Margie Robben

American politics is like a puzzle with many little pieces. It is confusing at first look. Each party has its own way of getting things done and not getting things done. Politicians use hidden tricks in their campaign and in the Congress and it is impossible for a regular hard-working American to know where the truth lies. The result of the political process is that the average American goes to the voting poll with no knowledge of which candidate will really help them and the Country.  The politicians know how busy the average American is and they take advantage of this ignorance.

Politicians use tricks of communication in campaigns and in Congress. They say something one day, and by days’ end they are saying something totally contradictory. Several special internet web sites have popped up because of the contradictions and lies and they help Americans sort out the truth from the lies.

Politicians are gifted people. They are the peoples’ people.  Most of them start their career in politics motivated by wanting to give something back to America and making the country a better place. Others like the power, prestige and the money that goes with the job. Some of the good politicians will lose sight of what they should be doing and become corrupted. It is a challenge for a politician to end a career with the same ideals he went into it with. Like the Hollywood people, there are too many seductions thrown their way.

An election is coming up this November. Most Americans will not vote. They don’t think it is important. They think that because it is not a vote for President and Vice President, they will stay home. This could be a catastrophe for the present Administration! They need the support from other like-minded politicians so they can continue the work they started on reform.

REFORM is the main issue at the polls this year. The politician who acknowledges the need to reform America against the greed that has brought America to its economic knees should get the vote. We all have been made aware that greed is rampant in all areas of American life. Because of greed, the middle class is disappearing.  Each day, more and more people in the middle class are losing their job, their health insurance, their ability to go to college, and their home. The middle class is shutting down and becoming poor. The rich have exploited the middle class.  Without a middle class, the rich will have no one to make money off.

The issue at the polls must be to vote for continuing progress toward Reform. The vote must not be for the politician fighting against reform and who is trying to scare you into thinking reform will destroy you, and who wants the Country to go back to how it was; to the ideas that got America into the mess in the first place. The vote must be for the politician who will join with the present Administration working slowly and steadily toward a better America.

Reform means that a lot of wealthy people and wealthy corporations and banks will be angry that they have to tell the truth, maybe make a little less money, and become more transparent. They will fight with everything they can muster. They might have to start hiring again instead of holding onto the billions of dollars they made during the recession. Manufacturers will have to start hiring again too instead of holding onto their cash and their practice of sending everything off-shore in order to make an obscenely higher profit. Reform means the health insurance companies will not refuse you insurance if you get sick.

If there is a philosophical bent to the political process it is this… In spite of the anger and fight of those opposing reform, Reform will be good for all; the rich, the middle class and the poor.  If no reform occurs, the middle class will disappear, moving toward a larger poorer class and we will be left with two classes in America; the rich and the poor.  The rich will be unable to sell worthless paper and goods to their previous victims. They will become stagnant, unproductive, and bored and unable to enjoy the fruits of their labor.  The middle class will disappear.  The increasingly larger poorer class, will grow impatient, weary, angry, and rebellious. America, as we know it will disappear. No one will like that to happen.

A lot is at stake this November. Every citizen must make an effort to vote. It is the least we can do while our brothers and sisters are fighting to protect our right to vote. We must go to the polls. And when we get there the decision we must make is to vote for the politicians who will support the present Administration’s effort toward healthy reform and a more perfect union.