"dictatorship somewhere in the distant future"

[Qanisqineq]

Or so says the editor of the LaMoure Chronicle, Gerald Harris. I always get a kick out of reading this guy's "Comments" every week. He isn't an eloquent writer and I don't always agree with what he says, but he is a regular guy and just puts it out there and doesn't beat around the bush. He had a good one against the ND amendment banning gay marriage (before Nov. 2nd). For any N. Dakotans not aware, LaMoure is an itsy-bitsy town and the weekly newspaper just covers local news and is therefore not on-line. I thought I'd copy it for anyone interested in reading it (I hope I am not breaking any "laws") :). (Please forgive spelling or other errors in copying, I am currently on strong pain medication!)

Comments

The elections are over and we have elected a president that says the American people gave him a mandate to change the way we do business in America. He says that the people have spoken and that he can now cash in on his unprecedented popularity. He received about three million to four million more votes than the Democrat out of about 115,000,000 votes that were cast. That is still only about 55% of the total number of people that are eligible to vote in this country. Instead of gloating about how he has this mandate he should sit down for a short time and wonder why the other 100,000,000 or so didn't vote. It could be that upwards of 75,000,000 didn't vote because they feel alienated from the system and that no matter how they feel the people elected will ignore their plight anyway, so they just say to "heck" with it. The end result is that the two party system is flawed as it continues to operate as if it is the only system that will work in this nation.

We won't ever get rid of the system in our lifetime but some day it will disappear unless it evolves into a system that makes the country more democratic and free. As it is the cause of its disappearance will no doubt be the decline in the number of people that take part in the electoral process. As more and more people become alienated from the system the country will move further and further to a single party system with dictatorship somewhere in the distant future of the nation. The elected president that we have now has come out and said, using the "I" word quite often, that the country is now his to do with as he sees fit. He said that he can now have anything that his heart desires. It will be interesting to see how far the few moderate Republicans and the Democrats in Congress are willing to let him have his way.

The country has gone down a path of fear and government pandering to that fear since at least September 11, 2001 and it will be interesting to see how far Congress will go in giving this president all that he thinks he should have. They gave him the Homeland Security Act after 9/11 and spent huge sums of money for things that have nothing to do with protecting the nation from terrorists. Congress gave the president the Patriot Act that has nothing to do with patriotism but everything to do with limiting the basic freedoms of the nation. He presented an unhealthy way to improve public education in this nation and Congress bought it hook, line and sinker without even examining the ramifications of it.

It will be interesting to see if he will be able to get the social security program privatized and turned into a program for the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer.

Supposedly, he reduced taxes but the one tax that hits the poor and lower middle class more than any other is social security and he did nothing to ease that burden. If he wants to mess with Social Security he should try to find the way to make it solvent now and in the future without burdening the poor any further.

Hopefully, Congress will study these issues in depth and not just give in to whatever the president wants. He was not given a mandate by a very large majority of the voters in this country. His total vote probably only translates into about 25% of the total voters.

[Journeyman]

1. Thanks for sharing this. . .

a interesting read, especially from a "small town." I'm going to share this with a number of people here in South California.

[Qanisqineq]

2. you are very welcome!

I'm glad someone found it interesting. No one ever writes LTTE's to this paper (unless they deal with something happening in the town), except this last summer. A few out-of-town subscribers (probably former residents like me, or have grandchildren there that might be in the paper for school activities) wrote letters to Mr. Harris. They were very angry that he bashes the president too much. I just laughed and laughed!