There are a lot of questions about the upcoming midterm elections. Some of them are important. Here are a few questions many people who follow politics even a little carefully may be wondering about these days.
Is the TEA Party the foundation of a third-party working in the GOP?
Will the GOP gain a majority in the House of Representatives?
Will the GOP gain a majority in the US Senate?
Will the TEA Party survive as a political force after its first real broad test in a series of general elections in several states?
Will the Obama administration find a way to triumph here or will it be weakened by these elections?
Will society become more polarized by these elections?
Will both the normally disaffected parts of the Obama coalition and the normally disaffected parts of TEA Party coalition show up on Nov. 2?
Are the basic party structures in trouble?
I have my own questions at this juncture. I recognize that the questions of partisan electoral politics are important but they are not the ones that matter most to me. I don’t doubt that parties and elections matter, clearly they do matter. There is an election coming up in a couple of weeks. November 2, 2010 is an important day in the political calendar. I want to take my chance and blog about this important event. First of all, dealing with these politics honestly is a way for me to drive away some of my new readers who responded so well to my Columbus Day post. It is important that I remain in the absolute cellar of media rankings and giving my current political opinions can be a good way to reassert my position on the bottom of the rankings…
I am going to discuss some of the things that we need to be considering. Life is an art and process of navigation among other things. We as humans navigate not only through geographical reality but also through emotional, ideological and historic liabilities. I want to encourage anyone who reads this blog to consider that navigation through American politics in a somewhat different and distinct way. We must face the present and the future with whatever courage, wisdom and fortitude we can. There is no doubt that we are committed to a whole host of issues in part by the choices our ancestors and ourselves have made in earlier elections. While the elections never take place in a vacuum and are never all-powerful they are important. We must do the best we can to make the most and best results come out of this election.
What are the parameters of my own political thought. Well this blog is a pretty good place to start looking for my political ideas. The truth is that there are a great number of posts in this blog and very many of them are political in some sense or another. I have placed four of them within this blog post as links so that people can see what is the neighborhood they have wandered into if they are not familiar with this blog. Before turning to this selection of posts I want to say that today’s post is rather less ambitious and does not in the strictest sense form a series or unity with these more ideological posts:
1. https://franksummers3ba.wordpress.com/2010/04/12/positioning-america-for-the-future-we-face/
3. https://franksummers3ba.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/population-issues-and-americas-future/
So out of the host of issues to be considered what issues do I think are the most important?
I would say that some responses to some issues relate to survival in the right way and some choices both help one to survive and also find allow for a reasonable hope that something better will develop in the future. We must face the fact that we can in this little election make choices that will be riskier for our national survival. We can make choices that endanger our personal, familial and ethnic survival among other things. There must be a struggle involved in survival that is not something which can be expected to change or go away. We must face the fact that things will not just naturally work out well for no particular reason.
I do believe that America is in a profound and very troubling crisis which is part of a very large and troubling series of crises. We must recognize how very far from reality and sanity we have grown. I have listed below ten issues that are very important in my opinion:
1. National Security: We face a great number of challenging national security issues. We have nuclear disarmament, the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, the wars and draw downs in Iraq and Afghanistan, the stability of Israel, trouble on the Mexican border and many other issues. Together they form a relatively unsettling picture. I think we all must consider voting as part of an overall personal and national plan to preserve and foster both a good military and a good awareness in society of national security issues.
2.Federalism and Sovereignty: We have to decide whether or not we will recognize the special dangers of constitutional insanity. In this context we need candidates who can at least discuss intelligently the processes for amending the constitution both as it has been amended in the past and by convention.
3. Economic theory and system: The debate over what kind of economy we have and what kind we ought to have is both necessary and is heating up very well. The survival of the family farm, tariffs to support manufacture, not criticizing China and Mexico for working hard, real solutions to the problems that draw in illegal labor, not forcing illegal labor to blend into the world of hardened criminals and other such matters are really urgent and require far more of a response than they are likely to get ever much less soon. However, one should consider this election as a chance to make a response.
4. Separation of Powers: The carefull preservation of respect for the different roles of the judiciary, legislature and executive must be preserved and this will not be easy in a time of prolonged crisis. We must elect legislators to Congress who see their role mostly as making laws, controlling the revenues if they are the House, approving treaties and appointments if they are the Senate, supporting States Rights and their own State’s interest if they are in the Senate and constituent services if they are in the House. It is alright if they are angry and as Americans would like to change other things but it is imperative that they know their own place and role in the government.
5. Domestic Institutions and Regimes: We must address the ways in which debates over healthcare, gay marriage and abortion among other things violate the very essence of our constitutional order when they are federalized. Because of private and domestic interests they must be States issues. However, America has in fact been largely an unconstitutional and tyrannical regime since Lincoln. We must either really change our government or else restore the thinking that works in the one we have. Our accepted way of doing things is dysfunctional and we need a Congress that understands this clearly.
6. Race, ethnicity and community: We need people who have a sense of justice and reason about the governance of the country and are also loyal to their own roots. If people commit to avoid stealing in any way from other groups and protect their own race, the communities and groups that built their state and region and the ethnic communities from which they come America can be renewed. As it is we are on a sure path to destruction. Few have more reason to be aggrieved than I. However, without the monoculture race baiting of the past part of this has to be an effort by some serious leaders to protect the interests of white people who descend mostly from US citizens over generations to protect and establish their own interest in law and policy no matter whom they must challenge in order to do so– this may mean the Supreme Court.
7. Sex itself: We need to elect some women who can protect and expand legal privileges for women working near home and caring for families, for female elementary school teachers, for females in food service and food preparation and primary healthcare and elder care. We need to elect men who are concerned about supporting veterans, fishermen, miners, loggers and truckers who are male within our national policy. We need men and women like that who can work together and reach compromises with others and help to create a national consensus which is not self-destructive. All of that is only the start of what we really need and the odds of us getting it right are not good.
8. Drugs: We need a better drug policy. That is a topic for a better post. But we are not espousing the right policy mix now for the challenges we face. partly that is because we are not addressing other social problems adequately. Partly the drug issue keeps us from addressing other issues adequately.
9. Immigration. Sound immigration policy with secure borders, licensed low wage imports with federal and state oversight, labor markets and analysis in cities and targeting the most desirable immigrants in a reasonable way is needed. Our whole policy at the current time is dangerous. We must address it or perish.
10. Financial, Fiscal and Monetary Policy. We need to secure our money in a way which is fair to the rest of the world. We cannot do that in this election but we can elect those who see the need to do something eventually.
So go and vote. But I hope you consider voting part of an overall committment to citizenship. I hope you are building for a better American future with your votes and your other decisions.
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