a No-Name Lurch looking guy pulls out of the primaries.
Then all of the sudden this pretty boy Edwards who initially I thought would actually be a candidate with a positive message turned all "democrat" and spewed the same hate filled speech that I feel ultimately killed Lurch.
2006 should be a wake up call to Republicans, and I'm beginning to question the leadership of my party. What will 2008 bring and which leaders will rise to the occasion? I'm not sure, but I hope this time to have an open mind to all candidates. Well, almost all.
Some things to consider... If Iowa and New Hampshire didn't determine the candidate for 2004, would we be seeing Howard Dean as the president? Wouldn't have McCain been the winner in 2000?
Why the hell do a couple of stupid states get to determine who the candidates are? How stupid is that? By the time it gets around to my hick state, Indiana, the primaries are basically useless. I can go through and pick a few candidates for local office I've never heard of, but I'm proud to be able to cast a vote. I'll never miss an election, ever. For all of you who don't vote, quit bitching about it.
It will be a fun ride, and look forward to all the views from the other side.
posted by David Frey @ 7:49 PM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
The premise of this blog really irks me! "Two Thousand and Eight is a presidential election year, presidential elections are really important, we should blog about it." I feel that it is a common misconception that the presidential election sets the agenda for our nation. When in reality our founding fathers had the insight to make the Congress just as important. Due in part to the overwhelming media coverage of presidential elections people take little notice of congress even though these people are more local and accesible to them. They more directly represent you than any president ever will. If there are problems with crime, education, poverty, etc... that you observe in everyday life these are the people you should be talking to!
Because of neglect of public oversight of Congress two of our three* branches of our government are controlled for the most part by career politicians. These are the people who control the purse strings and decide where our tax money is appropriated. These are the people that can more easily disguise whose lobbying concerns that they represent. Because Congress has grown so stagnate we are represented in this branch of the government by people whose philosophies are rooted in 1970's Goldwater dogma on the left and so it seems 1770's Puritan dogma on the right**.
Because of these old fogies, our country is losing its ability to evolve to compete in global markets. We have new challenges, new threats, and new competition that we are becoming too monolithic to address.
The real solution to this problem would be congressional term limits. However, those won't happen until we start holding congress accountable for their (in)actions. So please while considering who your are going to vote for in '08 don't ignore congress. If you do, no matter what your ideals are, and which side of the isle your candidate is on, congress will prevent them from acheiving their full potential.
*Supreme Court justices have life time appointments but may or may not be considered politicians.
**Well ok, Late 80's early 90's Neo-Con philosophy is about the same as Puritan philosophy, only you apparently don't have to apply it to your own actions.<
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