Elections are not for the faint of heart.
By Holly A. Bell
Elections make me ill tempered, surly, and curmudgeonly. I become the kind of person who wants to chase kids out of my yard and shake my fist at motorists who drive too fast in my neighborhood. I feel a sense of urgency and responsibility to help people see what I see in the candidates, their proposals, and their policies. I switch from writing light-hearted articles to producing data soaked commentary on the economy, tax and monetary policy, and social issues. I SHOUT, emphasize, and highlight.
I have a love/hate relationship with elections. I love the opportunity for change, especially during these difficult economic times. I’m cheering for America and still have a great deal of confidence in our people and our potential. But there are several things I hate:
- Calls for specifics. The presidential election process is a time for candidates to outline their vision for the country. This involves a general direction and broad ideas in areas like tax and foreign policy, government regulation, welfare, healthcare, and national defense. Neither candidate knows what specific policies will be possible at this time, because they are not dictators. They have to work with a Congress, the make-up of which will not be known until after the election.
- Class warfare.While the issue of ‘classes’ in America is more pronounced this election, it is always present. The reality is that most Americans are in danger of losing their lifestyle if their job goes away. This is not an issue exclusive to the poor. We have seen middle-class households, with McMansions in the suburbs, suddenly frequenting the local food bank in order to eat. Yes, poverty is a problem we need to address in this country, but income-stability for ALL Americans should be the goal. In an economy we all need each other. The top 1% of income earners in our country are not causing our nation’s problems, but the attack on the middle class is a serious concern, especially as it relates to tax policy. Part of the problem is that we have redefined a portion of the middle class as ‘rich’. We have started measuring the wealth of the middle class relative to the impoverished rather than based on what it takes to have a middle class lifestyle. Being middle class no longer means taking an annual vacation, sending the kids to college, and being able to own a house and car. It also means being able to save adequately for retirement and afford medical care. Being ‘middle class’ is different than being ‘middle income’. Current middle income Americans earn $50,000 a year and that might not be enough to live a middle class lifestyle. A household making $200,000 a year might really be part of the middle class.
- Lack of confidence in our citizens (and a lot of discussion about how the government is going to save us).This election season has been particularly irritating in this regard. Hearing our President imply that an individual’s hard work and innovation doesn’t lead to success, and that “if you’ve got a business—you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen”. We seem to have forgotten that the greatness of this country—created by the hard work, ingenuity, and successes of individuals—has allowed us to build roads, bridges, and schools. They did not create us; we created them. They have made life easier for future generations, but without continued hard work and innovation they will crumble beneath us. We still need to have faith in our citizens as individuals endowed with liberty and driven by a desire to use it to succeed.
All I can do is hang in there for a few more weeks and then I’ll try to return to my more light-hearted self. Of course, that might depend on who wins the election…
Holly A. Bell is a business professor, author, analyst, manager, and blogger who lives in the Mat-Su Valley of Alaska. You can visit her website at www.professorhollybell.com.
How’d you narrow it down to just three?
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@ Christopher: Ha! If I had put all 25 no one would have read it. The 4th point I wanted to add was too much emphasis on social issues during an economic crisis, but I figured even that was too much 🙂
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I have to confess that the elections contain so much posturing that I find them distasteful. It’s all rather unseemly.
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Yes, but like a car accident, we can\’t help but look.
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Election distaste aside, I really want to comment that I really appreciate your final two points. $50,000, in my opinion, isn’t a middle class income. Maybe when one makes more than $100,000 does one have a middle class income. Is that unfair? Too high? I don’t know but that’s what it seems to me. And no, by that definition, I’m not middle class. 🙂
I also really like your third point. The fact is that the United States still produces some of the finest workers in the world. The top 5% of students dominate the top 5% of any other nation in the world and not just in languages but also in mathematics and engineering. I can source that. Additionally, the both candidates treat India and China as enemies as opposed to what they really are, giant economic opportunities for our nation. What did the United Kingdom do after they built their own rail system? They sold their services abroad to other nations and made a mint doing it. We have something the rest of the world desperately craves, experience. I would like us to move away from us thinking that India and China’s growth as some zero sum game where they will only take what we have and instead consider them as giant, hungry nations desperate for our services and support.
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The transparent manipulation of the poor and less educated by promises of something for nothing is morally wrong and only serves the interests of certain political candidates As you say, contrary to Mr. Obama’s belief that the government provides, it is our citizen’s hard work and the taxes paid by them on their personal and business incomes that provide. With substantial unemployment and under employment we continue to borrow to supplement tax revenues. Mr. Obama seems to know little about how to create jobs without prolonged monetized deficit spending/government borrowing which will eventually destroy our credit as well as our currency and possibly its reserve status. Let’s hope enough voters see through the smoke and mirrors and elect a job creator and proven winner who stands for more than inspiring slogans. Without jobs, there is no hope for economic advancement and little hope for educational advancement. The government has no money for services unless people and businesses are paying taxes because borrowing is a very short term and risky solution. And how could anyone claim that socialism or wealth redistribution would do anything but discourage job creaion and destroy work ethic?
Let’s keep our fingers crossed that this administration is one and done.
Holly, hope all is well. I appreciate your comments and perspective.
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Thank you for your comments Frank. All is well here and I hope all is well with you too. I don\’t think I\’ve ever been as \’fired up\’ about an election as I am about this one. It\’s time for some real change, I\’m tired of yelling at my TV! Borrowing more money is not the answer, especially since our return on debt turned negative years ago.
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Hopefully, Obama is further exposed this evening!
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It’s funny, my family thinks I like politics – I HATE politics! But – if you don’t follow politics & what is really going on, you would believe that our embassy in Libya was attacked because of a video! I am amazed at the number of people I talk to who don’t have a clue to what is going on. It is disturbing & worrisome! Poeple hate politics, so they don’t pay attention – “my family has always voted for the Democrats, cause they’re for the working man” – What?
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