Health & Fitness
The Embarrassed Republican: Substance please
As the summer rolls along the candidates fence it out state by state, both are stuck trading shots instead of raising substantive issues.
As the summer rolls along the candidates fence it out state by state. Both are caught up by huge amounts of money invested in November’s outcome and both are stuck trading shots instead of raising substantive issues.
Expecting some cogent words on America’s gun issues? I very much doubt you will hear any. Gun owners vote, and a lot of them imagine that they’re just like Marshall Dillon, a good, kind, ready to shoot a “bad guy” at a moment’s notice, hero of America. Trying to convince them that they’re not, that they are actually endangering their friends and neighbors, or that shooting back in a crowded movie theater would be the last thing on their minds when someone was shooting at them, is an almost hopeless task.
Their guns are their “protection”, even though over 99 percent-plus of gun owners have never actually protected themselves with a gun. Many are now convinced that the government wants to take their guns. That this president, who signed a law allowing them to carry their “pieces” in national parks, somehow wants their guns. Neither candidate will touch this subject. When crazy votes, you don’t threaten their “pacifier.” Especially when the NRA is constantly whipping it’s members up in to a frenzy over supposed plots and plans to take their precious treasures or arrest them if they shoot the checkout girl "lookin' at me funny...". The cost of that is irresponsible and nutty people have all the access to deadly weapons they want. We all are in the unique position of being part of a country that regulates toys much more fiercely than guns. Not another dime from me NRA, never.
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We won’t hear about high speed rail either. The northeast corridor has trains that will comfortably do 170 mph, but they can’t because the tracks are in disrepair. We’ll just have to live with bumping along in high speed trains on low speed rails. That means trains can’t compete with air travel even though they are much nicer to travel on. At these speeds you just can’t run enough trains to move enough passengers to drive the prices lower.
It’s not what airlines want to hear, not what companies who sell jet fuel want to hear, and certainly not what Congress wants to hear. Invest in infrastructure? Are you kidding?
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We won’t hear about controlling or regulating fracking either. The price of natural gas is at an all time low and we are becoming a “net exporter of energy” due to all this new natural gas. Consequently Haliburton won’t be telling us what’s in their “Fracking liquid” anytime soon. That’s OK, it’s most likely coming to a water system near you and you’ll be able to taste it for yourself. Mmmmmmmmm ...
There will be no substantive talk of campaign finance reform; none at all. It’s just not wise when you’re doing your best to buy as many votes as possible. How many billions will the November elections cost? We’ll never know for sure because they don’t have to tell us. I can say that I’m pretty sure Romney will spend the most (or his friends), when your average contribution is $2,400 (For June 2012) it’s not so hard.
The last thing we will not hear would have come from our very own candidate, the ex-Governor of Massachusetts. He will not be specifying exactly which regulations need to be “Taken off the backs of small businesses,” mostly because what we think of as a small business aren’t coming up with enough $2,400 donations. The “small” businesses Mr. Romney is thinking about have no problem forking over millions. Their “little” works include removing the tops of mountains to get at the coal, blasting mystery fluids far underground to get the natural gas and screwing around with the Libor rate. He’s definitely not going to get specific about that.