A Nation of Fear Mongers

We have become a nation of sissys.  Everywhere we look there are people warning of this and warning us of that.  New regulations on everything in the name of safety or saving the environment or whatever. Advertisers are among the worst of them, but no one plays the fear mongering game better than both of our major political parties.  Sure, people on the Right say that it is the Left playing on our fears and people on the left say the Right are the culprits; but honestly both play the game to perfection – all in the name of votes and control.

The left are economic fear mongers.  Certainly there is cause for concern in each field.  On the economic front all we have heard about for the last year is economic doom and gloom.  If one just paid attention to the news, they would think that things were worse than the depression.  The housing crunch and high gas prices are definitely terrible and having a negative affect on the economy, I concede that the economy is hurting, but it is far from dire.  We aren’t even in a recession, despite the fact that is all we have heard about.  In fact, the Commerce Department announced today that the economy grew at a staggering 1.9%.  What? it grew? not only that, it grew more than most European countries do in normal economic times!  So even when the U.S. economy is in the crapper, we still are stronger than France.  Amazing.

This bit of economic growth, despite being better than forecast, doesn’t mean that all is past.  Much of that growth was impacted by the economic stimulus package.  A benefit we won’t have in Q3, so it is quite reasonable to assume that growth will be worse in the next report, perhaps even negative.  But a recession is not a recession until there are 3 consecutive quarters of negative movement, something I predict will not occur.  It sure feels to me that we have already passed the bottom and are on the way back up.  If so, we will have ridden through this economic crisis extremely well and many of us may be wondering what all the fuss was about.   All the Left has done is try to strike fear in all of us and, arguably, have caused a significant portion of the economic downfall as a result.

But the Right is no better, and they are often scarier.  The right are security fear mongers.  They won the 2002 and 2004 election playing on our fears.  The fact is terrorism is not an existential threat to America. Period.  Sure they are a threat, they have and may again kill thousands of Americans. But they don’t threaten the our very existence.  Our government has a duty to protect us, but they also have the duty to preserve our freedoms, and that is something that the GOP, especially the executive branch have been threatening.   Have you ever heard Secretary Chertoff speak?  I stopped on C-Span a few months ago to listen to Chertoff; he spoke on a national ID card.   As I listened to his reasoning all I pictured was no privacy and the government with an eye on everything.  I say now that Chertoff is the most dangerous person in our Government.  Sometimes, people become so focused on one mission, in this case protecting us, that they lose the importance of other considerations.

To me freedom is more important than security.  As an American, I recognize that with freedom comes threat and danger.  I am ok with that.  I recognize that terrorists will strike again, it is an inevitability.  I just hope that our government doesn’t create a police state in the name of trying to prevent one.  The role of our government is to ensure freedom above all else.  I recognize that some things need to be tightened up, but within reason.

The problem the government faces is that they are full of elected officials.  And whomever is in power when the next terrorist strike occurs will not be in power the next election.  The opposing party will crucify them and the American people will buy it like lemmings.  It is a real shame.  Basically, in order to preserve their own job, historical legacy, and votes our elected officials will continue to take away freedoms in the name of national security (and don’t think the dems won’t do when they are in power, they will).

Ultimately, fear mongering is the political play of our time and it wll continue to be as long as the people walk around like sheep and care more about Anna Nicole Smith than the successes in Iraq.  The economy is not in as terrible shape as the Democrats would have us think and our safety and security is not as threatened as the Republicans would have us believe.  Don’t believe the hype.

P.S. The same principle applies to the Environment, is there a bigger example of fear mongering than that. Ridiculous.

How is McCain So Close in the Polls?

I don’t know about you, but judging by the media coverage, the passionate supporters, the image, the speaking ability, the complete animosity toward the Republicans on the part of the general populace, and a very unpopular president, Barack Obama should be running away with this election. Everything seems to be favoring a President Obama, yet John McCain is right on his heels in the polls.  How can this be?

In the latest national polling, McCain has maintained between a 1 and 6 point deficit to Obama.  This appears to be very good news for McCain.  Real Clear Politics national polling average currently has Obama with 46.1% and McCain with 41.7%.  The latest Fox News poll gave Obama a 1 point lead, and as recent as Thursday , the rolling Gallup poll had Obama up 2.  Now in the last two days those gaps have widen, likely as a result of the “Messiah World Tour” Obama went on, and we can expect another narrowing in the next week I would suspect.

So how is it possible the race is this close?  Judging by the current atmosphere, the Democrat candidate should runaway with the election by 10 points and win nearly all the swing states.  But as of now that is not shaping up to be the case, and considering the electoral experience of McCain and the novice Obama, I wouldn’t expect McCain to fall much further behind.

