| Elections may make you want to scream... |
By about 10:45pm or so on Tuesday, November 6th, we'll know who our next President is going to be. Once the voting results begin to come in from the Eastern and Midwest states, we'll know if Barack Obama gets a second term or if Mitt Romney is going to be our new President.
Too many supporters of the President feel that if Mr. Romney defeats Mr. Obama, that our seniors will be stripped of their health care, corporations will run amok more than already do and the middle class will get slammed with a huge tax increase while the wealthy laugh all the way to the bank.
Too many supporters of Mitt Romney feel that if President Obama gets re-elected, that the United States of America will become the United Socialist States of America, that Christianity will be outlawed and China will call in our debt and all will be lost.
The good news is none of those things are likely to become true.
Despite what many Obama supporters think, Mr. Romney will not take away health care from our nation's seniors, although the next generation of seniors may see a very different form of Medicare. Corporations may see fewer regulations, but they're likely to see fewer regulations under either man. Same for middle class tax cuts. The Social Security Tax Cut is set to expire on December 31st and won't likely be renewed.
Despite what many Romney supporters think, President Obama will not turn this into a Socialist country, nor will he wage let alone win a war on religion. China will not call in its debt to us and last but not least all will certainly NOT be lost.
The hand-wringing, sky-is-falling, psychotic ranting from both sides has been pretty bad for a while, but these next sixteen days should see the "crazy" level shoot through the roof. Social media websites like Facebook and Twitter have clearly seen an uptick in intense, over-heated rhetoric from both sides. The Nazi references are up, which is never a good sign.
In many cases, its like people have in a way, begun to lose their minds. The silly stuff from the far right that the very essence of our Country is at risk if Obama is re-elected is powerful crazy. There are plenty of people...good, decent, hard-working types, who are ABSOLUTELY convinced Obama is out to destroy our way of life. Likewise, the notion that Romney is out to only help the rich folks at the cost of every thing else, is also wrong minded. Guess what? Both men are moderates. Neither man is a severe "anything."
The challenger is a man, like him or not, who was able to work with a mostly Democratic State Congress in Massachusetts and pass Universal Health care in what was, at the time a landmark piece of legislation. While the nature of his work at Bain Capital seems unseemly, there's virtually no one making the case that Mitt Romney wasn't good at it. Nor is anyone making the case that he wasn't an effective leader with the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. He seems willing and able to morph himself into whatever he needs to given a particular set of circumstances. The demands of the Presidency, if he wins it, will be a huge step up from his previous stations, but shouldn't be entirely foreign. Tough decisions, conflicting factions of interest and impossible expectations. He is no ideologue, despite his primary season claim of being a "severe conservative." Other than Ambassador Jon Huntsman, Mitt Romney was the Republican candidate that if a Obama supporter had to see his guy go down, they'd most likely want to see take the job. Would you rather see Rick Santorum or Michelle Bachmann in the Oval Office? Jesus Christ, no...
You know what else Mitt Romney seems to be? Mitt Romney seems to be the kind of guy President Obama could've used in his first few years in office. I have to believe that the Governor would've provided a sense of direction during this administrations first 24 months. At times the messaging coming from the White House lacked a clarity and an order that a long time manager would naturally provide. My formal education is in Marketing and I'm hard pressed to recall a worse communication plan to the American people than the Obama team did with the Affordable Care Act. It was an inept, impotent, incompetent disaster that will likely be studied as "how NOT to" in Marketing programs for years to come.
I highly doubt Mr. Romney will take us down the path that George Bush did. His background isn't oil or defense contractors, its big business. I won't like many of the policies of a Romney White House, but if he reverts back to the administrator he was in Massachusetts, I'll be hopeful of some moderate governance. Romney may learn very quickly the sort of headaches Speaker Boehner has been afflicted with from the far right of the GOP, especially in the House of Representatives.
Should Mr. Obama win re-election, I suspect we will continue to see the daily doses of ignorant, racist slop that we've seen for much of the last three years. This man has been accused of everything from going on an apology tour, (which he didn't) ramming a Government takeover of health care, (mostly a massive giveaway to insurance and pharmaceutical companies) and sending the Muslim Brotherhood billion of dollars (the President doesn't send any money to anyone, Congress allocates those funds.) He is accused daily of being un-American, a Communist, a Socialist, a Marxist, a Muslim, a Kenyan, a radical, a liar, a drug user, a homosexual. etc. This level of vitriol is unprecedented in the history of the Presidency and in no way reflects very well on we as a people.
There is a faction of the far right-wing that has distinguished themselves during the last three years or so. The "anyone but Obama" crowd. People have a right to disagree with the President whenever they wish. What they don't have a right to is to mis-represent this President's policies, actions or intentions, especially in the mindless, intellectually dishonest way too many have. The vitriol aimed at the First Lady, Michelle Obama, has also been uncalled for. "Moochella" as some refer to her, has received insults and verbal attacks that I don't recall any other First Lady having to put up with. Again, we embarrass ourselves. After watching this disgusting display I'm left to some pretty unpleasant realities. While some take issues with the President actual policies, which is perfectly acceptable, others have taken a "everything this man and woman do is BAD for the Country and anti-American." Which is an asinine way to look at things. When presented with verifiable facts on various accomplishments by Mr. Obama, this small but noisy group ignores that information and slides over to the next talking point and begins to hammer on that one. Any group that refuses to consider the facts isn't one to be taken seriously. While difficult to prove outright, I believe that the Obama's race is a part of this irrational, paranoid behavior. Some are simply unable to accept that an African American has ascended to the highest office in the land.
A second term for President Obama likely features job bills, tax reform and immigration reform. He may get some cooperation from Congress on the first two items but probably not on the third. The demographics of the Country are changing and the Republican Party has no desire to speed up that process. Not...at...all. A second term goes along way toward ensuring the Affordable Care Act continues to be implemented, a likely Supreme Court date for DOMA, and the ending of active combat troops in Afghanistan.
Regardless of the outcome, the United States will continue to be the United States. The sun will come up and go down. Husbands will kiss their wives, mothers will hug their kids, kids will go to school, people will worship in much the same exact way they did the previous four year, businesses will conduct business, babies will be born and older folks will die. The seasons will change. More than three hundred and eleven million Americans will go about their business regardless of who wins or who loses.
Every Presidential election is billed as "THE MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL TIME" and that is probably true. If you despise either man-you're probably being unfair to them. I strongly prefer Mr. Obama but should Mr. Romney win the election, then I'll move on, as we all will.
We always move on...
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