'Agin' vs. 'Fir'

Note: Footprints column originally published 09/08.


Reading newspapers should be a mandatory requirement for citizens.

I’m not talking about the “Globe” or the “National Enquirer,” even though that recent story about Paris Hilton bearing Mel Gibson’s love child was a real nice read.

I’m talking about reading newspapers in order to get . . . how shall I put this . . . well, news.

Newspaper, and certain news magazines (and, no, I’m not referring to the “American Spectator” or “Libertarian Monthly”) are the only way that thinking Americans can get information they need to make an intelligent decision on important matters.

Many newspapers – not all, assuredly, because there are no absolutes in this world if human beings have anything to do with it – work hard to give both sides of issues. That’s something you will not get fr0m talk radio, or the sarcastic bursts of words mocking the definition of news that takes pace on TV and cable channels.

You’re not going to get anything close to the truth from political ads, direct mail pieces, unsolicited and passed-along email messages, blogs, or canned info phone calls.

It is sad to say, but there will be more votes cast in November for the next president of the United States that are “agin” votes than are “for” votes. People are going to vote against Barack Obama because he’s black, he has had no executive experienced, he’s a labeled liberal, and he wants to end the war in Iraq. They will not check his box because he wants to cut taxes for the middle class and raise it on for those in high income brackets.

Some will cast ballots for John McCain because Barack Obama is a funny name. Did I mention a lot of folks will vote against Obama because he’s black?

McCain will be nixed by voters who think he’s too old, that he’s a Bushite, that he wants to continue the war in Iraq, and that he was a leader in Wall Street deregulation, which is being spotlighted as the reason for the recent economic downturn.

Some won’t vote for him because he chose a woman as a vice presidential candidate, or because she brags about killing and field dressing a moose.

Did I mention that some consider McCain too old?

Two items are killing any positive aspects of politics: Negativism and apathy. People are getting increasingly more negative in their thinking about whether any one person, one party, can make a change in the way government is run; fewer people are going to the polls because they don’t think it matters who is elected.

The only way to negate the negativism and the abject apathy is to elect politicians who care more about doing what’s right rather than doing what the heck it takes to get elected.

And to do that, people have to encourage good people to run, and kick out all the rascals who part of the problem and are not part of the solution. And, that’s a bunch of folks from both parties.

But to do that, people have to throw aside apathetic feelings and “agin” mentality and go vote.

The first chance to change our ways is coming up in November.