Common Ground?
Instead of focusing on areas of disagreement, where do we as citizens agree?
Education. All Americans think this is very important. We disagree about the root cause problems though, and many of the solutions, ignore problem areas. In general, most Teachers I have had the benefit of interacting with, are hard working, make huge sacrifices, are very dedicated and are committed to making a difference in childrens lives. Remember I said "most"
teachers. Any discussion of them being overpaid is ludicrous. Also, I'm not talking about the Teachers Union. In general I approve of Unions. Where we have problems is when where a Union, or Management, or a Company gains too much power, or selfishly looks at their own interests. An example is General Motors and the UAW. The UAW has to understand that the American Auto industry is uncompetitive for a cost of labor standpoint (mostly benefits). When Unions or Management put blinders on then that is when problems arise and the common good is not being served.
Social Security. I also believe most Americans believe we should protect this. We have to develop plans to make this solvent. I understand why the Democrats are being silent about this, but that is just playing Politics. Pushing the retirement age even farther out is plain dumb. Developing a plan to scale back benefits for higher income folks make sense. No way Tiger Woods, when he retires, should he or his equivalents be getting $50,000 dollar a month checks.
We need a common sense solution.
National Security. Another no-brainer. I understand we live in difficult times. We can't however sacrifice our Civil liberties. We have to find the right answer here.
A strong military. Another no-brainer. Priority number one is to protect our nation, our public, our way of life.
The Devil though is in the details isn't it?
posted by mrsleep @ 3:01 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Let me clarify something to myself and anyone else who happens to stumble across this post. I like teachers, and I want to look out for their interests, because there is a lot of disinformation out there today. We do need a mechanism in place to weed out teachers who have lost their edge, or lost their desire to make a difference or maybe they just stink at teaching. This may be a merit system or some other type of system. We just need to be sure we design it intelligently, and that it is relatively easy to administer, and easy to understand.
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Sorry, I hate typos. Let me try again.
I think conservatives and liberals share more common ground than they realize in the juxtaposition of two issues...education and the welfare system.
First, let me say that I understand the need for a common sense safety net. When I was eight years old, my dad lost his job. He was in the midst of trying to start a business, so because he had followed the rules and taken out a business license, they refused to give him unemployment...even though the business was grossing $300 a month at that point.
Yet on the other hand, there are many cases where the safety net is abused and is morphed into a semi-permanent dependence on government for one's own existence.
And that is really not an American value. We are a nation of people who want to work hard, play by the rules and do well for ourselves.
The issue is that some don't have the skills to accomplish those goals, and that's where I believe education comes in (even as someone who trends conservative).
I've been pressing the staff to expand our highlighting of some of our Sierra College success stories...like the young woman who graduated this year and spoke at one of our commencement ceremonies.
She was on her own through her teen years, was arrested and sentenced to probation for assaulting a security guard. By setting a goal and applying herself, she now has a college degree from Sierra and is joining the workforce to support herself and her daughter.
Education gives people hope...the kind of hope that no welfare check can ever bring.
People from all sides of the political spectrum should be working to find more common ground on the issue of education. It is the one area of government that actually returns to the economy more than you put into it!
Typo's are a way of life.
Aaron I can't argue with you. The problem I guess is a Political one. If Republicans and Democrats agreed on 90% of everything, then it's hard for their constituents to select which party to support.
June 11
Journal Star, Peoria, Ill., on Howard Dean's overheated rhetoric:
Howard Dean has a big mouth. Democrats knew that when they bypassed him for their presidential nomination last year and when they selected him this year to be chairman of the Democratic Party. In that role Dean has been talking badly about Republicans. That comes with the job, you might say. He's been working too hard.
In the last few weeks he's said Republicans "never made an honest living in their lives" and urged House Majority Leader Tom DeLay "to go back to Houston where he can serve his jail sentence." DeLay himself is oratorically overblown and ethically undergrown, but he hasn't been charged with a crime. Just Wednesday Dean called Republicans "pretty much a white, Christian party." Now there's nothing wrong with being white and Christian (or Asian and Hindu for that matter), but in this country one always gets a bit uncomfortable when leaders toss around religious and ethnic characterizations in the name of politics.
Perhaps Dean's statements are calculated to energize the Democratic base or, in some ham-handed way, to point out differences between the two parties. But it's hard to imagine how insulting members of the majority party wins votes. In any case, his motivation makes little difference.
Just because incendiary political rhetoric seems to have hit new heights in this country does not make it defensible; if anything, the trend makes it less so. The nation doesn't need to be carved up and branded any more than it already is. If anything, Americans need leaders who work to remind us what it is we share, rather than to exploit our differences.
Dean doesn't do his party much good if he can't figure that out, and he certainly isn't of much help to the nation.
RC - My last point was not necessarily to pound Dean or the Democrats, but to reinforce this one point.
"If anything, Americans need leaders who work to remind us what it is we share, rather than to exploit our differences".
I have no intent to become a political activist, but I do hope to get people to "think".
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