So, We’re There Huh? … When Politicians Run Amock

American politicians’ campaigns continue to devolve into a race for the most extreme positions

So, the 2016 election season has begun, regardless of the relentless begging of the masses to delay it.

As the political committees begin staking out their extreme positions, they are reaching out for our vote — and more importantly — our hard earned cash. While we might have wanted a little more time before we begin this long, arduous process once again, each of the already committed candidates are sending out endless streams of emails, looking for our support.

The candidates offered by the Republican party continue to impress me, not by their willingness to propose policies that would lead to increased employment, a major concern for todays voters, or to improve our economy.

politicians
Will procreation force you to choose political parties?

No, seeming to be stuck in a time warp that only the most devoted of their party can appreciate, they push their policy records and opinions on how they would bring us backward to their pre-modern society with extreme positions.

Each speech reminds me of the importance of ducktails and rolled up t-shirt sleeves holding a pack of luck strikes. Unfortunately these politicians keep raising the tax on tobacco to the point that the campaign posters for this would be missing that important element.

In a continuous expansion of the republican field, the statements of several of the candidates would normally give me a sense of relief. It’s so much easier to use those statements to write a satire piece without having to exert any real effort, the troubling side to that is that while I can find the humor in what they are saying, they don’t. I’m not sure if there is such a thing as an apocalypse coming, but as I listen to their speeches, I have to wonder if it’s going to be a campaign promise.

Maybe I’ve become tainted, maybe the only information that my mind is able to process must contain a liberal slant. It’s possible I guess, but what I’m afraid of is that even the voices of the liberals won’t go far enough to make a difference. Are we trapped in a society where any view that others don’t agree with is considered extreme? Do we fear the person who dares to speak of change more than we do of change itself? I know, the Obama change message lead to nothing more than a few posters and the occasional find of a used t-shirt at the second hand store, but from a marketing standpoint it was pretty good.

What I do know, or more accurately feel, is that the country founded by people who believed in freedom is heading toward a very decisive election. The choices being presented by these politicians represent not only different directions, they offer different outlooks on where we are headed. What will come of this election won’t be the end of the story, or the end of the debate. As we watch social conservatives continue to fight battles that were decided decades ago, our hearts can warm to their devotion to both causes long lost and to the need for every home to possess scented therapy candles.

My final hope is that the Donald will run and set the record straight once and for all!!!

Mike Kelly
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