What I'd Like To Know...
Is there a big For Sale sign on the Presidency of the United States? All the news about the presidential election seems to be about how much the candidates have raised as though that is the deciding factor in who will win.
Hilary Clinton - $26 million, , Barak Obama - $25 million, Mitt Romney - $ 23 million, Rudy Guliano - $15 million, John Edwards - $14 million, John McCain - $12.5 million.
If they are going to make such-a-much of the money raised, maybe they could include information about who gave how much. At least that way we will know to whom our new president will owe allegiance. If we know that, we will be able to predict the kinds of laws that will be passed - like what will probably happen with the war, health care, education, and the economy - which rich will get richer and just how much poorer the poor will get.
We are repeatedly told the news gives us what we want, covers what we are interested in. Good heavens! That must mean my circle of family and friends is the only group that wants to hear election coverage dealing with the issues that concern us. Isn’t that strange - that we are the only ones who would like to ask the candidates questions like:
What steps would you take to end the war in Iraq and bring our troops safely home?
What would you do to stabilize the economy and bring some equity back to the distribution of wealth in this country?
How would you work toward weaning our country off of Middle East oil?
What would you do about health care costs and the growing number of uninsured in our country?
How would you work toward reducing the amount of damage we are doing to our planet and atmosphere?
What would you do to equalize education for all the children of America so poor areas can offer the same education opportunities as more affluent areas?
All these questions ask for specifics – not just pie in the sky theories about these issues but what are you going to do about them. These are the questions the media could and should ask, and ask, and keep on asking, until the candidates realize that they need a plan and they need to be able to tell the people what that plan is if they want to be president.
What a concept! Do you think it could possibly catch on?