As the state moves closer to Election Day and campaign season is in full swing, the negativity continues to ramp up and the public’s perception of candidates and elected officials oftentimes becomes more jaded. When you add in some of the recent stories about inappropriate behavior of a few people in and around the political process, it’s easy to understand why some citizens have a negative view of government and government officials.
It’s at a time like this when the importance of voting must be stressed, and it is imperative that citizens be active and informed about the candidates they may elect to office. The people truly do have the power to decide who will represent them in the halls of government, and it is a power that should never be taken for granted. That is why it is important not only to vote, but also to be informed and to make educated votes for the candidates who will fight for the best interests of the people.
It’s equally important to note the vast majority of the men and women who seek out and obtain public office are conscientious citizens who are involved in politics for the right reasons. This fact often gets lost amid the mudslinging and negative news articles that dominate the spotlight during election season, but the truth is the vast majority of folks in politics are good people who are trying to help their communities and constituents.
It cannot be denied there are a few bad apples from time to time whose inappropriate actions can cause all political figures to be viewed in a negative light. These individuals abuse their power and the trust placed in them by the people who elected them to serve, and in doing so they tarnish the reputation of all public servants. However, the truth is these individuals are in the minority and not at all representative of the average elected official.
In Missouri, the State Capitol is filled with hardworking men and women who are more than just elected officials. Just like the citizens they represent, these individuals are loving spouses and parents, successful professionals, business owners, farmers, and community activists. In a nutshell, they are representative of the diverse population of Missouri, but they have the common goal and interest of doing what is best for the state and the willingness to put in the long hours of work to accomplish this goal.
With all of the negative ads and stories that run during campaign season, this is a fact that can be hard to see, but it is important to remember there are good people working hard to do good things for the State of Missouri. On November 8 the people of Missouri will again have the opportunity to elect the folks they think will do the best job in office.
The vast majority of blame for current state legislation is to be laid at the feet of the Republicans who have a super-majority at General Assembly legislative branch. This means:
ReplyDelete1) They have colluded with the Democrats to take away the Constitutional rights of just anyone to run for political office, especially Sheriff, in a way worthy of Joseph Stalin, Mao Tse-tung, and Robert Mugabe. These Republicans don't believe in a small-r "republican form of government."
2). They have made it so that pretty much every candidate that they allow to run is bought and paid for by corporate money from the very top to the very bottom. Rather than call themselves "Republicans" they ought to call themselves "Plutocrats" because that is exactly what they are.
3). Never seen a "Republican" (actually a Plutocrat) ever believe in anything other than corporate welfare. They don't believe in actually having a working class able to make a living wage able to support a family but rather in tax cuts which hit the working poor the hardest. At the same time they every four years pretend they care for their base around election time. Every dollar spent for corporate welfare or outsourcing jobs or cutting taxes means that a stressed working class must take up the slack in higher taxes and reduced services.
4). These "law and order" Republicans believe that the full weight of obeying the law should fall upon their own subjects but that police and lawyers and judges and politicians have "absolute" or at the very least "qualified immunity" from civil lawsuits. Thus those in power who benefit from the myth of rule of law don't have to obey any laws themselves. At the same time the prisons and jails are filled past capacity. The end result of Republican/Plutocrat "law" is Ferguson, but also a whole lot of mini-Fergusons against their own base of working-class whites as well. Is there any wonder why Missouri was for so many years #1 in meth labs and Jasper-Newton Counties #1 for five years in a row?
Charlie Davis is a nice person who is in denial of the reality of politics. Whoever has power will not only maintain that power and a good perk of power is being above the law, at the expense of their base who are daily growing poorer and less able to make it without becoming on the dole, which safety net they have taken away. Republicans by being Plutocrats end up destroying their own base and driving them into the Democrat ranks as voters. There is a reason why Missouri voters haven't allowed more than one state-wide Republican to hold state government office since 1992, i.e. for a quarter of a century. Republicans are so feckless and stupid and greedy and don't care for their base, which is why their General Assembly super-majority doesn't translate to the state Executive positions.
The mighty river flowing past Jefferson City ought to be renamed "De Nial" and the entire state renamed as well after the river. The Republican-Plutocrats are in a State of DeNial.
1) They have colluded with the Democrats to take away the Constitutional rights of just anyone to run for political office....
ReplyDeleteCould you provide some specifics, for this is the first time I've heard such an allegation.
