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A Time of Clear Choices, Polls,
Distinctions & Ghetto Physics
Well here we are again, at that time of year when I pull out my tank top shirts and put away that extra blanket. Seems like just a few weeks ago that I put those shirts away and grabbed the blanket. Humm, actually, it was.
Well, if the weather isn’t going to be predictable at least some things in our world will be—the WMMD’s are flying all around us (Waves of Mainstream Media Deception)—the shouts, that thing someone did in a previous life that even they forgot, the fear-based arguments (we better or else) and then the polls that already tell us what happened and what we were thinking.
Yes, it’s election time!
What a great time for the movie Ghetto Physics to come out.
It is, after all, about power. One of the points it makes is that the closer the struggle for power is to us, the easier it is to identify the pimps—those wanting to dominate. When it gets to the national level—and basically the larger the scale is—the better disguised the pimps or dominators become. Those big guys are all on our side and looking out for us/US, aren’t they?
I hope a few distinctions here and there will make our choices clearer.
First, we have to sort though the rhetoric, knowing both sides have people paid to spin things their way; i.e., they’re all pimping us, in the vernacular of Ghetto Physics—and whether we consider them to be good or bad, they’re trying to get us to buy into their game.
The distinctions I mean—and that I hope people look at—are especially obvious in the governor’s race in California.
On one side we have the businesswoman, candidate Meg Whitman, worth over $100 million. Then we have the career public servant or politician, depending on your perspective, Attorney General Jerry Brown.
Whitman tells us she plans to create new jobs from day one. She states her experience at E-Bay is proof of her ability. Her dominant theme is that the government simply needs to get out of the way of business, and the more it does so, the better everything will be for everyone.
Time for some questions and distinctions. Yes, E-Bay has been a transformational business, but did she design it? More important than that: is it a model that will translate into creating jobs in California? Does she mean she will actually create jobs, or that she will cut regulations so businesses supposedly will?
If it’s the latter, that means if and when they decide too. They aren’t now and they’ve had Federal tax breaks for a while, too. What specifically could she—would she—change?
The two ways jobs are being created today are though individuals starting their own businesses and through jobs building infrastructure created by the “beloved” bailout. When the big beneficiaries of the bailout are paying back the money they received, it’s odd that this is still such a teatime topic.
While Brown doesn’t come from the corporate culture or philosophy that letting business take care of business will solve everything, he is, on the other hand, not as easy for some to define.
Even the office of San Diego District Attorney, Bonnie Dumanis, seemed to have a problem identifying him when it sent out a press release recently. It stated that DA Dumanis, together will 19 other California DAs, the State Attorney General and the City Attorneys in San Diego and LA has ordered “Target Corporation to stop routinely and systematically dumping hazardous wastes into the environment.”
Except for a judge in Alameda and a SD city attorney who praised Dumanis for her work, no one else in the press release had a name. Isn’t Brown the State Attorney General? Weren’t Brown and his office part of this stop order that was happening all over the State?
The SDUT did the same thing a couple of days ago when reporting on capital punishment. To their credit they ran a picture of Brown, but somehow managed to get half way through the article without naming him. The first sentence even quoted “the State Attorney General”—it just didn’t give him a name. That’s a WMMD.
Combine that with all the money Whitman has to spend on advertising and, at the least, you have to admit that with press like he’s getting, it’s not that easy for some to define Brown. It’s easier to look at Whitman because she’s been talking for a while. This month we’ll hear more as both sides advertise more.
Defining Brown, there are two things I remember the most about his previous days as California’s governor (1975–83). One was that he established tax credits for installing solar panels. Second, he appointed some intelligent and competent people to the State regulatory commissions who did not come from the industry they were appointed to regulate.
Admittedly, I remember the “strange” stuff too. He spent time in a Zen monastery and even meditated. In other words, he drove the establishment crazy and they referred to him “Moonbeam.”
Making distinctions about what we do know, we know that Brown was ahead of his time when it came to supporting alternative energy. And as far as the subject of who should be on regulatory commissions, he’s either still ahead of his time or it’s an idea whose time has come—again?
Aren’t the issues in the CA governor’s race typical of the choices in front of us now nationwide?
We have Brown who is cracking down on corporations who are illegally dumping toxins in the environment—protecting people from businesses who aren’t being responsible. We have Whitman who says doing what’s good for business will solve our problems.
Look at the major issues in the news recently—the BP oil spill in the Gulf and the salmonella outbreak that contaminated eggs. Last year and the year before it was peanut butter that was being recalled—once people got sick and some died. We’ve had safety issues with Toyota-made autos and a wide range of contaminated products from China, including poisonous toys.
The latest issue is the genetically engineered salmon that grows twice as fast as normal salmon. It won’t have to be labeled as GE and the company that produces them says they can cause problems for those with allergies, or will cause new allergies.
Isn’t the common theme that there’s not enough government oversight? Do we want a government powerful enough to enforce the law and protect people? Or do we want to pay in other worse ways later?
In essence, do we want a government strong enough to control those who are unwilling to control themselves? Or do we think corporations are working in our best interests?
We all know government isn’t always efficient, but we also know it’s easy to remove a City of Bell councilman when we discover they pay themselves $800,000 a year; and not so easy to remove inefficient or even deliberately toxic corporate people making $80 million, a hundred times that.
Very clearly, there is a difference in the political parties on the issues this time.
The Polls
Listening to the polls and some people lately, it sounds as if the election is a done deal. Personally I don’t believe it.
I was called this summer to take part in a public opinion poll. It went on for almost 20 minutes. One question asked if I was satisfied with the health-care reform bill that had passed.
Was anyone? That was the only question asked about health care. People answering “no” to that might say the bill went too far or say it didn’t go far enough. Better than nothing was not an option.
That was typical of the questions, and there was no option for clarifying my response. The exception was I could feel strongly that way or not so strongly.
It became clear during it that there was no way I could answer many of the questions honestly without giving a false impression of how I would vote. In fact, I was never asked how I would vote. I was left with wondering if these were public opinion polls, or data to be used as WMMDs by those wanting to create a false impression.
That’s also how Congress has a 16% approval rating. We may strongly agree with that, but at the same time we know that this year’s Congressional winners will get 50% of the vote or better. Did 34% or more of us change their mind? We’re bombarded by WMMDs and it can be tough making choices when some want us to think it’s all over already. By continuing to clarify and making distinctions, we’ll make it.
Have a great month,
