Little in Common

It seems to me that come election time people would give some thought to what impact electing one party or one person or the other would have on the things most important to them. Of course, usually, family comes first, but tied to the family is how one earns a living to provide for the necessities of a family. I am constantly amazed at how easily people are distracted by collateral issues and seem to forget about voting for their own interests or selecting candidates with whom they have much in common. For example:

Educators.

I have noticed recent articles in one of the local papers written by a retired school teacher.  He seems to be an intelligent fellow. His articles are certainly well written, but it also comes through loud and clear that he intends to vote against our current president.  Most of the reasons appear to me to come from blogs or various sources of political rhetoric. What boggles my mind is how an intelligent, well educated, retired teacher could give serious thought to casting his lot with the candidate of a party with a state platform that demeans and opposes the teaching of higher order of thinking, that condones cutting public education funding by 4 billion dollars, that believes there is too much money being spent on education now, and that is generally anti-science.

Workers.

I suppose the retired teacher is no worse than the hourly wage earner who provides for his family through the sweat of his brow and yet who would vote for a party that reveres the wealthy to the extent that money making money is treated far better than a worker making money. This is the same party that believes a good business climate is one in which wages are suppressed, that the ability of workers to organize is bad business, and that injured workers ought to stop their whining and should just live with their injuries instead of thinking about suing their employers or other wrongdoers.

Seniors.

I’m also somewhat chagrined at seniors who would vote for the party that wants to abolish Medicare as we know it and curtail Social Security.

Families and health care.

As I grow older, I become more and more concerned about health issues. I hear almost daily some ordinary working stiff or retired person make disparaging remarks about the Affordable Care Act, generally referred to in a snide way as “Obamacare.” It still is amazing the average Joe does not recognize the difference between his family situation and that of congressmen who have government-provided Cadillac medical insurance, or rich folks like Mitt Romney who never give a second thought to whether or not they can provide adequate medical care to members of their family even if stricken with a catastrophic illness such as cancer, kidney failure or similar ailments. Families being driven to bankruptcy on a daily basis for lack of being able to afford or obtain adequate health care. Even worse, there are little children who die every day, particularly in states like Texas, because they do not have access to adequate health care. Most folks who are not rich seem to forget that they are one step, or one disease, away from total disaster for themselves and their families unless the health care problem is addressed. The conservative response to let the market handle the situation is a phony and false promise. Who ever heard of the insurance industry figuring out how to take care of a bunch of sick people? It is their gain to insure those who do not become sick and those who will never make a claim against them. Money and profit drive the private sector, not concern for the sick or the lame.

Veterans.

On another front, you may recall that many veterans fell for the “Swift Boat” lie --a megabillionaire-funded smear of a real combat veteran who ran for president. Now it seems these same liars are trying to peddle as a real American hero a fellow who dodged military service during the Vietnam War in order to peddle a bike through France.  

People with Swiss bank accounts.

I will readily confess my bias, but it doesn’t take me long to figure out I have little in common with a fellow who has a Swiss bank account.