greetings all,
Well, here in Tennessee we have a real barn burner of a race for the U.S. Senate. Two primary candidates; Bob Corker (R) and Harold Ford, Jr. (D).
Since I have the time, I decided to take a look at "the issues".
Healthcare is first on everybody's list of talking points. I don't get it. If you go to a grocer without money you leave without groceries. Somehow, going to the doctor or hospital is different.. because the law criminalizes turning those who can't or won't pay away empty handed.
Both guys address the fly on the elephant's rear end by swatting the issue with hsa, tax deductions, and stuff we should've had 20 years ago...but to fix the problem - give this industry the same authority your neigborhood bar has to refuse services.
Tort reform is tied to healthcare...apparently the lawyers are making as much money from patients as doctors. How 'bout signing a fee schedule for your potential damages...say $500k for an arm, leg, etc...you prenegotiate everything else. The middle man and his minions will find other work.
Immigration makes everybody's top ten. Oh, both support building a fence, increasing penalties for employers, yada, yada, yada...again swatting the issue while ignoring a proven reliable method...how many illegals/potential terrorists would you have to shoot in the head before people stopped slipping through the fence? I can shoot a burgular in my home, right? would it take one or more than one? We've been down this road more than once and sending them back works only when they leave voluntarily, en masse.
Education is one of my personal favorites for all legislators. They protest how important education is to our future and write about improving funding and Bob writes about incentives...That's real nice fly swatting there guys. Here in Nashville we're laying off janitors and reducing subjects of study all the while reducing the percent of students graduating.
How 'bout we get the federal money out of education. That would fix several problems; #1 it would get the federal judges out of the classroom. #2 local folks would get to take the helm from these do gooders that revise history, stifle curriculums, and base education on "outcome" #3 schools that want to teach morality/religion would be able to do so without fear of an american communist lawyer union sponsored court order.
We could easily make up for the lost federal dollars by getting tax money out of professional sports. The highest paid Tennessee state employee is a football coach...likely your highest paid state employee, also. Taxpayers in Tennessee spent $500 million on football/hockey and their respective stadiums. Oh, for sure the sports teams have created jobs; cops, lawyers and the judicial system have benefited from the teams coming to town. I think we've sold some beer and hot dogs, too!
Iraq figures in many sound bites...get out now or get out later covers most of the options. The fact is, to be successful, we'll have to maintain a substantial force in Iraq for at least 20 years; kinda like Germany, Japan, and South Korea... of course, we could take the fight to the enemy and win a lasting peace through "unconditional surrender".
We've kinda gotten back into a comfort zone with our enemy and he's using this time to prepare for the next 9/11 style attack with more horror and casualties.
So, Bob and Harold, Jr. continue to entertain us with their advertisements, ad nasuem. Harold's family runs some districts and he has been in the Congress for about 10 years. If he has all these great ideas, why haven't they been put in place? In 10 years I've made and lost a fortune, divorced and married, and had a great time on my own dollar. Harold rarely mentions his record...I'm sure there's a reason why!
if your candidates have ideas that are well founded or at least sound as if they could work, I'd like to read them. thanks, CC
As an individual local race this one doesn't seem like a big deal, because they don't seem to differ much in their stated positions. However, as a potential "swing seat" in the senate it has huge ramifications. For example, if the Democrats regain control of the senate our tax cuts will likely not be extended and that would cost the average federal taxpayer (notice I said "federal taxpayer" not person) approx $2,500 per year in additional federal income tax.
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