One thing about debates, it sure does bring out the rascal in the candidates. We don’t need a bunch of these so-called candidates going around parsing each other on the great media stage that is America today. We need a solid candidate who not only speaks truth, but who has the chutzpa to back it up.
Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, Michelle Bachman, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum and the like would be much better off trying to build a case that would influence the American voters instead of attacking each other and mud-wrestling in front of the TV cameras trying to eke out an edge in the next popularity poll.
Do we have problems? Maybe that shouldn’t be a question; it stands just as well as statement, “Do we have problems.” And the answer is, ‘and then some.” Sniping at each other to see who will carry enough votes to get into the main event next year isn’t necessarily the best way to go about things.
The problem with the Republican Party is that they haven’t been able to put up a viable candidate. Never mind the so-called split between conservative Republicans and the Tea Party, which many perceive as ultra-conservative. The party must find a candidate who can carry both sides; neither the pure Republican party nor the Tea Party is capable of winning on their own.
So, where does that leave us? Some might say it leaves us with Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the current front-runner, if you take opinion polls to heart. But opinion polls don’t necessarily reflect an accurate presentation of the public at large. I know it’s hard to believe, but they can be, and have been, way off the mark in the past. A lot of it depends on where the survey is conducted, or “Who you Gonna Call?”
So in the latest debate there’s this big deal about Social Security. Romney called Social Security a big Ponzi scheme and tried to saddle Perry with the idea that he didn’t understanding that. I think anyone who has any understanding of the Social Security system, even at the lowest levels, knows that you need people paying into the scheme in order to make it work for the future, and that the law of diminishing return will eventually catch up with it.
I, for one, am a variety of skeptic who believes Social Security does not exist in my future. I would be very surprised if I received even the first buck, no less a cushion, going into old age. I don’t mind paying my “fair share” and providing for those who bought into the deal way back when, but as the population dwindles and the resources dry up, you won’t catch me running around wondering what happened.
I also don’t believe my “retirement plan” holds any future for me either. For years, I have known that I am destined to a life of always having to work. I don’t mind, it’s ok with me. I would probably be bored if I hadn’t something to do, and the writing gig is more cerebral than it is physical anyway.
In fact, just the other day I was at a visitation at my retirement home, E. Alvin Small Funeral Home, in Colonial Heights. I took the time to wander around inside the place, trying to get acclimated to how things might be when that time comes and the retirement bell tolls for me.
The place seemed pretty clean. No big bugs running around, no dust, dirt, or debris. There was just a bunch of people standing around in a queue waiting quietly for their chance to pay their respects. And I thought, “Man, a lot of these people will be here when my retirement time comes to pass; ain’t I lucky!”
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