What...Not Who the Country Voted For
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
As we exit another election period and the rhetoric continues I wonder if we as a nation truly know what we have voted for. I know both major parties are panderers so I try to look at the bigger picture. What is the true agenda? What is the overlying policy? The bigger picture to me is not who am I voting for, but what. I generally vote republican within my state because I'm a fiscal conservative. I live in a rural state which is fiscally conservative; however my state is socially liberal. We don't need big government at the local level so we vote against it. We as individuals don't vote to take away our neighbors liberties and expect the same from them. I grew up in the city though so I know there are different problems, ones that must be dealt with because the commercial infrastructure within the cities help support the rural lifestyle. At the federal level none of the parties speak to me on all issues and that is why I registered a long time ago independent of all political parties.
In any case I live in one of the swing states and got the full blast of TV ads, flyers, and telephone rhetoric this time around. For those who are discussing the reasons why this election went the way it did look no further. The statistics in the exit polls as to why people voted the way they did is directly related to the advertising campaigns. This to me includes not only ads, but also stump speeches and partisan slander and misrepresentation. So chalk this one up to Carl Rove. Polititians are all about images. Carefully crafted images. Carefully executed campaigns; by some very slick minds. And these specific images has been crafted over decades not years.
I laugh when I hear the pundits say the media is biased one way or the other because AS A WHOLE "I" don't perceive it that way.....to me it is more a matter that they are no longer doing things the way they used to. Is it because it is all about ratings or that government has the medias hands tied.....or a combination of both?Or something else? It's amazing to me that in an era of 24-hour news channels we get repetition of political spin instead of the level of investigative reporting from the past. Fortunately we have the internet. Unfortunately it is hard to avoid the spin there also
In politics there are atleast three sides to every story. So certain stories or personalities or stations may be biased but there is always an opposite, centrist or truthful view. I tend to listen to all, sometimes to find the middle ground, and sometimes because much of it is humorous.
So as I threw the candidates madison avenue images aside and looked past the issues and pandering that directly affects me in the short term as an individual; I read, watched, and googled for "WHAT" this vote is all about to me and my view of America. What are this adminstrations long term goals? Should I support it? If so, is the administation that sits behind the candidate's image capable of pulling it off? Should I let the balance of power go further to the right because their goals in my mind are moral, just, achievable by this administration, necessary, and for the long haul the right way to take America? Or should I vote to bring the balance of power back to the center because the consequences are unacceptable, the goals are immoral or unjust, the costs are too high, too many unknowns, unachievable? Maybe I should flip a coin because it might just be a crapshoot? There are consequences taking either direction, that is the one thing I am sure of.
This link seems to point to what this administration's course for America is????Or maybe was???
It is straight from some of the horses mouths. I guess we'll have to see what changes are made to the President's cabinet and see if they are part of the same or other thinktanks.
http://www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples.htm
Some of the names at the bottom of the statement are very familiar.
The internet had plenty of information on some that were less familiar to me.
I also found this document to be quite informative:
http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf
In any case...as a country we chose to hold our course. If it ends up being the wrong direction I can rest assured as a country we will vote to change its course.
In any case I live in one of the swing states and got the full blast of TV ads, flyers, and telephone rhetoric this time around. For those who are discussing the reasons why this election went the way it did look no further. The statistics in the exit polls as to why people voted the way they did is directly related to the advertising campaigns. This to me includes not only ads, but also stump speeches and partisan slander and misrepresentation. So chalk this one up to Carl Rove. Polititians are all about images. Carefully crafted images. Carefully executed campaigns; by some very slick minds. And these specific images has been crafted over decades not years.
I laugh when I hear the pundits say the media is biased one way or the other because AS A WHOLE "I" don't perceive it that way.....to me it is more a matter that they are no longer doing things the way they used to. Is it because it is all about ratings or that government has the medias hands tied.....or a combination of both?Or something else? It's amazing to me that in an era of 24-hour news channels we get repetition of political spin instead of the level of investigative reporting from the past. Fortunately we have the internet. Unfortunately it is hard to avoid the spin there also
In politics there are atleast three sides to every story. So certain stories or personalities or stations may be biased but there is always an opposite, centrist or truthful view. I tend to listen to all, sometimes to find the middle ground, and sometimes because much of it is humorous.So as I threw the candidates madison avenue images aside and looked past the issues and pandering that directly affects me in the short term as an individual; I read, watched, and googled for "WHAT" this vote is all about to me and my view of America. What are this adminstrations long term goals? Should I support it? If so, is the administation that sits behind the candidate's image capable of pulling it off? Should I let the balance of power go further to the right because their goals in my mind are moral, just, achievable by this administration, necessary, and for the long haul the right way to take America? Or should I vote to bring the balance of power back to the center because the consequences are unacceptable, the goals are immoral or unjust, the costs are too high, too many unknowns, unachievable? Maybe I should flip a coin because it might just be a crapshoot? There are consequences taking either direction, that is the one thing I am sure of.
This link seems to point to what this administration's course for America is????Or maybe was???
It is straight from some of the horses mouths. I guess we'll have to see what changes are made to the President's cabinet and see if they are part of the same or other thinktanks.
http://www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples.htm
Some of the names at the bottom of the statement are very familiar.
The internet had plenty of information on some that were less familiar to me.
I also found this document to be quite informative:
http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf
In any case...as a country we chose to hold our course. If it ends up being the wrong direction I can rest assured as a country we will vote to change its course.
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