I'm gonna put a couple things out there just for food for thought. Don't assume by any of this that I am supporting one candidate over another. These are just a couple of things to think about when it comes to the real issues in this election. And isn't that what it should really be all about, the issues facing us?
Iraq
How long should we remain in Iraq? What is our real goal there, and how will we know when it's been met How much is that worth in terms of life, limb, and money? Would you have supported the invasion if you had been told that 5 years later we would still be there with no real end in sight?
Yes, Saddam is long gone, but there has been a huge power vacuum created that has not yet been filled. Who can fill it? I personally think that in this particular case it will take another ruler with the strength and influence that Saddam had, in other words another dictator. There is simply too much unrest, mistrust, and hate between different factions there to agree on anything.
I was a Marine, so I am not "against" war, but maybe because I was a Marine, I need to see some very good reasons and goals to go to war. I know exactly what it is like to come under fire for no good reason, and to lose comrades in arms for no good reason. If we were to leave Iraq and they fall under another brutal ruler, have we done just that?
As you can see I am personally torn over the issue. I don't know what the right answer is, but I do know that our government needs to be talking about it constantly until they do stumble upon that answer. And they also need to be open to any ideas, you never know where the good ones will come from.
Health Care
If you expect the government to provide good roads, well then why not good medicine? If you can rely on them to provide for your security when flying (or any other time in reality), then why not the security that preventive medicine can provide for your family? If we are so rich that we can give billions to oil companies and spend billions each day to fight a war, then why can't every child in this country get adequate health care?
You can look at this in a number of ways, but any way I look at it I come to the same conclusion. Every citizen of this country deserves the right not to die or become permanently disabled due to the lack of adequate health care. The Declaration Of Independence states that life is an unalienable right, if that is true than isn't the preservation of life also a right? If we can export our medicine to unfortunate people in other parts of the world why can't we do it for the unfortunate folks living in our country?
I really believe that providing health care to all citizens is a sign of truly modern and evolved country. Why not do it? Sure, not all the ideas these guys have of the hows are good, but what I want to know is why not? Again, if our government were willing to listen to ideas from all sides, we might just come up with a good how.
Energy
It's obvious that our current energy program is flawed to put it lightly. We are in serious trouble. It is killing our economy, which will take years to recover, if it can at all. It is a serious threat to our national security.
The current administration seems to have bungled this beyond belief. Maybe they are tied too close to the industry, though you think that would have helped, not hurt.
This is an issue that is going to effect every single citizen every single day. And it is way past time for all the candidates to talk about this in very real terms, with some concrete ideas. Why do we all let them off the hook so easily?
Immigration
This is one of those great, emotional issues that politicians love to use to divide the country and to get you on their sides. The only thing that has more fear attached to it is terrorism.
Again, this is an issue that I am very split on. This country was founded and based upon having an open door of sorts, to give folks from around the world a chance at a better life. And it has in turn made us a better country.
Think about what kind of place this would be without the contributions of the Italian immigrants. Or the Irish immigrants. Or in recent times the Asian immigrants, who had much to do with the soar in technology and the soar in the economy and way of life that owes much to that. Yes, right now the Mexican and Central American immigrants are mostly involved with manual labor, but so were these other groups when they first got here. It's the way this country works, and it seems to have worked pretty good for the last couple of hundred years.
I believe that we need to make legal immigration attainable. Because we are doing our best to make it not so. A closed society is always destined to fail, look at history.
On the other hand, we need to make sure that illegal immigrants are not availing themselves to public services paid for by the citizen and legal residents of this country. I think that is the brunt of the problem, and could be remedied quite easily and quite quickly with just a couple of pieces of legislation.
I haven't even heard anyone (candidates, etc.) really talk about any of these issues, much less the scores of other issues that still face this country such as Social Security and education. It's a real shame that this election doesn't seem to be about the issues and the answers.
So there you have it, a little food for thought. Let's make this election about the issues facing this country, not the personalities or political parties of the candidates. I can hope, right?
Oh dang you're right..
