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A couple of weeks ago, I disavowed my association as a Republican. While I’m sticking to that story, I don’t consider myself a Democrat either.
I marvel at the political maneuvering of both parties. I am also amazed at how many educated individuals are convinced the Democrat agenda has the answer and Obama’s solution of taxing oil companies won’t bite us.
I agree we made some bad decisions on the war in Iraq, but the vote to go to war was a bipartisan vote and Democrats who supported going to war are now divorcing themselves from the decision. War is painful, costly and ugly. We want war to be won and swept under the carpet in 30 days. We want the victory, but we don’t want the sacrifice.
My party affiliation shouldn’t matter. The questions should be, “What party do you support? Did you vote on Tuesday?”
If you didn’t vote, what right do you have to criticize the system? If you didn’t vote, you are in the majority. By mid-afternoon at Madison Elementary School, eight election judges had helped 130 people vote at two precincts. It was a very short ballot and you couldn’t cross over on the state races. I’ll admit, if I hadn’t seen an “I voted” sticker, I would have forgotten to vote. Nonetheless, I got there.
Did you?
It would appear that the Republicans might get my vote. Six months ago I would have told you the Democrats could win with any candidate. Now, the election for president appears to be an even match.
What the pollsters can’t tell you is whether the people taking the poll will be voting — most don’t. Voting is a very basic requirement of citizenship. If only people who voted could speak out on issues, it would be a much more thoughtful and reasonable election.
Everyone gets a voice, yet only half of us vote and a very small percentage vote in the primary. It’s a maddening scenario. We are hypercritical of the way our government is run, yet we choose to complain instead of doing something about it.
Since I voted, I can participate in the discussion of politics. Unfortunately, some of the folks with the loudest voices won’t be seen near an election booth.
Next time someone pushes their candidate on you, ask them if they voted in the primary. They’ll have a good reason why they didn’t vote, but they shouldn’t get your ear unless they are full participant in the process.
Give Biden a break on wheelchair faux pasSen. Joe Biden offered a good example Tuesday of how easy it is to stick your foot in your mouth. During some speech introductions, through no fault of his own, he tried to give a special recognition to Sen. Chuck Graham of Columbia Mo., “Chuck, stand up, let the people see you.”
He was a bit chagrined when he realized that Graham uses a wheelchair. It was an honest mistake, but one a headline hungry media scrambled to catch.
A day later there are 114,000 search results for “Biden wheelchair” on the Internet.
He screwed up. Nothing more. I think folks should have laughed it off and moved on. I’m sure Graham wasn’t offended. Instead, there are a dozen samples of the gaff on
www.youtube.com and Rush Limbaugh is touting it as another reason Democrats are out of touch.
I thought Biden recovered well. He asked everyone in the crowd to stand up for Campbell. It’s the media that fell over backwards in making this story earn headlines.
A phone booth on wheelsWell, it happened. I got run off the road by woman driving and talking on the cell phone. It wasn’t blatant. The cell phone driver wasn’t paying attention and I had to either drive off the road or involve us in a multi-car accident with an 18-wheel semi-truck.
I doubt if the cell phone driver even knew what she did, but I kept her from causing a serious accident.
I wonder how many times a day people have stories like that? I’m not a good enough driver to take my attention off my driving. Most people aren’t. So why do we continue to allow people to endanger our lives by talking on the phone while driving? If lawmakers aren’t going to fix the problem, I’d suggest insurance companies not cover damages to cars involved in accidents where the driver was inattentive with the use of a cell phone.
It might keep some folks from driving and talking and it might keep some of us from being run off the road.
Galewski is the retired editor and Opinion page editor of the Winona Daily News. His views don’t necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper. If you have an idea or tip about a Winona issue, call Jim at (507) 452-3960. His email is editor@luminet.net.
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