Where we live: Waiting for politicians to get to the real issues
By RON GOWER
TNEDITOR@TNONLINE.COM
I wonder how many people are like me and dread the forthcoming 2020 presidential election.
Already I’m sick and tired of the negative and lame politicking. For once I’d like to see the existing presidential candidates address issues that affect me, the little guy in American who is sick and tired of hearing merely about accusations regarding opponents.
For example, there was the Russian meddling situation in which an independent investigation was to have occurred, and nobody accepted the results.
This is not an endorsement or condemnation of any political party. It’s just that there are so many domestic problems in this country being ignored while bickering is occurring over stuff we have no control about.
Sure meddling in our elections by a foreign country is a big deal, but the main objective should be to take safeguards that it doesn’t happen in the future. If our computers are being hacked, then we have an obligation to come up with better security measures, especially to prevent cyber interference.
Back to the candidates, I would like to hear more discussion about what to do about the health care crisis that exists in our country, poverty, our infrastructure, energy proposals, employment and especially about reducing the national debt.
Let’s touch the surface of the health care crisis. A published Bloomberg Business News report said family insurance coverage for an average employer costs $20,000 per year — about the cost of a Toyota Corolla.
Many health insurance policies, whether through an employer or privately purchased, have deductibles of over $10,000, big copays and high prescription costs. Even treating an illness like diabetes can be unaffordable.
Continuing on health care, we complain about Europeans having few choices for treatments. In reality, our health insurers sometimes dictate to use what doctors we can see. Seeing a doctor outside their approval means there won’t be coverage.
Even preapproved surgeries and treatments can result in large medical bills because sometimes hospitals utilize professionals who aren’t within the insured system, resulting in the patient getting large bills.
Politicians in Washington don’t have the problems the average person has with medical bills. They have their own special insurance.
Regarding energy, what’s being done to assure the United States remains energy dependent? Do the politicians have a plan to addressing renewable energy or possibly better utilizing nuclear energy? What’s our energy future?
The national debt keeps growing at an alarmingly unhealthy rate. Imagine the millions of dollars that could be saved by reducing some of the ongoing Washington investigations that are going nowhere and frankly are getting monotonous. Imagine the lawyers and investigators growing rich on such probes that continue for years and years with intangible results.
There has been a lot written in newspapers throughout the country about schools penalizing children whose parents don’t pay their cafeteria bills. The federal government could easily afford to give each student a free lunch in school by making some budget sacrifices. Yet, no political candidate has even mentioned hunger or poverty or education in a serious sense.
Mudslinging will get uglier through the course of 2020 by presidential candidates.
Hopefully, though, issues affecting people like you and me will be debated with potential solutions.
Frankly, in the last presidential debates on TV, it seemed like the narrators were more interested in ratings by stirring the political pot than by addressing the issues that affect the general public.
Comments
If you think that these are not issues being discussed by the candidates, what have you been watching? Every single one of them has addressed these issues - with Warren even having some fairly detailed plans on several issues. As a matter of fact, even during the last Presidential election cycle i remember hearing about real issues that are facing us out of the Dem debates, but nothing of any real substance out of the GOP debates . Some of the issues you mentioned were never discussed during the primary debates last election cycle by the GOP , but were discussed at length by the Democrats during the primary and the general.
Thank you for rightfully speaking about how "choice" in the U.S is an illusion when it comes to healthcare (not your words exactly but close enough). Europeans don't have to worry about whether their doctor is in network or not. They choose their doctors on their own criteria -where we choose our doctors and the first question we ask when they call is do they take our insurance? Europeans do medical care for far less than we do per capita, cover all their citizens and rank higher in outcomes than we do. Better yet, their population doesn't face economic ruin if they get sick and costly deductibles, premiums and copays that stifle our families here.
As for the deficit - I don't want to hear about cutting back on programs that help the poor, the middle class and the elderly as the solution. We have a president that took a ridiculous amount of money from one section of government to build a wall that we know is not going to work nor will it ever be finished as he intended because logistically it doesn't work. And it has an astronomical cost of Millions per mile! Immigrants crossing the Mexican border are NOT the problem with our country - it's a distraction and a boogie man for the rich who have pillaged the middle class for decades to point to and distract from the real cause of economic strife and inequities in our society. We all don't have to be driving the same cars and live in big mansions - but when you have a slice of the population with more amassed wealth than the bottom 90% and then turn to the 90% to fix the issue, that's just wrong. It's high time the tax rate for top earners increases so that there is money to fix the deficit and money to invest in our energy future and infrastructure, which I agree is sorely lacking. They also need to start paying living wages. If there is enough money for them to amass so much profit and wealth for themselves, there is enough money for them to start paying the people that work in those companies and in those jobs, more money. You aren't going to get that money from a struggling middle class and an ever increasing poor population - but I"m sorry .. asking a billionaire with multiple houses, cars, and jets and money that he will NEVER be able to spend in 10 lifetimes to contribute more in taxes is not asking too much. It's not even punishing success because even with the extra money in taxes those wealthy people will still be living the high life we all could only dream of. IF you look at the time in our country where we had the most success, the greatest wealth and achievements and a strong middle class, it was during a time when the top tax bracket was paying 70% at the top bracket (that's not 70% of their entire income, but 70% of taxes on the top level of their earnings) They'll be just fine and I don't know why the average person always defends them when they hoard money and vilifies the working poor.
People need to turn off the talking heads on ALL the stations - but particularly Fox and MSN and start digging, doing research and truly understanding and engaging with their elected officials and then hold them accountable come election time - meaning, when they don't do something that benefits the people they are supposed to represent and continue to look out for big money interest. .. they have got to go.
As for the investigations.. I am all for it. We can not allow this blatant display of just about everything that is wrong with Trump to be the new normal. We need to hold the President to the highest standards, and when they don't meet that and instead use their office for their own personal gain while jeopardizing our country and our democracy, we need to hold them accountable.IF there is even a question as to whether that is occurring, we need to investigate it. It wasn't too long ago when this country impeached a President for lying to Congress about a blow job in the oval office - something that was really inconsequential to domestic affairs and our national security - yet it was done because Presidents need to be held to higher standards. Now, we have a President that is not only a threat to our domestic agenda, but our foreign policy (and who is repeating historical patterns that led to the Great Depression) and to propose to do nothing is detrimental to the future health of our democracy. He must be held accountable, and held to the highest standards and when it is shown he doesn't meet that, he needs to be gone! And we need to do better in electing our leaders.