My following the election this year was vastly different
than in previous years. I am in a place with no television, no internet and low
cell phone signals. I spent time sitting in my car listening to sattelite
radio. On the other hand, since I’m on the Pacific Coast, the election was
called just after 8 p.m. my time. I’m used to being up well past midnight
listening to returns.
So what were the results? Let’s see, after billions of
dollars were spent, the people have spoken. And there is little difference. The
President is still the President. Republicans still control the House and
Democrats still control the Senate.
Did it make much of a difference? I think there was a very
fundamental change.
First, let’s look at the Candidates, an African American and
a Mormon. With the exception of JFK, a Catholic, America has always nominated
WASPs. It says something about the direction of this country. I am told by CNN
that 59 percent of whites voted for Romney and that the Hispanic vote made the
difference. It means that there is an incredible change in America’s
demographics.
And I can’t help but wonder how much of the white vote was
based on prejudice rather than politics? But as far as the Presidential
candidates were concerned, there were no real losers. America chose a more
liberal philosophy. But from where I sit, the real losers were the extremists.
Several key Tea Party members of the House lost their seats. And so there is
hope. Eisenhower and Regan worked with a Democratic House and Senate. Clinton
worked with a Republican Congress. And things got done. But two years ago, the
nation was seized by haters – the Birthers, the Birchers, the militias, the
intolerant Bible thumpers. And those supported by the Tea Party were unwilling
to work with members of their own party, not to mention the President.
We once called the party out of power “the loyal opposition”
and there is hope that the right wing’s “take no prisioners” stance of the past
two years may be changing to one of a willingness to work together. Though the
President won, the issues raised during the campaign were very valid.
The focus must be putting people to work in meaningful jobs.
It’s not just unemployment. It’s also underemployment. When college graduates
are filling jobs at employers of last resort such as Wal-Mart, and McDonald’s,
it means that houses will continue to be lost and the poor will become poorer.
Americans responded to the concept of supporting growth industries, such as
energy. But more needs to be done. We need to seize back our industry. We need
to find a way to get electronics manufacturing out of Asia. We need to realize
that borrowing from the Chinese and then buying cheap Chinese goods are
destroying our economy.
And thus, we also have to reel in spending. But it can’t be
the immediate stoppage that the Republicans advocated. It took more than a
decade and the entry into a world war to put an end to the depression. I think
Americans realize that it will take more than four years to recover from the current
recession. I hope that with the end of the Afgan War, the drain on our
resources can be re-channeled.
But there is no doubt in my mind that the greatest evil out
there must be stopped. You might call it “corporate America” but I choose to
call it the insurance industry. CNN noted that the Republicans had more than
$90 million more to spend than the Democrats. This was mainly through business.
The average contribution for the Democratic party was $50, the exact amount I
donated.
It would not surprise me if much of that difference came
from the insurance industry. They spent hundreds of millions of my medical
insurance premiums in fighting Obamacare. And, of course, for the candidate who
vowed to end it despite having done the same thing as governor of
Massachusetts.
How do we do it? We stop giving lip service to election
reform and actually do it. It is a simple idea. If a business receives federal
dollars, it must be limited to a certain dollar amount of political spending.
What sense does it make for the insurance industry, which gets not only my
premiums, but also billions, perhaps trillions, in support through Medicare and
Medicaid, to take that money to try to influence elections instead of going
about the business of taking care of people?
I also hope that Americans write their Congressional
representatives and tell them that it is time to stop pandering to special
interests and do what they were elected to do. Take care of we, the people.
