SKIING, WEIGHT LOSS AND POLITICS

Like most—watching skiers gliding with ease down beautiful, snow-covered slopes—it appears to me to be something a well-coordinated, young man could easily master.  What’s complicated about strapping on a pair of boards and pointing them downhill?  The experience of first-time skiing is very likely to be somewhat different.  The first time I managed to get my rented boots fixed in a pair of skis I felt like the biggest klutz in Colorado.  And, after winding up in a local first aid station, I decided there was substantially more to it than what it appeared when I watched it on Wide World of Sports.

Similarly, watching the current political shows, you'd know there's more to it if you've ever strapped on political boots as I did for many years.  If you listen to and believe folks like Donald Trump, political problems like immigration, health care, the ISIS crisis, and foreign trade can be easily solved.  His answers include few, if any, details.  Usually, his response is, “I am rich, smart, and I will provide the best health care you’ve ever seen.”  To the terrorist threat he simply says, “I’ll knock ‘em out right away—so fast they’ll disappear.” 

Why then are so many people seemingly so gullible as to support such nonsense?  I believe the answer is for the same reason Americans spend millions each year on phony shortcuts to lose weight or obtain a model body without effort.  “If you take this miracle pill,” says the ad, “weight will fall off without any effort.”  “If you buy and use these stretch tubes for exercise, in a few weeks you can look like Beyonce.”  Fad diet claims abound on television, books and other sources.  Most, however, do not work.  

There are seldom easy shortcuts which will result in serious weight loss or good health. Just talking about your weight or health will not add strength to your body or lose you one single pound. There's more to it—like dieting and exercise.  Cutting calories and regular exercise are true answers to better health—however, most are generally unpleasant for most of us couch potatoes to accept. 

Likewise, in politics and government, there's more to it than simple solutions to complicated problems. Just bragging about how tough you are won’t do anything for world peace.  Ask yourself this question: would you hire someone to build you a house who simply claimed to be a great craftsman, but cannot or will not show you a set of plans?  Why, then should we trust someone who merely says they can lead our country, improve our economy, keep us safe and be in charge of a nuclear arsenal that could destroy half the world?

Voters, wake up.  You probably wouldn't waste a check on a TV evangelist who claimed he can pray and make you skinny.  Similarly, please don’t waste your vote on politicians whose claims are equally as phony.