WRT to 2), money in politics is speech, and the answer to speech you don't like is more speech, not suppression of it. A system of small donations also significantly changes the way politicians spend their time, and not for the better as can be seen at the national level.
3). Never seen a "Republican" (actually a Plutocrat) ever believe in anything other than corporate welfare.
While "corporate welfare" is a real problem, your sweeping statement is demonstrably untrue for Missouri Republicans, see for example their many pro-gun owner actions, which most certainly help both their base and the working class.
4). These "law and order" Republicans believe that the full weight of obeying the law should fall upon their own subjects but that police and lawyers and judges and politicians have "absolute" or at the very least "qualified immunity" from civil lawsuits.
Everything I've heard is that these two doctrines are judge made "law", not legislative, and since our higher level judges are first selected according to the "Missouri Plan", governors don't even have any influence to speak of over who gets into those positions. Can you point us at anything to the contrary for Missouri? I just spent 5 minutes or so with Google searching for Missouri Revised Statutes and qualified or absolute immunity and didn't find anything relevant, besides something having to do with cross border law enforcement, which just regularized the rules there and implied, as I said above, it's a court made thing.
Thus those in power who benefit from the myth of rule of law don't have to obey any laws themselves.
On the other hand, that's certainly true in our corner of Red State Missouri, although the Feds are known to occasionally act, see Rita Hunter for examples of both.
Republicans by being Plutocrats end up destroying their own base and driving them into the Democrat ranks as voters.
This of course explains why we voted Republican for President in 2008 and 2012, and have Republican super-majorities in the legislature.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, 10:56 PM, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy", you're monomaniacal in your single explanation for all of Missouri's woes, some imagined, when the situation is clearly a lot more complicated. And doesn't touch on the national level Democrats who are explicitly and actively hostile towards us in flyover country, and have infinitely more responsibility for the bad state of affairs here.
And, I grant you, the national level Republicans at the very least enable them, if are not a part of this effort as members of our Uni-Party. But our Missouri state level politicians are clearly cut from different cloth, a relatively unique situation. Heck, even Democrats like Nixon are, note his many preemptive actions to keep the budget balanced. Or see the sanity displayed by Rep. Stacey Newman, R-St. Louis on 4 of this year's ballot proposals.
Errr, Randy, something happened to strip out the HTML in my 4:48 AM reply; besides making it harder to discern my quotations and replies, most importantly, a link to your posting about State Rep. Stacey Newman was lost, here it is.
ReplyDeleteTo Pollyanna....you are completely mistaken if you believe all Republicans fit your "one size fits all" characterization.
ReplyDelete1. In the current political climate there is very little that our two major political parties can agree on least of all who was the ability or right to run for office. I don't think this is a point on either party platform, but simply illustrates the difficultly that the average person has to have a voice in our system.
2. The influence of the lobbyists and corporate America is not restricted to any one party. If you were to look at the campaign finance records and other public records, I think you will find both Democrats and Republicans who have accepted "big" money from those with a special interest agenda.
3.As a Republican, I do not favor "corporate welfare" no more than I favor "social welfare" that makes me increasingly responsible for others. Furthermore, I am a Republican who believes that the current minimum wage is too low, however, I think the expectation of making a "living wage" should be more of the responsibility of the individual....do a great job at whatever you do, improve your skills, get an education, learn a trade, etc... As a former minimum wage earner, I know firsthand the challenges and difficulties of making ends meet, but I also know that what I have today is because I worked hard for it and took responsibility for my own future.
4. If those in power have immunity, then it is only the due to the fact that society has allowed it. I agree that Power Corrupts and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, but this is a character flaw....not a political ideology.
Your message makes it very clear that you see only what your political platform tells you to see. I choose to believe that, while I am very much a Republican, there is good and bad in both parties and that the people who are in public service for the right reason will find a way to walk across the aisle, roll up their sleeves, and work with their peers for all of our benefit. At the end of our lives, God doesn't care about what's in your political file, but rather what was in your heart.
Good point, Charlie
ReplyDelete5:44 PM: One note about minimum wage jobs: there's also the type where they're entry level, not necessarily intended to fully support a single person or family, but that teach the basics of doing a job, such as timeliness, attitude, etc.
ReplyDeleteWhole classes of these jobs like theater usher have disappeared, and society is not better for this change.
There's also the simple fact that some people's labor isn't worth the official minimum wage, for the real minimum wage is $0/hour, and the idea that it's better to put them completely on the public dole or worse instead of some sort of mix of wages, family and societal support is seriously bogus.