It is frightening when more Americans vote in television shows than in real elections. Something must prompt them to do so; to make American Idol more important to them than Congress. There must be some reward to be so taken in by television and not real life. Trouble is I cannot for the life of me guess what that is.
We have 545 politicians (Congress, Supreme Court and President) who are running rough-shod over the American public while most Americans do not notice. One reason they do not notice is that the media operates as part of the ruling class and not as a watchdog to freedom. Politicians love it. Why our citizens allow the media to enable politicians to lie and cheat the American public, I cannot understand it.
In the coming mid-term elections our nation teeters on the brink of disaster far more than at any time after the Civil War. We are a nation so disconnected to the news that Man-made Global Warming is believed more than that Americans landed on the Moon and returned safely. I cannot for the life of me guess why.
As to the elections, we have people professing to have the best wishes for the teens who cannot get jobs. These same people want to raise the minimum wage even higher. The minimum wage does not let employers pay for what someone can trade productively.
That is exactly why low-skilled young people cannot find work and yet it is the very thing some political leaders are pushing. These politicians are running on raising the minimum wage which will keep more of our young people unemployed. And, go figure, most of the young people vote for them because a higher minimum wage sounds like they will be making more money. No, they will still be unemployed and unemployable.
What unemployed workers need more than anything is to get a job, any job for any wage because any wage will be more than they are making now. But their elected leaders seem to want to keep them jobless and in poverty. Worse, the media conspired to obscure the result of minimum wages: joblessness.
Further, many politicians, perhaps unknowingly, spout principles from the Communist Manifesto: Abolition of personal property rights, a heavy progressive income tax, government controlled minimum wage, government control of banks, government control of communication and transportation and the mandatory free education for all children in government run schools.
There are many more intrusions into our society but the above list is shocking in that while every step into a communist idea seems good, taken all together it does seem like the government runs us, not the other way around. The idea of the United States Constitution was for citizens to limit government and the idea of the myriad of rules now being churned in Washington is for government to limit citizens.
So for anyone to get my vote I want two things: more jobs and a reduction of government intrusion. Notice I did not say the abolition of government intrusion, just a reduction. If there is no way to even take away a little of the government hold over the citizens then we live effectively in a dictatorship and it does not matter who we elect.
As to jobs, I want our legislators working at creating jobs in the private sector for Americans who want to work. I cannot force anyone to work, but we should not provide incentive for able Americans to not work. Someone has to pull the cart and we have lots of people riding and few people pulling. Unless we reverse that trend everyone will have to walk. Period.
To get my vote forget all of the other stuff. Just push jobs and take government’s foot off of my neck.
Dr. Michael Swickard hosts the syndicated radio talk show News New Mexico six to nine a.m. Monday - Friday on a number of New Mexico radio stations and through streaming. Email: michael@swickard.com
As to jobs, I want our legislators working at creating jobs in the private sector for Americans who want to work. I cannot force anyone to work, but we should not provide incentive for able Americans to not work. Someone has to pull the cart and we have lots of people riding and few people pulling. Unless we reverse that trend everyone will have to walk. Period.
To get my vote forget all of the other stuff. Just push jobs and take government’s foot off of my neck.
Dr. Michael Swickard hosts the syndicated radio talk show News New Mexico six to nine a.m. Monday - Friday on a number of New Mexico radio stations and through streaming. Email: michael@swickard.com
