People in business are placed on a pedestal in this country. They get the respect and adoration of the masses because they make money. They are looked upon as gods in this country and if they can be successful in business they can solve any problem. Their influence is sought in education even though they have no experience in the field. Their influence is sought in government even though running a business is not a democracy, perhaps it is more of a dictatorship! We seem to make this giant leap that if you can make a business work, you can make a government work. Nothing is further from the truth.
Very few business leaders have emerged to become president, and those that have were a disaster! Herbert Hoover was a business man, as well as George Bush. Both proved to be complete and utter failures running our government into the ground. Sylvio Burlesconi is a billionaire who ran Italy into bankruptcy. The list goes on and on and yet we still think business people can do a better job. When you run a business you don't have to contend with the approval of a legislature, or a Supreme Court that tells you what you can and cannot do. Policies have to be approved by the people and business people are not used to that. Reality quickly sets in and they find they can't always get their way.
Donald Trump proclaims that he can solve all the problems in our government and force the rest of the world to respect us again. His arrogance is beyond belief and that alone would be enough to cause concern. He is a school yard bully who thinks he can dictate respect around the world. The sad part is that this blowhard doesn't even know that he is a pathetic little man who gets his way because he is rich and those tactics don't work in government. The tough guy routine may work in business but in world politics there can be catastrophic consequences for such action. Let's remember the shock and awe in Iraq which helped to bring our country to the brink of financial disaster as well as causing the death of young Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.
Now I hear the pundits proclaiming that Mitt Romney is just what we need because he knows how to create jobs. Upon further investigation, we learn that as a broker of businesses he dismantled and sold off companies for profit and caused many people to join the ranks of the unemployed. We do need a more efficient government, and we do need to cut waste, but we need to do this surgically, not with an ax. Putting more people out of work right now is not a solution, in fact, it will exacerbate the problem. Public sector jobs represent a large portion of the middle class market. When you diminish the middle class market, it has a ripple effect throughout the economy. Cuts are necessary but they must be done gradually and strategically. The government can be made to run more efficiently first by cutting waste and fraud and by streamlining our military around the world.
We are in such a hole with our deficit but none of the Republican candidates are seriously willing to talk about increasing revenue. They gave us the Bush tax cuts that were not paid for, the two wars, not paid for, the prescription drug plan, not paid for, and the Homeland Security Department, not paid for. When they were in charge, deficits didn't matter. The bailout money was also not paid for but at least we got a return on our money and the government even made a profit on part of it! They painted us into a corner and now middle class public sector workers have to pay for their mistakes by losing their jobs? If that is what Romney is pitching, I'm not buying it.
Every President is advised by a team of economists. We don't need a businessman to figure out how to get out of this mess. We need a compassionate pragmatist who can slowly right this ship of state. People's livelihoods hang in the balance. Personally, I will not vote for anyone who will put people out of work. Mr. Romney is not the answer to our problems. Most polls show the American people understand that we need to get more revenue from the top one percent and corporations have to pay their fair share. That's who will get my vote! Wake up, America!
No comments:
Post a Comment