The first reason that the Dems are not running away with this is their choice of candidate.  Barack is a divisive figure, even within the party.  His naive statements on foreign policy and the fact he defeated the queen bee in the nomination fight, turned off a good portion of democratic voters.  The Democrats should have nominated a moderate who could draw in more of the middle, Mark Warner, for example, would have been a run away choice and would have won the White House.

Second, is Barack’s experience.  He is a one term Senator with no executive experience whatsoever.  I have more foreign policy experience than he does.  And he is going up a extremely experienced and qualified Republican.

Third, and the most disappointing, is his name and Muslim background, perhaps even his race.  I hope that this impact is extremely limited, but I wonder, especially the muslim background. I assume this bothers a lot of voters (despite the fact he is a devout Christian now).  I wonder how many people will vote for a guy named Barack Obama?  It is of no issue to me, but I am sure it is to many others.  The fortunate thing for Obama is that many of the voter who don’t like him because of these reasons were likely going to vote for the Republican anyway, regardless of who the Dem nominee is.

Note, The last sentence above is not a criticism of the Republican Party, I don’t believe the GOP as an organization is bigoted or racist in the least, but honest observance and analysis shows that (white) racists usually vote Republican (while Black racists vote Democrat).

The third reason is John McCain.  While I can’t stand the man, he is really the most electable candidate for the GOP to nominate this season.  He is a moderate and has the reputation as a maverick.  He can successfully separate himself from the Bush administration as a result.  He appeals to many independent voters and moderate democrats who are less than thrilled with Obama.  (Here is where McCain’s veep selection may come in handy, and while I think the smartest move would be for him to nominate Sarah Palin.)  And most conservatives who dislike McCain will hold their nose and vote for him just to keep Obama out of the White House.

The final reason I think the race is close is that this is still a divided country.  While party membership numbers are down in the GOP, peoples’ personal political persuasion tend to be more conservative than liberal on average.  I think we will see the divide move even closer to 50/50 as improvments in Iraq continue to be shown and the Bush administration is somewhat vindicated.

All in all, this is a historic election, though I am less than thrilled with our options. If the Democrats lose this one, they just need to disband and start a new party.  (psst, Democratic voters, if you ever want to win a Presidential election when the political atmosphere is mostly neutral – unlike this one – stop nominating people who are the most left-wing and idealistic of your party, and start nominating people who actually somewhat represent mainstream America.  You need a somewhat moderate candidate who is pragmatic and experienced.  Fortunately, for we GOPers, your party isn’t likely to move that way soon as it has been hijacked by the communist wing of the party: I’m looking at you MoveOn and DailyKos.  The GOP had/has this problem with the “religious right”, we have been hijacked by them, but we were pragmatic and voted to win. You didn’t.)

Is it Mitt?

Over at Race42008, Kavon Nikrad and Jason Bonham posted that Mitt Romney was indeed chosen to be John McCain’s running mate.  It sounds like their source is legit, although that doesn’t mean it will officially be announced right away.  But assuming this is accurate, what should we make of it.

First, despite the fact I have a man crush on Mitt, I don’t really want Mitt to be the McCain’s veep.  Mitt Romney needs to be President at some point.  Joining the sinking ship that is the McCain campaign won’t help this endeavor.  At this point in the race it appears that Obama is going to run away with the election (although current polls are ridiculously close and McCain really has a good shot).  Mitt Romney needs to become head of the Republican National Commitee and do a turn-around project with the party or he needs to run his PAC and help get GOP candidates elected and prepare to beat Obama in 2012.  Does anyone else think this year feels an awful lot like 1996 when the GOP nominated the sacrificial lamb of Bob Dole as the party’s standard bearer?

Even if John McCain wins in November, what good is it going to do for America or the party?  All McCain brings is the same old, more war and a worse economy.  The next four years could be very challenging for the country why not let the Dems wallow in it and bring in Mitt as the “fixer”.

Additionally, despite the fact I think that Obama would be a disaster, I also recognize the Country needs a new feel and pace.   Obama may actually be healthy, so long as it is only 4 years.  This being said, I am highly unlikely to vote for Obama, but I can’t say it is out of the question.  And this brings me back to Mitt and McCain.

The only way that my vote definitely goes for McCain is if he choose Mitt Romney or Sarah Palin as his running mate.  Otherwise it will take a lot of consideration and soul searching.  McCain needs to choose Palin for his VEEP then all my problems are solved. Sadly, this won’t happen.  What will happen, most likely, is that Mitt is his choice.  Good for McCain, good for Mitt, and, hopefully, good for the country.