Tuesday, July 1, 2008

What are the Issues that Matter to the Voting Public?

The Economy:

First and foremost is the economy because without a stable financial environment nothing can be done at any other level. We need to find a successful way to reduce the cost of energy because it is driving up the price of items that are considered basic to human life. Until some way is found to reduce the price of moving goods to market people with low or middle incomes will find it difficult to deal with any other issues.

The War in Iraq:

At this point in time the war in Iraq is costing our country too much in resource. We can not afford to have our younger generation being killed off and wounded in a war because we have a limited number of people in this generation to begin with and most countries only go to war when they have a surplus of citizens so that it does not harm the ability of the society to continue. The financial expense of the war is beginning to harm our national budget. Money is a resource that enables us to support the needs of our general population. We are now being forced to cut funding in domestic programs in order to pay for the war in Iraq.

Education:

We need to find a way to educate our children not just in read, writing, and math but also in the liberal arts because without that influence they will grow up to be poor citizens of the United States. The difference between someone who can achieve and someone who fails in adult life is how well they can fit into their cultural background. People who have been trained in the finer arts are better able to respect others and therefore have a better chance of success in their adult world. Culture can be regional or national but it is an important part of our society. Understanding how to deal with people and how to interact with others is something taught in the liberal arts area of education. Writing is just one form of communication. All students need a well rounded education that includes difference areas of interest.

The Environment:

The Republican Party now wants to solve our problem by drilling in areas that up to now have been off limits. If allowed this would permanently damage those areas of our natural environment that would only offer at most a short term relief of a long term problem. Even if allowed those resources would be unavailable to the market for ten to twenty years. The cost to consumers at the pump would not decrease overnight. The cost to future generation would be huge.

On all of these issues the Republican Party is looking for quick fixes that will only harm the voting public in the long run. They will pander to the votes of special interest groups while telling the voting public that it is in their best interest. We have all seen what the results of those types of policies have brought our country over the past seven and a half years. In order to change the direction our country is head in we must elect candidates that are willing to reverse the most harmful of the Bush Administration polities. If the voting public stays with the current direction it may well be too late to reverse the damage to them in another four more years. As it is we will see more harm before a new administration takes office in January of 2009 and even then it will take a new administration time to start to reverse the direction of a country as large as the United State of America.