Substance over Style

I am afraid that our next election will boil down to Style and not Substance.  I want our next President to be a leader and set the tone for Change we can believe in.  I want to see the President to challenge us to find out what the heck or real priorities are and see if there isn't room under the Congressional tent to start working on the problems.  Unless and/or until our Leaders start to discuss the real problems we will never get to the answers. 

A few years back, I was driving a bunch of people to the Airport from Topeka to KC.  One of the ladies said she really admired Hillary Clinton and the job she was doing as Senator from new York.  I asked her to tell me what she has done for the country as a Senator?  The lady said she did a good job for the people from New York.  I said that was fine if she was a State Senator in Albany but
she is a US Senator and works for us all.  More than one person in the vehicle agreed that I did have a valid point.

One problem I see that is eating us up from the inside is that we have lost faith that the system can change for the good.  I think people are so apathetic that things have been so bad for so long that they have just given up hope that there is someone in charge.  Ask the new college graduates that can't find a job if they are worried about the student debt loans they have? When the problem get big enough, the Government will step in ad make the loans go away.  What does it matter to people that we have to borrow about 1/3rd of the money our government spends when everyone yells "Not in My Backyard" about cuts in the budget?  How can Government add C02 costs to electric rate payers when they know they won't do anything with that money to fix the problem?  How can they look at themselves in the mirror without busting out laughing?

How can our Leaders talk about amnesty for illegals when we have so many people under/unemployed?   Why do you think wages are so low?  Because the illegals will do the jobs for less.  The news is covering the influx of children from Central America right now and talking about how harsh the treatment they are being given.  Why do we need to spend tons of money supporting people that come her with nothing?  Send them home with what they came with and don't make it fun to be here.  Incarceration should be punishment not a good thing. 

OK, I'll step back from my soap box and admit that I don't have all the answers and will in the light of day realize that there are things that will happen that are caused by the rules of unintended consequences.  When one State really cracked down on the illegals, they found their crops rotting the field because they couldn't get workers to pick the crops.  If we really cracked down on the illegals, who would put new roofs on after the hail storms.  What kind of shape would the roads be in if we couldn't find people to pour the concrete as we try to improve our infrastructure?  Beats the heck out of me, but I'm not in charge.

The one thing I think the Master Gardener and I agree on is the importance of education for our children.  We may not agree on the way to best way to fix the problem but it does need to be a  priority.  I for one would focus all our technology on finding the best ways to teach that reflects the culture they will live in.  If our workers are going to be focused on doing their work on computers, why do we still rely on paper so much in the schools.  Grammar and spelling are best taught by writing and what a grand way to teach kids to write than by using a computer to write? 

OH well, Have a great Father's Day out there. 

MUD