Actually, this blog is more about grading the issues than the candidates.  I took a look at Ron Paul's issues list and see that he's got about two dozen listed.  I still think he's the most truthful of the candidates, but there's no chance he'll get nominated by the Republicans.  McCain will probably get the nod, and my guess is Obama will win out on the Democratic side.  Hillary would make a decent president, I think, but she's too much of a polarizing force.  So far, Obama looks like the best bet for them.

Bill Clinton won a couple of elections handily by narrowing issues.  Instead of doing what others were doing, he hammered home what he professed to believed on about a half dozen major issues.  And he said it over and over again, and the voters bought it.  It seems that the economy is the most important issue with prospective voters right now, but that's nothing new.  The border problem and illegal immigration is a bigger issue than anyone anticipated, I think . . . and I'm sure candidates are sick and tired of talking about it.  None of them have good answers to the questions as to what they'd do about it . . . not a single one of them.   Then there's the environment, something the public is more and more interested in, and there's health care to worry about.  But the issue that's going to really make a difference is the war issue - what to do about Iraq.  That war is something most Americans are sick of, and they want it to go away.

OK, so even Time Magazine admits that the surge has worked.  But at what cost?  How many more soldiers have died, been wounded?  Is any of it worth it?  Can we win anything in Iraq?  And anyone offering an argument that we've actually done some good there is going to have a hard sell on their hands.  McCain supports the war, thinks we can win.  I think that will kill him dead as a doornail in the election.  If he goes up against Obama, who has been opposed to the war since the beginning, he's a dead duck.  That issue, the war question, is going to be a big one.

Again, I'll say that an issue missing from the election (one that should be talked about), is election reform.  McCain has a good record here, has fought for some reform . . . but I doubt he's interested in the kind of reform that's really needed.  We need to abolish voting machines in order to remove the question of election fraud once and for all.  Forget the extra expense of counting votes.  Is an election that important worth the expense or not?  We're choosing the President, for Christ's sake.  There is nothing democratic about a computer, a voting machine.  Get rid of them.   And don't take my word for how bad they are, how corrupt the system is.  Get on the internet and do your own research.

And what happened to the issue of quality education?  The dumbing down of America is a serious thing, if for no other reason - dumbasses voting is not a good thing for a democratic system.  But insead of that, we talk about things like same-sex marriages.  Get this, and get it good - nobody should be concerned about same-sex marriages.   Why would you care whether or not a couple of gays want to get married?  Personally, I don't give a shit if they marry another species.  Marry a sheep if you like, or even a rock.  I don't care, and you shouldn't either.  Emotional issues like this do nothing but detract from real issues, important issues.  And do you think that's an accident?

We'll be talking about abortion forever, I guess.  And it's all a meaningless discussions at this point.  The lawmakers, including the courts, have muddled this thing to where hardly anybody knows what it means anymore.  Row v. Wade went down the drain a long time years ago, for all practical purposes, since subsequent cases have watered it down.  And again, is it worth all the hassle?  It seems like such a simple issue to me.  The lesson here is that you can't legislate some things away.  The border issue is a good example of this.  We don't even apply the laws already on the books, so why consider new ones?

My favorite issue is the War on Drugs.  I used to teach criminology some, even headed up a law enforcement program at the college level for awhile.  And I told students back then what I'll tell you now - there never has been a war on drugs.  If there had been, we'd have less of them around.  It's an issue nobody, even the people in law enforcement, wants to deal with.  It's an expense we don't want to get too deeply involved in.  But politicians have learned that it's a good talking point, it's emotional, and it gets votes if you talk tough. 

My advice about issues is to do your own study, find out for yourself what's going on with things.  Don't get suckered by emotional issues of silly shit like same-sex marriages.  Focus on some real problems.  That's important because when you walk into that voting booth on election day, it might be one single issue that determines how you vote.  That is, if you pay any attention to issues at all.  For all I know, I'm just talking to myself here.

D. Paz, 2/2/08