Last night's debate between Dick Cheney and VP candidate John Edwards was heated and packed more of a punch than Bush and Kerry's, but nevertheless, I also thought it was predictable in terms of the issues Edwards and Cheney discussed.
Edwards pounded Cheney on the Bush administration's misguided war in Iraq and Cheney hammered in his fear factor theme--without Bush & Cheney America is wide open for another terrorist attack. YAWN!
What about concrete plans for reforming immigration laws? Securing fair labor laws and basic healthcare for US residents who are working while trying to become legal residents/US citizens (which is a significantly slower process since 9-11)? Substantially boosting humanitarian efforts to re-structure Haiti's economy before the entire population is wiped out by deforestation and corruption?
It's always a huge disappointed to witness constant limited recycled rhetoric spewed out from political figureheads who only address popular hot-button topics to appease mainstream voters. I can only image how shallow the US must seem to viewers world-wide--to assume that huge diversity that make up the American population can be accurately represented by two political parties. It's no wonder why efforts to maximize voter turnout is always an uphill battle.
How can this countries politics move from its predominantly narrow discourse to encompass the true majority of the American people--including the millions of undocumented US residents? Anyone?
1 comment:
I could care less about the war, and I woudl think the positions of both sides would be done to death by now.
I, too, would like to see immigration reform, but the country is so overrun with recent immigrants there is absolutely no way this will happen.
If bush made some efforts in this direction I would back him, but he seems to be a conservative only in name and in a few wacky and nonsenical religious ways so I will go with Kerry who at least can speak English and does not refer to the Iraqis as 'fighting vociferously'. Really, he's got to learn to MEMORIZE what his word of the day actually means!
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