Voter Are Stupid

Voter Are Stupid

If you vote a straight Democratic ticket you are a stupid voter. If you vote a straight Republican ticket you are a stupid voter. And, if you base your decision on some radio or TV commercial or news paper ad or a mailer of some sort then you are a moron.

Candidates are no more than cigarettes or beer or cars: products to be sold to a gullible public. You should invest in a couple of seasons of “Mad Men”. In case you don’t know, it’s about ad agencies and how they work to convince the public about a product.

It’s no wonder we have a dysfunctional government. Too many voters have given their brain to CNN or some fat talk show hosts, sitting behind a microphone and living in a gated community. These guys make a hundred times what a typical listener earns yet they can influence the low brain crowd so easily.

The lying season is in full gear. Politicians in both parties are making charges and counter-charges and attributing to themselves powers they will not have and the stupid public believing every word.

Here in Texas the Republican candidate for governor is passing saying the FBI has opened an investigation on his opponent. That case was closed months ago with the Star Telegram reporting no “issues worth pursuing”. And the Democratic candidate is accusing her opponent of defending the wrong people. She should know by now that lawyers can do what is criminal for prostitutes.

Lawyers go where the money is. Their belief is that whether their client is guilty or not is up to a jury.

The Tea Party has taken over the Republican slate. I look for my state to be in for a bumpy ride. I voted early and I did something I have never done: voted a straight Democratic ticket. Not because I believe the Democrats are better but because I perceive the Tea Party candidates are worse.

I have been voting in the Republican primaries for a number of years because I believed the candidates then in office were doing an OK job. No more.

Our governor Rick Perry started out well but in the past few years he has sold out the good people of Texas to the deep pocket interests. Look no farther than our state highways; many of them have sold to private interests to be converted into toll roads. Even our great grandchildren will be paying for them. But, we have “no new taxes”.

Unless the Democratic Party wakes up, Texas will remain the reddest of red states.

MADD MEXX

Living in fear

Politicians have made it an art form of appealing to fear.

The problem is, politicians create the problem and then place blame on outside forces. Someone wrote that politicians are the only ones who create laws then campaign against them.

Allow me to look at a few fears. First there is the “Fear of immigrants”. Let’s be blunt and say fear of brown people. But why have the gates seemed to have opened up to illegal immigrants?

Well, look no further than NAFTA. Just Google it some time. Seems we were promised all kinds of benefits: mainly cheaper goods. We were told that with NAFTA, Mexico would create hundreds of jobs and that the flow of illegal immigrants would slow down to increased opportunities in Mexico and immigrants would no longer have to sneak into the U.S.

The reality is that the beneficiaries were the mega agricultural businesses. With their corn subsidies, they could grow and export corn into Mexico cheaper than what Mexican farmer could. Mexican farmers could not compete. So the only option was to abandon the farm and seek employment elsewhere.

And, so we hear the promise to “Secure the border” and all the dummies will vote for them without realizing why we have an influx of immigrants.

Then, there is the “Fear of crime”. Sure, there are more murders in Chicago and Detroit than any other city in America. But at the local level everyone running for mayor on up to state rep or governor seems to have jumped on the band wagon. The mantra of the nightly news seems to be “It it bleeds, it leads”. But just exactly, how much crime is there in your city? Just check out https://www.crimereports.com/; you may be surprised.

Crime is not a problem for 95% of us but the politicians would have you believe that you can’t step outside your house without becoming a statistic. What this country needs are more lenient gun laws. What we get instead are laws that restrict personal freedom (and being able to defend oneself is a personal freedom) and punish the law abiding citizen more than the wrong doer.

We are sending too many young people to prison for doing something stupid. What we need are more probation officers and fewer prison guards. But probation workers should be more than report takers in a 9-5 Monday-Friday office. The county should demand that they work nights and weekends. They should do ride along with police in the neighborhoods probationers live.

I myself was on probation eons ago when I was younger and the only time I saw my probation officer was once a month when I submitted my report. He in no way new the veracity of my answers. The only time he knew I was in more trouble was when I would get picked up by the police.

Finally, we have the “Fear of taxes”. Politicians, particularly Republicans, like to tout their record for reducing taxes. But if one goes to the trouble of checking out these claims, it seems the Warren Buffets of the world are the biggest winners. Everyone assumes that lower taxes mean lower income taxes.

Here in Texas, there was a proposition to the Texas constitution to exempt veterans and their surviving spouses from paying property taxes. As if exempting senior citizens isn’t already enough. Isn’t it any wonder that public buildings are in decay, schools are failing and roads are in need of repair? Lower my taxes.

And at the state level, construction of state hiways and bridges is falling behind. Again, our governor has seen fit to turn our roads over to some foreign entity to convert them into toll roads, roads paid for with our tax dollars. He has certainly been a “No Tax” governor and I fear the dummies will keep voting for the lower tax candidates

Isn’t fear wonderful?

MADD MEXX