SOME ELECTION THOUGHTS

Well here we are facing elections again. It is over a year away but the potential candidates are in full campaign mode. It seems that electioneering never ends. We no sooner end one until another begins. As I consider the last Presidential election some thoughts come to mind.

The election of Barak Obama happened because of the abject failure of the Republican Party. They made two primary mistakes. Number one was selecting John McCain as their candidate and number two was leaving the vetting of Obama to the Clinton machine. That machine failed. Here we are three years later and we still do not know anything about him. Rumors continue to fly as to his legitimacy as an American citizen by birth and his questionable social security number. I don’t know who to believe. Personally it doesn’t matter because even if he is legitimate, he still is unqualified to serve as President. His results have proven that conclusively.

Next year we have the opportunity to correct the mistakes of the past election. I just saw a Rasmussen poll that showed Rick Perry ahead of Obama 43% to 41%. I have seen other polls showing Mitt Romney doing equally as well. The reality of all the polls so far though is that no candidate is getting much more that 40% of the vote. Neither the challengers nor the incumbent.

Elections are won by candidates getting support from the independent voters to increase their 40% share. Obama probably has a 40% base just as any Republican would have. The battle is for the other 20%.

The President is going to address a joint session of Congress this week to lay out his “jobs program.”  Personally I’ll be watching the football game. I am convinced there will be much more helpful information offered by the game than any speech by the incompetent neophyte who is currently filling the office of President. I will know soon enough whether he offers anything substantial. The stock market will tell me. The market has already told me plenty.

As we look at the next election here is what I am hoping for. We need a President who is willing to work with business instead of against them. Business is the engine that fuels and moves our economy. It is not the government. All the government does is extract money from the producers and spend it on who knows what in order to win reelection. A growing number of big business people have banded together to stop all contributions to candidates until they get the message to stay out of business’ way and let America deal with their own problems. All government can do is exacerbate our problems. We need a candidate who has had an actual job before. We need a candidate who has run a business, met a payroll, hired employees, and met a business plan. For me it would also be helpful if he were a military veteran. I am tired of Commanders in Chief who have never served in the military. I don’t particularly care whether the candidate is black or white, male or female, able bodied or physically challenged. I want a traditional American. Is that too much to ask?

In my next column I plan to discuss at length what being a traditional American means to me. I hope you will tune me in and perhaps we can begin a dialogue and  have a discussion over cyberspace concerning these matters.

Ron Scarbro September 5, 2011